High Commissioner for Rwanda in Uganda, Frank Mugambage on Thursday called the reported arrest of over 40 Rwandans in Kampala as absurd in an operation conducted by military intelligence officers in the country.
Ugandan newspapers revealed on Wednesday that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), with assistance from Uganda Police, arrestd the Rwandans from a church in the Kibuye region in Kampala City in a security swoop.
Arbitrary arrests of Rwandans in Uganda are now a prevalent event where thousands of people have been detained without access to fundamental freedoms such as consular services, legal counsel or family visits over the previous year.
Many of these have been dumped at the Rwandan frontier after spending months in various detention facilities, most of them following torture by Ugandan security operatives.
On the recent incident, Mugambage said a letter was sent to Kampala’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday morning to inquire about the Rwandans detained and their identities.
“We have written and raised the matter with officials here [Kampala] of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that they can intervene and tell us what is going on. We are still following up.”
We want them to tell us what the whole thing is all about because it is ridiculous that a whole church can be arrested and it is said that they are spies.”
The envoy explained that ever since they got wind of the matter, his office had been also trying to follow up and at least obtain names of the people arrested “but we haven’t been able.”
He said there have been many arbitrary arrests and this is a continuation of what has been occurring.
Last month, at the East African Court of Justice, one of the organs of the East African Community, a Rwandan couple and a teacher illegally arrested and tortured by Ugandan security agencies filed a lawsuit against the Ugandan government seeking compensation.
Several of the victims have charged safety authorities in Uganda with seizing their identity and travel documents only to turn around and accuse them of illegal entry.
Rwandan citizens ‘ crackdown in Uganda has exacerbated in the aftermath of increasing proof of Uganda’s assistance for armed organizations wishing to destabilize Rwanda, including genocidal FDLR, RNC and other armed components with bases in western DR Congo under what they call P5.
Testimonies from detained rebel leaders – including FDLR spokesperson 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 to join hands in destabilizing Rwanda.
Congolese security arrested the two on their way from a meeting in Kampala with RNC operatives. A Ugandan government minister for regional affairs Phelomon Mateke attended the meeting.
Last December, a UN study stated that Uganda was a significant source of recruitment for Rwandan rebel groups based in eastern DR Congo.
Kampala has declined this continually.
But in a letter to his Rwandan counterpart in March, President Museveni confessed that he had “accidentally” met with representatives of one of the armed organizations at his Kampala office.
FDLR is an offshoot of the forces that committed the 1994 genocide against the Rwandan Tutsi in which more than a million individuals were killed.
The RNC is a dissident terrorist group blamed for grenade attacks that murdered at least 17 people between 2010 and 2014 and injured some 400 others in Rwanda.
Rwanda released a travel advisory to Uganda in March stating that while there they could no longer ensure the safety of their people.
