The Association of Pentecostal Churches in Rwanda (ADEPR) has raised concerns about Ugandan security organs ‘ arbitrary arrests, imprisonment and torture of their faithful.
Speaking to reporters, ADEPR’s deputy legal representative, John Karangwa, said all their faithful who have fallen victim are peace-loving supporters, noting that the same destiny has befallen other Rwandans in the neighboring nation.
This follows the arrest of about 40 Rwandans who were rounded up last week in a church in Kampala, Ugandan capital, where they worshipped.
Citing “security sources” Ugandan newspapers said the Rwandans were detained on suspicion of being “Rwandan spies” by the country’s military intelligence (CMI) chief.
These were not the first ; many church members – who have their worldwide headquarters in Rwanda – have been picked up from various places in Uganda over the previous few months and thrown into prison.
Others were pushed to the Rwandan frontier where they were dumped after long imprisonment without trial.
The Ugandan branch of ADPR operates under the banner – Pentecostal Church International of Uganda, or ADEPR-PCIU.
Those who spoke to journalists had disturbing accounts of the brutality inflicted by their jailors upon deportation.
It later appeared that last week’s mass arrest was masterminded by fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa’s Rwanda National Congress (RNC), a terrorist group created by Rwandan dissidents and blamed for the spate of dagger assaults that murdered at least 17 persons and wounded some 400 others in Rwanda between 2010 and 2014.
“We can’t really tell, with precision, what exactly is going on there [in Uganda] as it all looks like a political problem now affecting all Rwandans.
“It may appear as if ADEPR worshipers who come together in groups to worship fall victim but it is Rwandans being targeted. Whenever they [Ugandan authorities] see Rwandans coming together to worship, they find a good opportunity to get them easily. This is something we don’t understand; we don’t know the real root of this hatred for Rwandans,” said Karangwa.
Karangwa observed that everything looks like increasing hatred for Rwandans and they, as a church, would find it difficult to react on behalf of the two nations “as this is beyond us.”
He noted that their members are being victimized because they often meet in locations of worship or religious meetings, a circumstance that is inevitable.
“But the root of the problem as any Rwandan will observe is the hate for Rwandans. I see it as a problem affecting all Rwandans in general but ADEPR particularly is singled out now because our people are found [and arrested] in known places of worship or religious conferences.”
He refuted allegations that their congregants are involved in spying on the neighboring nation.
“In our church we are not into politics. We are only into gospel; we build churches and participate in development activities whenever we can and that is all we do. Calling our people spies is simply hating on Rwanda and Rwandans. It is not just hating ADEPR but hating on our country and people but there is nothing much we can do when things are like that.”
The crackdown on Rwandan citizens in Uganda deepened in the aftermath of increasing proof of Uganda’s assistance for armed organizations trying to destabilize Rwanda, including genocidal FDLR, RNC and other armed components with bases in western DR Congo under what they call P5.
Rwanda released a travel advisory to people traveling to Uganda in March, warning that while they were there they could no longer ensure their safety.
Karangwa said members were advised to prevent such set-ups, but that’s hard.
“We had advised them but you see, it is hard to tell people to stop worshiping. Even if you tell them not to go to church they will not stop. For example, you recall that it was last Tuesday that they arrested people. But this past Sunday, people went to church to pray yet I had advised them not to go there so they don’t get arrested.
“And this morning, they’ve just called and informed me that they worshiped. Even if few, they convened and worshiped.”
Asked why ADEPR first went to Uganda, Karangwa said their evangelism job overseas and nothing unusual.
Other churches are working in Rwanda where churches in Uganda have been inspired or born, he said.
“And just like them, that’s how we in ADEPR also venture outside the country to go and spread the word of God because that is the mission of our church; evangelism within and outside the country.”
He explained that in the earlier time trial phases that focused on Uganda, Africa, and Belgium, in Europe, they embarked on the mission of evangelism beyond the borders of Rwanda back in 2015.
ADEPR was born in 1940 in Rwanda.
“We had not yet started in other regional countries but we opened (Branches) in Uganda and in Belgium. We did samples in those two so as to know how we could later start in other countries. In Uganda, we started in 2015 and a year later we went to Belgium.
“We wanted to look at how best we can approach evangelism in Africa and Europe and other places around the world. That is the mission of the church.”
Earlier this year, testimonies from arrested FDLR spokesman Ignace Nkaka, alias La Forge Fils Bazeye, and intelligence chief Lt Col Jean-Pierre Nsekanabo, given information of how Uganda is enabling talks between RNC, FDLR and other anti-Rwandan organizations with a perspective to joining hands in destabilizing Rwanda.
FDLR is an offshoot of the forces that made the 1994 genocide against the Rwandan Tutsi in which more than a million persons were killed.
Last December, a UN study stated that Uganda was a significant source of recruitment for Rwandan rebel groups based in eastern DR Congo.
