African Press International (API)

Kigali (Rwanda) The Africa Union �AU) is in the final stages of releasing the $600,000 payment for deceased Rwanda Defense Force peacekeepers that were serving in the Darfur region of Sudan , the Defense ministry has confirmed.

Rwanda has lost about eight soldiers in the Darfur peacekeeping mission but the AU had so far paid compensation costs for only one of them.

�The compensation for other RDF soldiers who also died on duty in Darfur is in advanced stages,� the RDF spokesperson Maj. Jill Rutaremara announced here Tuesday.

He said that the ministry of Defense is following up the matter closely with the AU.

�So far, many procedures have been accomplished. The $600,000 will be released very soon,� Rutaremara told APA.

But he was not certain about actual dates when the cash would reach the defense coffers for subsequent disbursement to the beneficiaries (families of the fallen troops).

The dead RDF soldiers were serving under the African Union flag. In the Rwanda-AU agreement, each soldier who dies on duty in this war ravaged part of Sudan is entitled to $10,000.

The package will increase in the new AU-United Nations hybrid mission.

This development however comes at the heels of the recent death of two more RDF soldiers in Sudan. That brings the number of dead RDF troops in the war-torn region to eight, since the first deployment in 2004. The first four died in August this year, when they were gunned down in an ambush, while escorting a fuel convoy.

The RDF has over 2000 troops serving under the African Union banner in the Darfur region, with its contingent being the first to feature in the peace keeping mission in the troubled area. Rwanda has deployed more 800 troops in the newly approved AU-UN hybrid mission.

Having flared up in February 2003, the conflict in Darfur has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and left large numbers displaced.

Published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@chello.no source.apa