KINSHASA, Congo (CNN) -- The government of President Laurent Kabila has ordered the Rwandan soldiers who supported him in his successful eight-month rebellion to leave the country.

David Kokolo Longo, an aide to the recently appointed army chief, Celestin Kifwa, made the announcement late Monday night on state television.

He thanked the soldiers for all their work before he ordered them to leave the country. He also thanked the Congolese population for tolerating the presence of the Rwandan soldiers in their country.

The move comes two weeks after Kabila replaced his chief of defense, James Kabari, a Rwandan, with Kifwa, a Congolese. Kabari was made an adviser to the president.

Soldiers from the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan army played a key role in Kabila's rebel movement, which drove longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko into exile in May 1997. After the takeover, Kabila changed the country's name from Zaire to Congo.

Kabila

Some Rwandan soldiers remained in Congo after Kabila took over, though it was not immediately clear how many were still in the country when the order was given Monday.

Rwandan-Congolese ties have soured since the rebellion. A key point of contention is the insecurity in the east of the country, where Hutu rebel groups trying to overthrow the Rwandan government have been launching cross-border attacks.

In Kigali, Rwanda, two Rwandans were convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of seven Tutsi royals during the 1994 genocide, Radio Rwanda reported Tuesday.

Former 2nd Lt. Pierre Bizimana and Dr. Martin Kaberuka were found guilty Monday of murdering Rosalin Jicanda, a wife of former Tutsi King Mutara III, and six other royals.

Also on Monday, a court in Nyamata, near Kigali, sentenced another genocide victim to death, two others to life in prison and a third to twenty years in prison.

Authorities have so far convicted and sentenced to death 100 of the more than 300 suspects tried in the 1994 genocide. On April 22, the first 22 convicts were publicly executed by a firing squad.

A U.N. tribunal is trying Rwandan genocide suspects in Tanzania. The tribunal said it would complete its first trial in August.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.