Blame games between Rwanda and Uganda are getting ugly and threatening bilateral relations.
Uganda accused Rwanda on Friday of blocking goods trucks and other vehicles from entering the country, and of stopping its nationals from crossing into Uganda amid a resurgence of hostility between the two African neighbours.
Rwandan authorities have been blocking entry to vehicles from Uganda since Wednesday, Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told reporters in Kampala, adding 129 cargo trucks were now stuck at the border.
Denying this, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Sezibera said trucks were being diverted to Kagitumba border crossing in the north because of construction at the busy Gatuna border post. “Those who have gone through Kagitumba, they have crossed,” he said.
Sezibera said Rwanda was stopping its nationals from crossing the border because Rwandans going into Uganda have been detained and accused of being spies with no consular services provided to them.
“People are coming in, people are going out except for Rwandans who have been strongly advised not to travel to Uganda because of challenges of insecurity that they are facing there,” he said.
“It’s not up to Rwanda. It’s up to Uganda (to sort it out). Of course Ugandans are welcome here, we have no problem on our side of the border.”
Opondo said the crossing at Kagitumba was also blocked. Ugandan officials had summoned Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda, Frank Mugambage, to provide an explanation, he said.
Speaking at a news conference before Sezibera’s remarks, Opondo also denied that Rwandans were being held for political reasons, saying that if there were any Rwandans in Ugandan prisons they had been processed through the police and judicial system.
The dispute over border crossings appears to be an escalation of the Cold War-style hostilities and allegations by the two countries of supporting each other’s dissidents that have been reported in Ugandan and regional media over recent months.