By Our Correspondent, HARARE Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe and Rwanda yesterday committed to work on modalities that will intensify defence and security collaboration to address both the traditional and non-traditional threats affecting the African continent.
The
commitment came out during a courtesy call by visiting Rwandan Minister of
Defence, Major General Albert Murasira on his counterpart, Minister Oppah
Muchinguri-Kashiri at Defence House in Harare yesterday.
The
visit by Maj-Gen Murasira followed Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri’s visit to
Kigali, Rwanda, in August to explore possible avenues for cooperation.
The
two ministers discussed ways of resuscitating a Defence Memorandum of
Understanding signed between the two nations in 1997 and the issue of
insurgency in Mozambique.
Said
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri: “They (Rwanda) want to exchange information on
what is happening in Mozambique particularly in Cabo Delgado. So we want to
take advantage of the bilateral relations. We exchanged notes and we are now
finding ways on how we can deal with insurgents in Mozambique since we are
going to be deploying forces.
“We
are the region that is housing Mozambique, which is dear to our hearts because
it’s an economic hub for all the countries in the region. Countries rely on
Mozambique for exporting minerals, for exporting technology, and exporting
food. We also get our oil through Mozambique.
“You
may recall I travelled to Rwanda at the invitation of my counterpart for us to
explore ways which we can strengthen the Memorandum of Understanding we signed
in 1997. That was the first meeting we had held after almost 15 years.”
Minister
Muchinguri-Kashiri said her visit opened doors for other economic ministries to
visit Rwanda to explore further areas of cooperation. Maj-Gen Murasira said
defence collaboration was the way to go in solving the problems faced by the
region.
“I
came here at the invitation of the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs
(Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri). We were discussing on our existing Defence
Cooperation which started since 1997.
“We
want to strengthen it to the next level as we endeavour to solve some security
problems in our region. In our individual countries, we want to exchange
information on different aspects in the region including the Mozambican issue,”
he said.
Yesterday
morning, Maj-Gen Murasira had toured the National Heroes’ Acre where he laid a
wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before receiving a narration of the
country’s liberation war history and the significance of the murals at the
shrine.
Maj-Gen
Murasira also had an emotional visit to the Chibondo Genocide Museum at the
shrine, which depicts the massacres that happened during the war when thousands
of Zimbabweans who were murdered by Rhodesians were buried in mine shafts.
After
visiting the shrine, he toured the Zimbabwe National Defence University just
outside Harare along the road to Bindura.
Today,
he is expected to visit the Zimbabwe Staff College and the Museum of African
Liberation.
As
part of commitment to bringing peace in the region, Rwanda has deployed troops
to Mozambique while Zimbabwe is set to send a team of 304 defence instructors
to train Mozambican troops as part of its commitment to the SADC Standby Force
Mission.
Rwanda,
which is not part of SADC, has deployed more than 1 000 soldiers who have
already killed 30 insurgents in joint military campaigns with Mozambique.
No comments:
Post a Comment