The Chief of the Defence Staff is the highest-ranked officer in the Rwanda Defence Force.
| No. | Portrait | Name
(birth–death) |
Term of office | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army | ||||||
| 1 | Major general Déogratias Nsabimana (1945–1994) |
April 1992 | 6 April 1994 † | 2 years | ||
| 2 | Colonel Marcel Gatsinzi (born 1948) |
7 April 1994 | 17 April 1994 | 10 days | [1] | |
| 3 | Major general Augustin Bizimungu (born 1952) |
17 April 1994 | July 1994 | 2 months | [2][3] | |
| No. | Portrait | Name
(birth–death) |
Term of office | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
| Chief of Defence Staff | ||||||
| 1 | Major general Sam Kanyemera |
1998 | [4] | |||
| 2 | 
|
Lieutenant general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa (born 1962) |
1998 | 2002 | 3–4 years | |
| 3 | 
|
General James Kabarebe (born 1959) |
October 2002 | 10 April 2010 | 7 years, 6 months | |
| 4 | Lieutenant general Charles Kayonga (born 1962) |
April 2010 | June 2013 | 3 years, 2 months | ||
| 5 | 
|
General Patrick Nyamvumba (born 1967) |
22 June 2013 | 4 November 2019 | 6 years, 4 months | [5] |
| 6 | 
|
General Jean Bosco Kazura |
4 November 2019 | 5 June 2023 | 4 years, 8 months | [6] |
| 7 | Lieutenant-General Mubarak Muganga (born 1967) |
5 June 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 1 month | [7] | |
