This was during a meeting held in Kigali on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, where he welcomed Kedir Awol Omar, the newly appointed Head of Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) covering Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.

Their discussions focused on advancing the collaboration between Rwanda and the ICRC, particularly in supporting communities facing emergencies, natural disasters or conflicts across the region.

Rwanda’s partnership with the ICRC dates back to October 8, 1982, when it became the 130th member country to join the global humanitarian network. A year later, on October 8, 1983, Rwanda also joined the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi severely disrupted the work of the Rwanda Red Cross, but operations resumed in 1995 with the support of the wider Red Cross Movement.

In 2008, the Rwanda Red Cross set up a Youth Commission, empowering young people to take an active role in planning and implementing humanitarian initiatives and contributing to decision-making processes.

In 2024 alone, the Rwanda Red Cross and the ICRC trained over 3,800 personnel from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), Rwanda National Police (RNP), Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) and Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) ahead of peacekeeping deployments.

Gen (Rtd) Kabarebe reiterated that Rwanda values its close cooperation with the ICRC to strengthen the capacity of security and humanitarian actors and to ensure timely and effective support to communities in need.

On his part, Kedir Awol Omar expressed the ICRC’s readiness to deepen collaboration with Rwanda and neighbouring countries under his mandate, with a focus on improving humanitarian preparedness and response across the Great Lakes Region.

The continued partnership is expected to deliver stronger and more coordinated humanitarian interventions in the face of regional challenges.