{"id":40525,"date":"2019-12-14T13:51:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T13:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/key-issues-rwanda-raised-in-the-kampala-meeting\/"},"modified":"2019-12-16T13:13:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T13:13:17","slug":"key-issues-rwanda-raised-in-the-kampala-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/key-issues-rwanda-raised-in-the-kampala-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Key issues Rwanda raised in the Kampala meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rwanda\u2019s delegation was led by the State Minister for Foreign Affairs in charge of East African Community (EAC), Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe, while the Ugandan delegation was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa.<\/p>\n

Also on the Rwandan delegation is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Johnston Busingye, Minister of Internal Security, Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba, the Minister of Local Government Prof. Anastase Shyaka, the Secretary General of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) Maj. Gen Joseph Nzabamwita and the High Commissioner to Uganda Maj. Gen Frank Mugambage.<\/p>\n

While taking stock of the progress made since the signing of the Luanda agreement, Minister Nduhungirehe said the only positive development so far since the first meeting of the commission in Kigali, is that Rwanda received amendments from the Ugandan Government on the Extradition Treaty between the two countries \u2013something he said appreciated.<\/p>\n

He said Rwanda is also working on the amendments and believes that the two countries will soon agree on the final text. Besides that, Rwanda maintains there are no other positives to look forward to and here is why.<\/p>\n

{{Continued support to armed groups}}<\/p>\n

Rwanda maintains that Uganda continued to offer support to armed groups attempting to wreak terror on Rwanda. Operatives and leaders of these groups continue to receive facilitation and safe passage in Uganda including support by senior officials of the Government, Rwanda said.<\/p>\n

To cite an example, Minister Nduhungirehe said that during the night of 3rd leading to 4th October 2019, a deadly terror attack was carried out by a militia group known as RUD-Urunana, in the Kinigi sector of Musanze District, Northern Province.<\/p>\n

The attack was launched from eastern DRC, close to the Ugandan border and the Volcanoes National Park. Most of the attackers were killed. Some of the attackers were captured alive.<\/p>\n

An assortment of material evidence, including phone handsets, and testimonies of captured attackers, was collected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne Ugandan telephone number appeared to have been in contact with the attackers both before and during the attack. And this number has been found to belong to the Hon Mateke Philemon, Uganda\u2019s Minister of State for Regional Cooperation,\u201d Nduhugirehe told the meeting
\n.
\nRevealing some details unknown before, Nduhungirehe said that following the attack, three of the attackers fled to Kisoro District in Uganda, where they stayed briefly, then were evacuated to Makenke Barracks in Mbarara District and later transferred to the CMI headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala.<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s High Commission in Uganda sent a verbal note on the issue on 14th October 2019. It remains unanswered to date.<\/p>\n

Rwanda said this represents extreme escalation and unprovoked aggression. Nduhungirehe said that as always, Rwanda did, and will continue to observe and exercise maximum restraint to give a chance to peaceful resolution of this crisis.<\/p>\n

{{Continued arrest of Rwandans in Uganda}}<\/p>\n

Another key issue raised by Rwanda is the continued arrest and illegal detention of Rwandans in Uganda which has not ceased despite the Kigali announcement which called for the immediate release of Rwandans detained in Uganda and to cease arrests.<\/p>\n

The delegation head said that arbitrary arrest and illegal detention of Rwandan citizens in Uganda have continued, unabated, during the same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, since the signing of our agreements over the past months, not only are hundreds of Rwandans still detained illegally in CMI jails and safe houses in Uganda, but others are still being rounded up and abducted,\u201d Nduhungirehe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an example, just two weeks ago, on Monday 25th November 2019, more than 150 Rwandan citizens, who were living and working in Uganda, were rounded up in Kisoro District, and a few of them \u2013 33 \u2013 were dumped at the border. The reason, as always, again, for this is because these people are Rwandan,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

{{Hostile Propaganda}}<\/p>\n

Beyond the continued support to armed groups and continued arrest, detention and torture of Rwandan citizens, Rwanda said that there is also an escalation of hostile propaganda in the Ugandan media targeting Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must tell the press, here present, that by signing the Kigali Communiqu\u00e9 on 16th September 2019, Uganda and Rwanda didn\u2019t intend to prevent media from critically covering this crisis, by using facts and their own analyses, whether we like them or not,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we were disappointed to note once again that over the past months, the Ugandan media, including State-owned media, continued to spread demonstrably fake news about our country, our President and our Ministers, while praising our enemies. This is against the letter of the Kigali Communiqu\u00e9 and against the spirit of the Luanda MoU,\u201d Nduhungirehe reminded the meeting.<\/p>\n

{{Border closure scapegoat}}<\/p>\n

Another issue raised by Rwanda is that Uganda has made the misunderstandings about the border closure instead of addressing concerns raised by Rwanda. As the two countries work on the implementation of the Luanda MoU, Rwanda says Uganda should avoid reducing this crisis to a \u201cborder closure\u201d, which Nduhungirehe said it is not.<\/p>\n

{{Impediment of trade}}<\/p>\n

Rwanda further said that the \u201cunfortunate situation\u201d has become a serious impediment to trade between the two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we trade when Rwandan businesspeople who legally cross the border are systematically arrested, tortured, with confiscation of their goods, shops and belongings?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we claim that free movement of goods and services is guaranteed, while free movement of people is impeded? The real border closure is exactly that! It\u2019s the illegal arrest and detention of the very people who carry out trade,\u201d Nduhungirehe said.<\/p>\n

\"Rwanda\u2019s<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"The<\/figure>\n
\"Minister<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second meeting of the Ad Hoc Commission on the Implementation of the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda and Uganda took place in Kampala, Uganda on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-40525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","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":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40525","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\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40525"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=40525"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=40525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}