There was a somber mood at Kigali International Airport yesterday as bodies of two fallen RDF Darfur peacekeepers arrived home aboard Kenya Airways.

The deceased soldiers, Corporals Ildephonse Nyirimigabo 30, and Jean Claude Ndayishimiye, 29, died on October 24 in a motor accident at Twahilla Group Site of Sector One in El-Fasher, Darfur.

They were barely days in the troubled region which now has over 2,000 Rwandan peacekeepers.

Mourning relatives, friends and top RDF brass including Chief of General Staff General James Kabarebe waited for over two hours before the aircraft finally landed.

Tears rolled down the cheeks of relatives as the caskets were carried through two rows of saluting soldiers and family members.

The caskets draped in African Union flag and bearing green AU berets were carried by RDF pallbearers, all at the rank corporals.

The bodies were later transferred to Kanombe Military Hospital escorted by a huge military police convoy.

The deceased will be laid to rest tomorrow at Kanombe military cemetery.

Military sources said that each deceased soldier’s family would get $100,000 (approx. Frw55m) in compensation.

 "The two soldiers were pensioners and therefore the National Social Security Fund will also compensate the families,” Military Spokesman, Maj. Jill Rutaremara said.

Also in attendance were Chiefs of Staff, Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga (Land Forces) and Lt. Gen. Charles Muhire (Air Force).

The Ministry of Defence also gives a certain amount of compensation to the families.

Nyirimigabo has survived by a wife and a child while Ndayishimiye has been single. They both hail from the Southern Province. 

Nyirimigabo’s next-of-kin reside in the former Cyangugu province, while Ndayishimiye’s are in the former Gikongoro province.

The dead soldiers were part of the country’s final contingent dispatched to Darfur two weeks ago under an AU banner.   

The death of the two soldiers raised to eight the death toll of RDF peacekeepers in Darfur since the mission began in August, 2004.  Four of them died of motor accidents.

The country maintains about 2000 peacekeepers in outgoing AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and airlifted another 800 troops to form part of the newly proposed hybrid AU-UN force in Darfur (UNAMID).

An estimated 200,000 people have died and another 2.5 million others left homeless in the war-torn region since 2003.

Ends