The body of the deceased former Rwandan Defense minister, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, who passed on recently following a short illness in Brussels, was on Thursday laid to rest at the military cemetery located in the suburb of Kigali city.
Mourners described the deceased as a dedicated person that served humanity without segregation wherever he was engaged in military services.
President Paul Kagame has eulogised Gen. Gatsinzi as a man who served his country “selflessly and tirelessly”.
Kagame observed that Gen.Gatsinzi’s death brought deep sadness to his family as well as to the family of the Rwanda Defence Force and the country in general.
He hailed Gen Gatsinzi’s “good deeds and achievements” both in defence of the country and in its development endeavours.
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/APA