Career

Gatsinzi also served as Rwanda"s Minister of Defence from 2002 to 2010. At the time of the disbanding of FAR his rank was Colonel. Gatsinzi was appointed Minister of Defence on 15 November 2002, succeeding Brigade-General

Emmanuel Habyarimana.

General Gatsinzi was born on January 9, 1948 in Kigali. He started his formal education at Collège Saint-André in Nyamirambo, Kigali, where he graduated with a diploma in 1968.

His military career began at the Kigali Military Academy in the same year, and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 31 March 1970. He pursued his military career courses in Belgium at Heverlee(Louvain)in the School of Logistics in 1971 and in Brussels at the Royal High Institute of Defence from 1974 to 1976.

He also participated in the negotiations process

General.Marcel GATSINZI has held various political and military appointments with the following as his Main career Highlights:.

Achievements

• During the genocide, from April 7 to April 17, 1994 he served as Chief of Staff of FAR. Deputy Chief of Staff of Rwanda Patriotic Army from 1995-1997.Chief of Staff of the National Gendarmerie from 1997-2000.Secretary General of the National Security Service from 2000 to 2002.Minister of Defence on 15 November 2002.Re-appointed Minister of Defence on 19 October 2003 till 10 April 2010.Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs from 2010 to 2013 General GATSINZI Marcel holds a series of honorific military medal awards.

Politics

That Organization of African Unity NMOG was meant to moitos the cease fire during the period of the negotiations between the Gorverment and the Rwandese Patriotic Front during the Liberation War in 1990-1993.

Membership

An ethnic Hutu from Butare, Gatsinzi is a former member of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), which was the national army prior to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.