The body of former Rwandan Defense minister, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi who dies following a short illness in Brussels,
Belgium has been repatriated home over the weekend, a close relative to his family confirmed to APA Monday.
The body was received by the Minister of Defense, Maj Gen Albert Murasira along RDF General and senior military officers, and family members at Kigali International Airport, it said.
Gen. Gatsinzi who retired from the army in 2013 served as defense minister for eight years before he was transferred to head the then newly created Ministry for Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs in
2010. He was a member of the Cabinet until February 2013.
Gen. Gatsinzi’s military career began at the Kigali Military Academy in 1970 where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in March 1970.
He pursued his military career courses in Belgium at Heverlee (Louvain) in the School of Logistics in 1971 and in Brussels at the Royal High Institute of Defence from 1974 to 1976.
Beside the military assignments in the Rwandan Army, Colonel Gatsinzi served in the OAU Neutral Military Observer Group set by the Organization of African Unity. That OAU NMOG was meant to monitor the
cease fire during the period of the negotiations between the Government and the RPF during the Rwandan Civil War (1990–1994). He also participated in the negotiations process.
During the genocide, from 6 to 17 April 1994 he served as Army Chief of Staff of the defeated Rwandan Armed Forces.
Because he advocated a more moderate approach and opposed expansion of the genocide, he was removed from the post and was replaced.
CU/abj/abj/APA