October 18, 2007: Rwanda will send a fourth battalion (55th Battalion) to Sudan's Darfur region this month. Three Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) battalions are already in Darfur. The fourth battalion is being deployed as part of the African Union-UN "hybrid" force. It will serve in the El Fasher sector. The lead elements of the battalion left by air for Darfur on October 15th. The unit is trained to use light armored personnel carriers. Currently 18 APCs slated for use by the 55th Battalion are already in Darfur.

October 11, 2007: The FNL faction which withdrew from peace negotiations earlier this year has begun to fracture. The PALIPEHUTU-FNL faction has divided into at least four groups. Three of the groups are described as "dissidents" and all of them have indicated to the government that they are interested in renewing peace negotiations. This could be a break for the government, which has been trying to bring the PALIPEHUTU-FNL into the peace process. If it can't bring to the organization to the peace table, perhaps it can bring pieces (so to speak).

October 10, 2007: Between 1990 and 2001 the Rwandan government spent $8.4 billion on weapons and military equipment, a lot of it from Eastern Europe. Most of the money was spent on small arms and ammunition. During this period the Rwandan economy grew by an average of 2.8 percent a year. If the money spent on weapons had been invested, the economy may have grown up to 4.5 percent a year. But tell that to the people involved. Much of the money was spent from 1990 to 1994, when the then Hutu-led government was fighting the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, a predominantly Tutsi group). After the Tutsi genocide in 1994, the RPF took power. It spent money on arms and ammunition to fight Hutu rebels who had fled into the Congo. It also became involved in the Congo's various wars.