Four men and one woman were handed to Rwanda by the Ugandan Police at Kagitumba Border in Nyagatare District.
They had been held at Ntungamo and Kasese Prisons which they say hold many more Rwandans.
Speaking to journalists, they said they had been arrested in Uganda where they had gone to look for a living whereas others had gone to visit families and friends.
Felicien Ntigurirwa who was born in Gatsibo District, said he went to Uganda in 2018 to visit his family members and he spent a year. He was arrested at the border on his way back to Rwanda.
“I was asked to show my papers and I showed my Rwandan identity which they said was not enough. They asked a lot of shillings which I failed to give and they took me to jail,” he said.
At Ntungamo where he was held, Ntigurirwa says he was sentenced to six months in prison and he was forced to do farming activities in Buga area.
“We were forced to do farming activities and in case you failed to, you would be severely beaten. It is a life I wouldn’t wish any Rwandan to live because we used to cultivate from the morning to evening without rest and with beatings on our backs,” he said.
Ntigurirwa said that at least 10 Rwandans were brought at Ntungamo where he was imprisoned picked from different places in Uganda over ‘illegal’ entry.
Claudine Uwimana, a resident of Rulindo District said women are forced to weave baskets. She said she was together with 20 other Rwandan women who were also arrested in Uganda.
“Many Rwandans are arrested at the border,” Uwimana said, warning other Rwandans travelling to Uganda.
Jean Bosco Rwego from Kayonza District said there are 360 prisoners in the jail where he was held with 200 of them being Rwandans.
Rwego who had been living in Uganda since 2012, says he was arrested in September last year because somebody wanted to confiscate his property.
“He called the Police saying I was a Rwandan who had illegally entered in Uganda.
Without explanations, I was arrested. I had worked hard and had bought some land having earned a lot of money which I think is the reason why I was betrayed so that they could take it away,” he said.
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