Rwandan Armed Forces

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The Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR, from French Forces Armées Rwandaises) was the national army of Rwanda until July 1994, when the Hutu-dominated government collapsed in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide and the invasion by Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Many soldiers of FAR have since been implicated by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the genocide, including its leader during the genocide, Colonel Théoneste Bagosora. Other top leaders in the RAF were implicated in the assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana which sparked the genocide.

Many elements of the former Rwandan régime, including soldiers formerly of FAR, fled to eastern Zaire after the RPF victory, where they formed the RDR army.

The national army of Rwanda is presently the successor of the army of Kagame's RPF, reconstituted as the Rwandan Defence Forces.

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