President Paul Kagame has fired over 200 soldiers, including senior military officers from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF).
Maj Gen Aloys Muganga, commander of the army’s mechanised division and commander of the reserve forces from 2018 to 2019, and Brig Gen Francis Mutiganda, head of external security in the national intelligence service, are among 14 senior officers who have been fired.
According to an RDF statement, Mr Kagame also authorized the dismissal of 116 soldiers of other ranks and the termination of service contracts for 112 soldiers.
The statement provided no explanation for the dismissal of those 244 soldiers, which was announced in the early hours of Wednesday.
The move comes a day after Mr Kagame reshuffled top military officers, firing a defense minister and army chief simultaneously and announcing their replacements, which is unusual in Rwanda.
Maj Gen Muganga, who was commander of the mechanised division until his dismissal, is a graduate of the US War College and served as commander of reserve forces from 2018 to 2019.
Brig Gen Mutiganda was the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) head of external security until 2018, when Mr Kagame redeployed him to RDF headquarters in Kigali.
The reshuffle and dismissal come at a time when tensions between Rwanda and its western neighbor DR Congo are high, with each accusing the other of conspiring with a rebel group to destabilize the government.
