{"id":2000113604,"date":"2026-05-28T16:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000113604"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T14:08:23","slug":"minister-ayebare-praises-gen-muhoozi-for-role-in-restoring-rwanda-uganda-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/minister-ayebare-praises-gen-muhoozi-for-role-in-restoring-rwanda-uganda-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister Ayebare praises Gen Muhoozi for role in restoring Rwanda-Uganda relations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gen Muhoozi, the son of President Yoweri Museveni, is widely credited with helping reopen diplomatic channels between Kigali and Kampala during a period of strained relations that culminated in the closure of the common border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Ayebare\u2019s appointment as Foreign Affairs Minister, Gen Muhoozi congratulated him in a message posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to congratulate my big brother, H.E Adonia Ayebare, for the appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs. From now on, I will wait for guidance on all matters foreign affairs from Mzee and Adonia,\u201d Gen Muhoozi wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayebare responded by thanking Gen Muhoozi for the trust and cooperation they have shared over the years, describing their collaboration on various diplomatic and security matters as an important learning experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfande. Thank you for your trust and support over the years. It has been a learning experience working with you on different files. It is the other way round, I will be waiting for instructions from Mzee and you,\u201d Ayebare said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that diplomacy remains central to national security and credited Gen Muhoozi for helping avert a deeper crisis in relations with Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDiplomacy serves as the first line of Defense for national security. Your achievements in Diplomacy speak for themselves. We were on a collision course with our friends in Rwanda; you prevented disaster. Our relations with DRC, South Sudan, I can go on and on. I am ready for marching orders, Afande,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayebare is regarded as one of Uganda\u2019s most experienced diplomats on Rwanda-Uganda relations. He previously served as Uganda\u2019s ambassador to Rwanda and later acted as President Museveni\u2019s special envoy to Kigali during efforts to mend ties between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond diplomacy, Ayebare also has personal ties to Rwanda through his family background, with a Ugandan father and a Rwandan mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the height of tensions, Ayebare undertook several visits to Kigali carrying messages from President Museveni aimed at restoring bilateral relations. Those engagements were later followed by high-profile visits by Gen Muhoozi to Rwanda, which paved the way for renewed cooperation between the two governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In previous remarks about the reconciliation process, Ayebare indicated that progress only became possible after Gen Muhoozi became directly involved, arguing that earlier diplomatic efforts had stalled. He said Gen Muhoozi\u2019s understanding of the historical, political and social ties between Rwanda and Uganda, combined with his close relationship with both President Museveni and President Paul Kagame, helped unlock the impasse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen Muhoozi intensified his involvement in the process in late 2021, stepping in after formal diplomatic tracks had stalled. His subsequent visit to Kigali on January 22, 2022, was followed days later by the reopening of the Gatuna border crossing, marking a major breakthrough in the normalisation of relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Adonia Ayebare, Uganda\u2019s newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, has praised Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba for his role in improving relations between Rwanda and Uganda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Adonia Ayebare has made several visits to Rwanda, where he was received by President Paul Kagame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Ayebare is regarded as one of Uganda\u2019s most experienced diplomats on Rwanda-Uganda relations. He previously served as Uganda\u2019s ambassador to Rwanda and later acted as President Museveni\u2019s special envoy to Kigali during efforts to mend ties between the two countries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uganda\u2019s newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adonia Ayebare, has praised Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba for his role in easing tensions between Rwanda and Uganda at a time relations between the two neighbours had significantly deteriorated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000113608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,70],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000113604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-home-ighlight","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000113608,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":600,"height":376,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","width":150,"height":94},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","width":300,"height":188},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","width":600,"height":376},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","width":600,"height":376},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2b90cd45-28a2-4d04-b39a-a0fa499b079e-e4bf2.jpg","width":600,"height":376}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000113604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000113604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000113604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000113609,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000113604\/revisions\/2000113609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000113608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000113604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000113604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000113604"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000113604"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000113604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}