A story posted on the Ugandan news website, Chimpreports on Friday 12 this month says that 25 Banyarwanda were sentenced to imprisonment by the Kisoro Grade One Magistrate’s Court over “illegal entry”.
The story further details that the court heard from prosecution that on 11 October 2018 (on Thursday that is) the suspects were arrested at a roadblock near Nyakabande Primary School in Nyakabande Sub-County.
Prosecution told the court that the arrested were found without legal travel credentials.
The news website did not shed light on how it was possible that the authorities could arrest a group of citizens of a fellow East African country, parade them before a court, and in a few hours they were in prison.
Another thing Chimpreports did not report on was what the law on the freedom of movement of persons in the EAC says about a case like that.
The Protocols on the Establishment of the East African Common Market – which entered into force on July 1, 2010 after all the five heads of state of the EAC signed it, including Museveni – entails the following on free movement: abolition of any discrimination based on nationality.
Article 7 – under “Part D” of the protocols – which deals with the free movement of persons and labor says this in Paragraph 1: “the partner states hereby guarantee the free movement of persons who are citizens of the other Partner States, within their territories.”
The article continues: “In accordance with Paragraph 1, each partner state shall ensure non-discrimination of the citizens of the other partner states based on their nationalities by ensuring: a) the entry of citizens of the other partner states into the territory of the partner state without a visa; b) free movement of persons who are citizens of the other partner states within the territory of the partner state”…
In other words the law categorically shows there was no reason in the first place for any Ugandan authority to arrest those Rwandans at the roadblock, and there was no reason to lock them up on the grounds that they did not have “legal travel credentials”.
EAC law also state that the citizens of each of the 5 countries are allowed to stay in each of the countries without any problem and that any of the countries where they may find themselves has the obligation to protect them.
In case a citizen of any of the partner state is found to have committed a crime, the law is clear that they will face prosecution according to the laws of the host country, or extradition.
“Uganda said it was prosecuting the Rwandans because they entered with no legal travel documents,” said a Rwandan lawyer knowledgeable in EAC agreements who requested anonymity for reasons of privacy.
“That was a violation of the law because the Rwandans weren’t required to have visas, only national IDs, which every Rwandan has.”
The lawyer concluded: “the acts of the Kisoro officials clearly were premeditated to harass citizens of Rwanda, judging by the speed with which they found themselves behind bars.”
The 25 now jailed Rwandans are only the latest victims of the activities of a neighbor state that lawfully is supposed to protect, welcome and facilitate their movements or stay.
On second July this year, Ugandan officials deported 72 Rwandan nationals – 41 men, 20 women and 11 children – for “being in Uganda illegally”. The men and women were only looking for work with their families and were supposed to be left alone.
A Rwandan local government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not the government spokesperson said: “what Uganda is doing not only is illegal, it also violates historical ties. People have family across both borders; have the same cultures and have been neighbors before colonial borders.”
He added, “this kind of hostility by the Ugandan state against even poor peasants is shameful, especially since Rwanda is not retaliating against Ugandans in any way, including those that cross our borders without documents to access services like medical care, trade and so on.”
According to reports in a number of media, Ugandan security officials seemingly are bent on detaining Rwanda nationals in Uganda, jailing, torturing, or deporting them on allegations they are ‘spies’.
“Even when nothing was proven against me, they (Uganda security operatives) dumped me across the border”, said one of the victims that we have spoken to who still is traumatized by the torture.
Leave a Reply