Kagame retires long-serving ally Kabarebe, other Generals
Rwanda's former Minister for Defence Gen James Kabarebe. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA | NATION
What you need to know:
- James Kabarebe signs out of military service at the age of 64 as a four-star General, having served the chore of military leadership positions under Kagame.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has retired one of his longest-serving allies and military leaders along with 11 other Generals.
James Kabarebe signs out of military service at the age of 64 as a four-star General, having served the chore of military leadership positions under Kagame.
Gen Kabarebe was the architect of one of the Uganda army’s most humiliating military expeditions when his Rwandan troops defeated Ugandan soldiers in the Kisangani battles.
The retirement, announced by the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) yesterday, includes another four-star and former chief of staff Gen Fred Ibingira, and two three-star Generals Charles Kayonga and Frank Mushyo Kamanzi.
The list
The list also includes five others at the rank of Maj Gen; Martin Nzaramba, Eric Murokore, Augustin Turagara, Charles Karamba and Albert Murasira.
Three officers at the rank of Brig , Chris Murari, Didace Ndahiro and Emmanuel Ndahiro, also take leave of active service in the RDF.
The Rwandan military did not indicate the reasons for the retirement, only stating that President Kagame had approved it.
However, The New Times, a state-run media, said the officers and 83 other senior officers are those whose contracts of duty ended or those who leave the army on medical grounds.
The retirement of the top generals comes on the heel of recent upheavals in West Africa in which military leaders with the resources to command national armies have toppled their leaders in bloodless coups.
Gen Kabarebe has been the de facto face of the Rwandan military. He retires while on a tour of duty as a senior presidential advisor on defence and security.
He is one of the longest serving defence ministers under President Kagame.
End of an era
When the Rwanda Patriotic Army launched a frontal attack on the Kigali regime of Juvenal Habyarimana on October 1, 1990, Kabarebe was a fresh-faced military officer deployed as a private secretary and aide-de-camp (ADC) of Kagame.
He had been commissioned barely a year earlier in 1989, fresh from Makerere University and armed with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science.
During the protracted armed struggle that brought Kagame to power in July 1994, Kabarebe became commander of the High Command Unit at Mulindi. Later, this unit became the Republican Guard charged with the protection of Kagame and his immediate family.
