The president s latest army reshuffle is part of a long-term plan to safeguard his regime and his family s role in it, The army reshuffle in Rwanda, announced on 31 August, was not a panicked response to the military coup in Gabon on the previous day as some have suggested. President Paul Kagame frequently circulates his top brass to ensure no military commander builds up a faction of supporters who might challenge his hold on power. This has been a three decades-long strategy. Unlike the military reshuffle in Cameroon on 31 August, there s no sign that Kagame s moves were triggered by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema s putsch in Libreville.