Kenya-Somali border row Shifts to Uganda as they decry of Rwanda’s sabotage

Uganda is considering petitioning the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania, to challenge what it perceives as Rwanda’s economic sabotage in breach of the regional bloc’s guidelines, a minister said Sunday.

Mr Philemon Mateke, the state minister for regional cooperation, told Uganda’s Daily Monitor Sunday evening that he would confer with his senior line minister, Mr Kirunda Kivejinja, on the petition “because interfering with cross-border trade by Rwanda violates the East African Community guidelines yet it (Rwanda) is the chair of the community.”

A Rwandan security officer inspects a vehicle from the Ugandan side at Cyanika border post

President Kagame, the immediate past African Union chairman, succeeded President Museveni as EAC chair last month amid rising tension and long-standing counter-accusations, including claims that either government is propping up subversive elements against the other.
Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambage, Sundayy said he was “engaged” and unable to speak on Kampala’s latest charges.

Kigali at the end of last month abruptly stopped vehicles from Uganda from entering Rwanda through Katuna, citing ongoing construction works at Gatuna side of the frontier.

A senior official familiar with the goings-on between the countries, but who asked not to be named due to sensitivity of the matter, said Rwanda’s last-minute notification about closing Gatuna border post was suspicious because road works are planned in advance, and was not likely to have informed its sudden decision.

After days of quiet, Uganda opened up, with Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo dismissing the allegations by Kigali against Uganda, including of indiscriminate incarceration of its nationals, as baseless.

At the time, Rwanda shared on social media what it said was a list containing particulars of 40 Rwandan citizens taken into custody by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), according to Rwanda’s State Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe.
He claimed that more than 800 other Rwandans had either been deported or refused entry to Uganda since January 2018. The Monitor could not independently confirm the allegation that Kampala has since rubbished.

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