Kagame Insists: ‘Our People Not Safe In Uganda’

By Our Reporter

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has insisted that several of his people are rotting in Ugandan jails; the reason he is not about to allow any of his country’s citizen to travel to Uganda.

He said has said that whereas ‘many’ Ugandans continue to Rwanda, he has no control over the safety of Rwandans while here in Uganda.

Since closing the Gatuna border in February last year, Rwandan security forces have been blocking Rwandans including workers and students from crossing to Uganda following a protracted diplomatic dispute.

Addressing more than 60 diplomats at the home of the Presidency in Kigali on yesterday, Kagame accused Kampala of holding what he called hundreds of Rwandans in Ugandan jails and therefore telling his people they were safe in Kampala would be an absolute lie.

“We have had hundreds of Rwandans arrested in Uganda. And we have raised this matter with Ugandan authorities. We have families of hundreds of families coming and appealing to us asking why you don’t ask Uganda to release our people,” he said.

He told Rwandans “just stop going there because if you go there, I have no control. They may arrest you, and your families will come to me and say you have been arrested. And there is nothing I can do about it.”

He claimed that those released have “been dying as they arrive back home. If you do a postmortem you find they have been tortured very badly.”

Kagame revealed that he and president Museveni will be going back to Luanda, Angola soon to review the progress in implementing what was agreed in the first meeting in August last year.

Rwanda accuses Uganda of facilitating and harboring dissidents plotting to bring down Kagame’s government. The country closed its main borders about a year ago sparking a protracted diplomatic row arising from accusations of conspiracy on either sides.