The conference organized by the African Society of Forensic Medicine (ASFM) brought together over 400 participants from 40 countries. These include forensic experts, researchers and specialists.

Rwanda has hosted the 10th edition of the summit through Rwanda Forensic Laboratory (RFL).

Exhibitors

-Visit Rwanda

Rwanda has a stand at the exhibition to take participants through the ‘Visit Rwanda’ campaign introduced by Rwanda development Board (RDB) to lure foreigners to visit the country and explore available opportunities in the areas of tourism and investment.

Nicholas Tugume, Tourism Practitioner at RDB explained that they participated in the conference to bring to light Rwanda’s offerings in tourism and investment.

"Guests attending the meeting also need to explore our country’s attractions. We are here to help them without necessity to make movements. In most cases, they are guests who do not know where our offices are located. It is about decentralizing services to promote tourism,” he said.

- Inter Business Company Ltd

Inter Business Company Ltd is a medical equipment supply company specialized in the importation and distribution of medical equipment, pharmaceutical products, laboratory equipment, chemicals and re-agents in Rwanda.

It also supplies equipment to RFL. Jean Claude Habarugira, a Biomedical Equipment Technologist at Inter Business Company Ltd has said that they attended the exhibition to showcase offered services expected to be expanded to other countries.

He explained that the company works with leading manufacturers in the areas of medical supplies giving them a competitive edge to offer convenient services.

-QIAEN

Qiagen is a company based in Germany that supplies equipment used to conduct tests for forensic evidences.

QIAGEN N.V. runs operations in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

It is a large company with total assets estimated at US$2,252 billion.

The company’s head of marketing, Laurent Moncomble explained that most of their activities take heed on DNA tests.

-AFSA

Launched in Kigali on 7th March 2023, African Forensic Science Academy (AFSA) will serve as a professional representative body for forensic science practitioners in Africa.

It is expected to build the capacity of African countries in forensic services.

AFSA activities will be rolled out either in online or in-person format overtime.

It envisages training programmes in various formats, development of best-practice guidelines, webinars, workshops and much more.

The Acting President of AFSA, Dr. Antonel Olckers said that the academy is a testament that the time has come for Africa to develop home-grown solutions.

ASFM

The African Society of Forensic Medicine (ASFM) is behind the organization of the conference bringing together leaders, experts, specialists and researchers in forensic evidence sector.

The management says that Rwanda was selected because of achieved milestone in the area of forensic evidence services in Rwanda, the region and beyond.

The Secretary General of ASFM, Oshunbayo Remilekun, said that the meeting was much needed to discuss how forensic evidence services in Africa can be taken to greater heights for quality justice to deepen roots.

-RFL

Rwanda Forensic Laboratory was launched in 2018. Since it was launched five years ago, RFL has greatly contributed to justice delivery with forensic evidence services.

After enacting the law establishing RFL in 2016, the institution started offering convenient services to the judiciary, members of the private sector and citizens in 2018.

It became an autonomous body in the same year and is currently run under the aegis of the Ministry of Justice.

The RFL has modern equipment as well as experts and specialists capacitating it to conduct forensic investigations used to boost justice delivery.

Today, RFL provides 12 services including forensic toxicology, drug and chemistry, and documents examination and fingerprint analysis, DNA forensics, ballistics, forensic pathology and digital forensics.

As at November last year, RFL was offered services to more than 20 African countries.

The Director General of RFL, Dr. Charles Karangwa recently told the media that the institution has so far released over 35,000 forensic evidences since 2018.