KISOZI — President Museveni has revealed that Uganda and Rwanda will soon take “decisive steps” to resolve the tensions between the two countries.
Mr Museveni’s remarks come after he sent an envoy to meet his Rwanda counterpart Paul Kagame.
“I just want to inform you that I received Ambassador Adonia Ayebare, who had gone as my special envoy to President Kagame, on the issue of the tensions between our two countries,” he said in a statement issued on Tuesday, December 31.
“Ambassador Ayebare was well received by H.E Paul Kagame and they had very
fruitful discussions. Soon, the two sides will be taking decisive actions to
end the tension.
Uganda, I can guarantee, will do its share of the normalization of the
relations between our two countries. I salute H.E Kagame, the brotherly people
of Rwanda and the people of Uganda,” he added.
This comes nearly two weeks after the second round of talks between Uganda and Rwanda ended on Friday, December 13, 2020, without the two countries reaching to an agreement about resolving their differences.
The meeting, which was part of the implementation of the Luanda peace deal signed in Angola in August, also ended without any joint communique issued to the media, an indication of lack of any concrete agreement.
The meeting, held at Speke Hotel in Munyonyo, Kampala, had started with a press conference in which officials from the two countries pledged willingness to resolve their disagreements that culminated in Rwanda closing its border to Uganda, effectively affecting trade and labor movement.
Then the meeting was closed to the media. Rwanda’s Minister for Regional Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe and Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Frank Mugambage led the Kigali team. Maj.Gen.Joseph Nzabamwita, the Secretary-general for the National Intelligence and Security Service, and Gen.Patrick Nyamvumba, the Minister for Internal Security, also formed the delegation.
On the Ugandan delegation was Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, State Minister for Internal Affairs Obiga Kania and Deputy Attorney General, Mwesigwa Rukutana.
It also comprised the head of CMI, Brig.Abel Kandiho, his deputy, Col.CK. Asiimwe, ESO Director General Joseph Ocwet and Police Crime Intelligence Director Col. Chris Ddamulira.
The meeting then set to discuss the key contentious issues; Rwanda asked Uganda to stop supporting rebel groups such as Rwanda National Congress (RNC) led by Kayumba Nyamwasa and Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) based in DR Congo.
Rwanda also accused Uganda of arbitrarily arresting it’s citizens without reason.
But Kampala denied the claims, with Kutesa insisting that the arrests were made within the law and that Rwandan military officials were arrested trying to infiltrate Kampala security forces.
Sources within the meeting, which lasted about seven hours, said that the two sides haggled for long over the two issues, with seemingly no progress in sight.
Eventually, they resolved to go and update their presidents over the issues.
The implication of the standoff was that the border will remain closed.
The News Editor ,Reporter at Kagadi Kibaale community Radio
