Rwanda Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Rwanda Defense Force (RDF; Ingabo z’u Rwanda): Rwanda Army (Rwanda Land Force), Rwanda Air Force (Force Aerienne Rwandaise, FAR), Rwanda Reserve Force, Special Units (2022)

Military expenditures

1.4% of GDP (2021 est.)

1.3% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.2% of GDP (2019 est.) (approximately $220 million)

1.2% of GDP (2018 est.) (approximately $200 million)

1.2% of GDP (2017 est.) (approximately $190 million)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 33,000 active RDF personnel (32,000 Army; 1,000 Air Force) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the RDF's inventory includes mostly Russian, Soviet-era, and older Western - largely French and South African - equipment; since 2010, Russia has been the top supplier (2021)

Military service age and obligation

18 years of age for men and women for voluntary military service; no conscription; Rwandan citizenship is required; enlistment is either as contract (5-years, renewable twice) or career (2021)

Military deployments

2,450 (plus about 500 police) Central African Republic (approximately 1,700 for MINUSCA; an additional 750 troops sent separately under a bilateral agreement with CAR in August, 2021); up to 2,000 Mozambique (deployed mid-2021 under a bi-lateral agreement to assist with combating insurgency; includes both military and police forces); 2,600 (plus about 400 police) South Sudan (UNMISS) (2022)

Military - note

since 2021, Rwanda has deployed troops to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to combat the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR); it has also been accused by the DRC Government of providing material support to the March 23 Movement (M23, aka Congolese Revolutionary Army) rebel group, which as of 2022 was fighting with DRC troops and UN peacekeeping forces

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

the RDF is widely regarded as one of Africa’s best trained and most capable and professional military forces; as of 2022, over 7,000 RDF and police personnel were deployed on missions in Africa (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Rwanda on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Rwanda 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Rwanda 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.