The military has released the names of two Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) peacekeepers who died in a motor accident in Sudan’s Darfur region on Wednesday. Military Spokesman Major Jill Rutaremara identified the deceased soldiers as Corporals Ildephonse Nyirimigabo and Jean Claude Ndayishimiye.He said that both fallen soldiers 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 RDF has already conveyed our heartfelt condolences to the deceased’s families, and arrangements are at advanced stages to bring the bodies home for burial,” Rutaremara said yesterday.The dead soldiers were part of the country’s final contingent dispatched to Darfur earlier in the week under an AU banner. Rutaremara said that the two perished in a car accident at Twahilla Group Site of Sector One in El-Fasher, Darfur. The bodies are still in El-Fasher Hospital mortuary.Asked about the identities of the six other RDF soldiers that sustained injuries in the same traffic accident, Rutaremara promised to return our calls but he had not, by press time.The death of the two corporals raised to eight the death toll of RDF peacekeepers in Darfur since the mission began in August, 2004. 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
