The CIA World Factbook Every edition, 2021 to 2025 Africa

Military - note Rwanda, in 5 editions.

The entry for Rwanda published Military - note in 5 editions of 36, from 2021 to 2025. The text changed in 4 editions. Each is shown as published. Military - note in every entry.

editions changed the text
4
the first edition with it
2021
the latest edition with it
2025

Published as “Military - note” (2021 to 2025).

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe edition shownChoose an edition on the strip beside the text, or step through them with the arrows. Mark changes compares it with the edition before: the marks are ours, words added and words removed.

2025 edition

Changed since 2024

Open the 2025 entry

  • the principle responsibilities of the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) are ensuring territorial integrity and national sovereignty and preventing infiltrations of illegal armed groups from neighboring countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC);
  • since 2021, Rwanda has deployed RDF troops to the border region with the DRC to combat the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which it has accused the DRC of backing;
  • Rwanda has been accused by the DRC, the UN, and the US of deploying RDF troops in the DRC and providing material support to the March 23 Movement (M23, aka Congolese Revolutionary Army) rebel group;
  • the RDF also participates in UN and regional military operations, as well as multinational exercises;
  • it has deployed several thousand RDF troops and police personnel to Mozambique to assist in combating an insurgency since 2021;
  • Rwanda has mutual defense treaties with Kenya and Uganda
  • the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) were established following independence in 1962;
  • after the 1990-1994 civil war and genocide, the victorious Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front's military wing, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), became the country's military force;
  • the RPA participated in the First (1996-1997) and Second (1998-2003) Congolese Wars;
  • the RPA was renamed the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) in 2003, by which time it had assumed a more national character with the inclusion of many former Hutu officers as well as newly recruited soldiers (2025)

the RDF is widely regarded as one of East Africa’s best trained and most experienced militaries; its principle responsibilities of the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) are ensuring territorial integrity and national sovereignty and preventing infiltrations of illegal armed groups from neighboring countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); since 2021, Rwanda has deployed RDF troops to the border region with the DRC to combat the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which it has accused the DRC of backing; the RDF Rwanda has been accused by the DRC, the UN, and the US of making incursions into deploying RDF troops in the DRC and providing material support to the March 23 Movement (M23, aka Congolese Revolutionary Army) rebel group, which has been fighting with DRC troops and UN peacekeeping forces; group; the RDF also participates in UN and regional military operations, as well as multinational exercises exercises; it has deployed several thousand RDF troops and police personnel to Mozambique to assist in combating an insurgency since 2021; Rwanda has mutual defense treaties with Kenya and Uganda
the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) were established following independence in 1962; after the 1990-1994 civil war and genocide, the victorious Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front's military wing, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), became the country's military force; the RPA participated in the First (1996-1997) and Second (1998-2003) Congolese Wars; the RPA was renamed the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) in 2003, by which time it had assumed a more national character with the inclusion of many former Hutu officers as well as newly recruited soldiers (2024) (2025)

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Central Intelligence Agency. “Rwanda: Military - note.” The World Factbook, 2021–2025 editions. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/rwanda/military-note.

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