Rwandan and South Sudan senior military officials have agreed to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries to jointly strengthen bilateral defense cooperation.
Angelina Jany Teny, South Sudan Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs and her Rwandan counterpart, Maj.Gen. Albert Murasira reached the agreement during a meeting in Kigali late Tuesday.
During the visit, the senior South Sudan official also revealed that the two parties’ discussions mainly revolved around the implementation of the peace agreement in South Sudan.
“We have Senior military leaders here on training at the Rwanda Peace Academy as part of the process of the implementation of the Peace agreement in South Sudan,” she said
She emphasized that Rwanda has a role to play in supporting the implementation of the peace agreement.
Rwanda is already a member of the African Union High-Level Ad Hoc Committee for South Sudan (C5).
Other countries include South Africa, as Chair, Algeria, Chad and Nigeria.
A peace deal in South Sudan was signed on Sept. 12, 2018 and a unity government formed in February 2020.
Currently, the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan is looking at this evolving situation and examining how it can better support peace and protect civilians in the war-torn country.
Rwanda maintains three battalions and one aviation unit in South Sudan under the UN mission.
In addition, the country has also deployed 560 police officers serving as UN peacekeepers in South Sudan, including one contingent that is female-dominated operating in Juba.
CU/abj/APA