Hard labour for Rwandan convicts

Some prisoners will help build low-cost houses

Some 1,000 Rwandan prisoners have started digging up rocks as part of a new community service programme to ease overcrowding since the 1994 genocide.

Prisoners can choose to do community service for three days a week as long as they have served half their term and were not ringleaders of the genocide.

In July, some 22,000 detainees were released from prison after spending years awaiting trial.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in the genocide.

Some 50,000 people remain in prison - many accused of involvement in the mass killings a decade ago.

As well as digging up rocks for use in road-building, another group of convicts is helping to build low-cost housing, reports the AFP news agency.

"It is a way of making use of local materials as well as learning the skills of a new profession," said justice ministry official Emmanuel Twagiramukiza.