(10 Dec 1998) Natural Sound
The Rwandan army has discharged more than 3-thousand officers and soldiers in a bid to cut costs, but said the demobilisation would not affect the country's security.
Pressure from international donors, who have been financing almost half Rwanda's 330 (m) million U-S dollar budget for 1999, led to the cuts.
The government has agreed to cut its force from the current 35-thousand troops to 19-thousand men by 2001.
These were some of the first soldiers to be discharged from the Rwandan army.
They were based at the Gabiro military camp, 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Kigali.
Among those demobilised were war-handicapped, the elderly, those wanting to leave the army, as well as soldiers not meeting the new army's skill requirements.
The Rwandan Patriotic Army grew out of the Tutsi-led rebel force that won power in July 1994 and put an end to a Hutu government-organised genocide of more than 500-thousand people.
It is still fighting defeated Hutu soldiers and militiamen, who are conducting an insurgency in northwestern Rwanda, often from bases across the border in eastern Congo.
In August, Rwanda sent troops and arms to Congo in support of Congolese rebels fighting to oust President Laurent Kabila.
After being discharged and filing through the security checks, the demobilised soldiers gathered for a ceremony addressed by the Rwandan vice president and minister of defence, Major General Paul Kagame.
He told them Rwandan troops would remain in Congo until security along Rwanda's borders is guaranteed.
Kagame also accused Kabila of recruiting thousands of Hutu fighters who had fled Rwanda in fear of reprisals for the 1994 slaughter.
There was also an appeal to foreign donors from Ephraim Kabaija, head of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, for help in financing the demobilisation programme.
Out of 10 (m) million U-S dollars pledged for the programme, only half has been disbursed.
Each of the demobilised men, including four colonels, will receive 300-thousand Rwandan francs (1-thousand U-S dollars) in increments over several months.
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