Kigali signs cooperation pact with US army

The Rwandan government on Tuesday signed an agreement with the US army on "mutual support" in military logistics, supplies and services, a US senior military officer said in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

Speaking after a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the deputy commander of the US European Command, Gen Charles Wald, told reporters that the deal excluded arms supplies for Rwanda.

Wald is on a tour of a number of African countries. He has already visited Angola, Niger and Nigeria. After Rwanda, he is due to visit Gabon, Ghana, Sao Tome and Uganda.

Regarding the US-Rwanda pact, Wald said: "This is about training together, practising for peacekeeping missions and cooperating in information-sharing. It's about normalising our military relations."

He said the agreement was under the US army’s Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement - a bilateral international agreement providing the legal authority to exchange logistics, supplies and services with foreign military forces "on a reimbursable basis".

"Logistics-sharing is an important thing to both of us [Rwanda and the US]," Wald said. "When we come here, they [Rwandan army] provide us with logistics, and when they come to the US we provide them with the same in return."

Wald and Rwandan Defence Minister Gen Marcel Gatsinzi signed the agreement on behalf of the two countries.

The spokesman of the Rwandan Defence Forces, Patrick Karegeya, said the agreement would enable the Rwandan army to access facilities in the US. "This agreement will enable us to access training opportunities, joint military exercises with the US army, and also accessing military equipment for peacekeeping operations," said Karegeya.

On 5 July, Rwanda signed a memorandum of understanding with South Africa on military cooperation, in efforts to strengthen regional cooperation in defence and security.

The Rwanda-South Africa memorandum of understanding was signed to facilitate cooperation between the armies of the two countries in the areas of training in strategic policy management of the military, education and training opportunities, joint military training, joint military exercises, exchanges of experience in peacekeeping operations and provision of support in the procurement of military equipment.

Speaking on Tuesday outside the presidential palace in Kigali, Wald said he hoped the Great Lakes region, which is troubled by long-standing conflicts, would also adopt regional blocs to monitor peace in times of conflict "The president and I discussed the potentials for that same type of model being in this region. I think it is an excellent idea that should be done," Wald said.

Conflict the Great Lakes, in particular in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has persisted for nearly eight years, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions of other Congolese.