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KIGALI, Dec 3 (AFP) - Six school children were killed and 18 others wounded Friday when an anti-personnel mine exploded at Taba, central Rwanda, officials announced here.
The children were on their way to a primary school at Remera-Rukoma when they saw a 100-franc note on a string that was itself attached to the mine's detonator, officials said.
The mine blew up when they picked up the note.
Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's special envoy, Friday called on all Rwandans to reconcile and build a strong country.
The government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) signed a ceasefire and peace pact August 4 at Arusha in Tanzania, ending three years of civil war.
Meanwhile in Paris, a spokeswoman for the French foreign ministry said France would pull out its 300-men military contingent from Rwanda by December 15 following the deployment of U.N. troops in the African country.
"In compliance with the August 4 Arusha conference, French authorities decided to withdraw by December 15 the Noroit unit which has been (in the country) since October 1990."
Colonna earlier said that the 2,500-member United Nations force which had been created on October 5 was starting to deploy and would soon be capable of fully carrying out its mission.
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