ACCRA (Reuters) - The skeletal remains of eight Ghanaian generals, including three former heads of state, have been exhumed from a prison cemetery 22 years after they were executed, officials said Friday.

The government of President Kufuor has given its permission for the bodies to be reburied with full funeral rites following a campaign by the men's widows.

``They started digging Wednesday and finished yesterday (Thursday),'' one official told Reuters.

``I can confirm that the bones have been deposited at the military hospital (in the capital Accra),'' the source said.

The former military heads of state, Kutu Acheampong, Akwasi Afrifa and Fred Akuffo, and the five other generals were shot in public in June 1979 on corruption charges after the first of two military coups staged by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

Family members were not allowed at the cemetery. Journalists were also kept away.

The source said DNA tests would be needed to make sure that each of the bodies is returned to the right family.

An official committee is due to set a date for the funeral.

``My husband is not sleeping well, it's only after a funeral that Fred can rest in peace,'' Emily Akuffo, the widow of the general overthrown by Rawlings in 1979, told Reuters.

Shortly after his first coup Rawlings handed over to an elected government but seized power again in 1981.

He then won elections in 1992 and 1996 but stepped down in January due to a constitutional two-term limit. Kufuor beat Rawlings's designated successor in a presidential poll.

The government has said it authorized the exhumation as part of a national reconciliation effort.