Rwandan peacekeepers stand guard in South Sudan
The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) has dismissed as not correct a story released by Bloomberg news network reporting that a Rwandan peacekeeper had been killed in South Sudan.
The agency also reported in its November 23 story that in addition to the death, another peacekeeper was being questioned in relation to the incident. The Army says the Bloomberg story is untrue.
“The facts are that a wounded peacekeeper from a friendly Troop Contributing Country serving in UNMISS was brought to The Rwandan Contingent Medical Clinic in Juba for treatment on Monday 23 November 2015,” said Brig Gen Joseph Nzabamwita, the RDF Spokesperson on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately the peacekeeper died of the gunshot wounds he sustained in an incident that did not involve Rwandans.”
Rwanda has 1,784 troops on the South Sudan US mission, and RDF says all are accounted for.
The Army says would like to clarify that no Rwandan peacekeeper serving in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was killed. No Rwandan peacekeeper is being questioned, the Army added in a statement.
Rwanda also urged UNMISS to correct the wrong information provided to the media.
Meanwhile, Rwanda has also sent condolences to the family of the deceased peacekeeper, the Troop Contributing Country and UNMISS for the loss of the peacekeeper, who dedicated his life to serve humanity.
Rwanda maintains 5,667 peacekeepers in some of the most hostile places globally – standing at 5th position among biggest providers of troops to restore order to the world’s hotspots.
There are troops and police in Mali, Haiti, South Sudan, Sudan, Ivory Coast and as far as Liberia.
In its story, Bloomberg had reported that a United Nations peacekeeper in South Sudan was shot dead at the mission’s base in the capital, Juba, with one of his colleagues being investigated over the incident.
By KT Press Reporter
