Kigali (ICRC) – From 7 to 11 July 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) are running a training course in Kigali for legal advisers in international humanitarian law within the RDF and other State structures involved in the national application or implementation of humanitarian law.

Kigali (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed its water-supply project in Cyuga-Gihogwe, a rural neighbourhood on the outskirts of the town of Kigali. Around 22,000 people are now enjoying better access to vital drinking water.

Some 3,000 people are enjoying greater access to vital drinking water following today's completion of the Gasasa project in Bwiza, 250 kilometres west of the capital Kigali.

Renovation of 23 spring catchments was officially completed today in Muhanga, 70 km south of the capital Kigali. The opening ceremony was attended by the minister of water and mines, accompanied by the ICRC head of delegation, the governor of Western Province, the mayor of Muhanga District, local authorities and people from the Kiyumba, Kibangu, Nyabinoni and Rongi Sectors.

This date will be engraved forever in Kibombo’s memory.

From 14 to 18 August 2007, the ICRC and the Rwandan Defence Forces held a joint advanced course on international humanitarian law at Nyakinama military academy in Nord province.

Kigali (ICRC) – As part of its family-reunification programme, the ICRC delegation in Rwanda is pursuing its efforts to ensure that unaccompanied children are placed in shelters where they can be cared for until their relatives are found. With a view to improving the children's daily lives, the ICRC occasionally delivers aid to these shelters.

On the 12th of June 2007 at Kabaya, a water supply rehabilitation and reinforcement project was inaugurated by the Minister in charge of Water and Mines accompanied by the head of delegation of the ICRC in Kigali.

From 28 May to 8 June, the ICRC and the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) jointly held a course on international humanitarian law (IHL) for RDF instructors at a military academy in Nyakinama, in the Northern Province.

In collaboration with the ICRC, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda organized a one-day round table on the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its five Protocols.

Jeannette and Esther are back together with their families after 10 years of painful separation. The two children, now in their mid-teens, became separated from their parents in 1997 in Tanzania during the massive return of Rwandese refugees from Cyabalisa refugee camp to their country of origin.

Wednesday 7 March 2007 is a day 14-year-old Ndayisenga will remember for the rest of her life. It was the day she saw her family again after twelve years of separation

Gertrude, aged 18, was recently reunited with her mother after 10 years.

Brigitte and her twin brothers Gato and Gakuru are back together with their father after 12 years.

A team from Kenya has won the first East African competition on the law of war for the military.

The first regional competition on the law of war for soldiers from East African countries has started in Rwanda.

The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC delegation in Kigali on 22 February 2005.

The ICRC has completed a training programme for the Rwandan Defence Forces which aims to make the military medical services self-sufficient in ensuring emergency care.

In 1995, along with thousands of other Rwandans, Laurent, Françoise and their two children fled the violence in their country and sought refuge in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

On 24 September, the ICRC repatriated two unaccompanied Rwandan children who had fled the fighting in their country several years earlier and had taken refuge in the Republic of the Congo. They were reunited with their families by the ICRC delegation in Kigali the same day.

Last Wednesday, the ICRC was able to repatriate a Rwandan teenager who had been separated from his family since the fighting in 1994. The 17-year-old headed home from Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo to Kigali via Kinshasa and Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo - DRC) after exchanging several Red Cross messages and photos with his family. Importantly, both he and his relatives had confirmed that they wanted to be together again - the ICRC would have cancelled the operation if the boy had said "no".

The ICRC has published a new album containing 900 photos of young children who have been repatriated to Rwanda from neighbouring countries and who are unable to supply the information needed to trace their families.