KIGALI, Rwanda
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame on Wednesday appointed Lynder Nkuranga (pictured) as the Director of External Intelligence, becoming the first woman to be named to the post.
The position, under the National Intelligence
and Security Services (NISS), has previously been exclusively held by military
men as with most top positions in the army and police. She replaces
Col (Rtd) Anaclet Kalibata, who also served as the country’s long-serving
director-general of the Emigration and Immigration till 2018.
Ms Nkuranga, 40, has served in the Rwanda
National Police (RNP) for over ten years, rising steadily through the ranks.
Prior to her new appointment, she served as the
Commissioner for Cooperation and Protocol, and was the only woman in the Police
Command Structure made up of 36 senior police officers.
She is also the second woman to rise through
the ranks of the force after the retired former police chief, Mary
Gahonzire, who was a long-serving Deputy Commissioner-General of Police, prior
to her short stint as acting Commissioner-General in 2009, then as
Commissioner of Prisons in 2010.
Ms Nkuranga holds a master's degree
in peace and conflict studies, and also completed a Senior Command
and Staff Course at the Musanze Police College.
She has also been at the forefront of gender-related
functions and in 2013 gave an address on combating gender-based violence at the
Women in Law Enforcement Leadership Conference in California, US.
Other women serving in top police positions
include Teddy Ruyenzi, the Commander of a 160 all-female peacekeeping
contingent based in South Sudan.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rose Kabuye, who was
the first post-genocide Kigali City mayor, remains the highest-ranked woman
to serve in Rwanda’s military. She was also a member of parliament and served
as chief of protocol in the President’s Office till 2010 before veering into
the private sector.
By appointing Ms Nkuranga, President Kagame
cements his position as a strong proponent of elevating more women to
positions of power within his government. His Cabinet is made up of more women
than men - 14 women out of 27 – translating into 52 percent majority women.
Rwanda also takes poll position globally in
parliament gender diversity, with women making up 62 percent of the national
legislature.
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