President Kagame on Rwanda-Uganda relations

 

President Paul Kagame on Rwanda Television yesterday, talking about several issues including the Rwanda-Uganda relations - theeyer.blogspot.com

This article is a loosely translated comment by President Paul Kagame on the strained relationship between Rwanda and Uganda aired on Rwanda Television on 5^th September 2021.

Question by a Kicukiro/Kigali resident David Hategekimana

“We usually learn from the media about the poor relations; beastly acts that Rwandans who are in Uganda are suffering and this hurts us as families and friends of those victims and we ask ourselves where will this end.

I would like to ask you to share with us your position on the problem and your opinion on how the problem can be solved”

President Paul Kagame response:

“The first question about the problem between Uganda and Rwanda:

I slightly talked about it in English but it’s a complicated problem, considering the way Rwandans are treated in Uganda and the way Ugandans are treated in Rwanda.

There is no Ugandan who has any problem with being in Rwanda. But almost all Rwandans, despite the fact that Rwandans now fear going to Uganda, many of those who are there or those who go there have been victimized.

There are many we know here; very many of them have become lame because of imprisonment and torture.

And by the way, if you’re aware of the order of the day, I don’t think these things just happen like that, they must be backed by the current politics or the politics of that time.

It’s no longer a secret.

Whatever happens in Uganda, especially in their internal security, they will say that it must have come from Rwanda even if there is no Rwandan involved in it.

Even if it’s Covid-19 that we are all battling with, you will hear Ugandan authorities say that it has come from Rwanda or caused by Rwanda. It is the order of the day that any problem will be connected to Rwanda.

What I am saying is that it’s not clear why all this and reaching resolution is still difficult.

The other thing is that it is known that there are people in Uganda or who have been passing through Uganda or backed by Uganda to do bad to Rwanda.

There are some we have in our courts; some have been convicted, others still on trial with evidence that they passed through Uganda or were backed by Uganda against Rwanda.

Even currently there are things going on, involving people you know who are in South Africa and other countries. They are operating in Uganda with intentions to do harm to Rwanda in the future.

You have recently read in the news that there are roads to be constructed from Uganda through Tanzania and to Burundi, all with the intention of alienating Rwanda.

There are very many other things going on with much substantial evidence.

I have talked of families whose members were forced to disappear in Uganda including children, old women and men and also young men, all alleged to be Rwandans in Uganda seeking to cause problems there.

In Uganda, there are Ugandans whose origin is in Rwanda. They too, depending on their political ideas will soon be called non-Ugandans and there are claims that those Ugandans are thinking the way they think because Rwanda has sent them.

It’s a long story that seems to have no end. It’s like it’s a political agenda.

What we decided to do is to leave it to the owners to provide a solution to it.

If you can remember, I once told Rwandans after many letters and messengers about their family members who were arrested in Uganda, to stop going there.

Some were students who used to go there for studies, retailers, bars businesses were arrested, detained, lost their businesses, and then dumped across the border.

Those people are here. I told the immigration people to document them.

They are many; they are thousands no longer hundreds who were forced to disappear from their property and business and leave them in Uganda.

We talked about it with authorities in Uganda and they could deny the credibility of the information or promise to follow up on individuals who did it but it remained the same for so many years now.

What we did is: the first thing is not to do the same to the Ugandans in Rwanda just because their country has done such bad things to us.

The second is to protect ourselves and build capacity against future possible bad things from that country.

And third is to continue talking to those who do us bad to stop such and see whether this comes to an end.

But it’s not we who determine how it ends; it depends on those who do these things. We have no power there; it’s them who will see how to handle it.

That is what I have to say.

[Uganda-Rwanda relations at a family level]

People used to report to me what happened to their people in Uganda and I could tell them that I can never tell Ugandans what to or not to do to Rwandans or Rwanda.

We have no capacity to determine that but there is a way to avoid it. It is not to go there because when you go there and they harm you, what do you want me to do?

The country in which you were robbed or beaten is another country that has its authorities and I have no position in that country.

What I can only do is to advise you not to go there but it’s the last resort, telling someone not to go to a country where they have families.

Our history in a certain way makes it complicated.

We have people who have a part of their family here while another part is on the other side in Uganda.

It’s history, long history in fact.

There are those in Uganda who originated here but are Ugandans and they have that right.

So you find that children are here while their parents are on the other side in Uganda or the father and child are here while the mother and another child are on the other side.

It’s not us who determined that and those in Uganda too did not want it to be that way. It is because of history and they should not be victims, it’s just the way it is.

So, apart from trying to advise as I have just explained; to continue following up on the problem; telling Ugandans to make things easy for Rwandans, there is nothing else I can do".