Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) has announced that it will, Friday, start a three-day exercise to destroy old ammunition.

According to the RDF and army Spokesperson, Col Joseph Nzabamwita, over 40 tonnes of ammunition will be destroyed at Gabiro School of Infantry in the Eastern Province.

"The ammunition to be destroyed include unexploded ordinances like grenades, bombs, bullets and others,” Col. Nzabamwita said.

The RDF says it has notified residents around the facility about the noise from the blasts.

"We are conducting this exercise in partnership with the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA). Rwanda currently holds the chairmanship of RECSA which implies that we have to lead by example,” said Nzabamwita.

He added that since 1994, the RDF held five major demolition exercises where 1,270 landmines and 53,337 unexploded ordinances were destroyed.

Those to be destroyed on Friday include waste and recovered ammunitions.

According to the Nairobi and Bamako protocols of the United Nations; member states of RECSA are responsible for collecting and destroying expired ammunition and unexploded ordinances.

The ammunition and unexploded ordinances include those retrieved from various parts of the country and expired ones that have been in RDF stores.

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