Kigali has recently accused Kampala of harassing its nationals through arrests and torture and has been advising Rwandans to restrict their travel to Uganda. Kampala denies the claim saying those detained are individuals suspected of spying.
As the border closure between Rwanda and Uganda entered day six on Monday, the Uganda Revenue Authority revealed that it was taken by surprise by Rwanda’s action, and that pleas to Kigali to find a quick solution to the crisis went unheeded.
This comes as 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.
A March 2 letter by the Commissioner for Customs at URA Dicksons Kateshumbwa to his Rwandan counterpart revealed the scale of the crisis.
“Whereas the rationale and spirit behind the decision is appreciated, it would have been more appropriate to undertake the measure as a joint decision, considering the fact that the affected borders are OSBPs (one-stop border posts) where either side is interdependent on the other,” said Kateshumbwa.
“Besides, a decision of this nature would ideally give ample time to the stakeholders to enable adjustments to be done so as to comply and in the case of customs to rationalize manpower so that we facilitate trade smoothly. In this particular case, the implementation of the decision was done on the very day of notification.”
“We have a clogged Gatuna border post with 10 Rwanda registered trucks, 49 Uganda registered trucks, 37 Kenya registered trucks and nine Burundi registered trucks all carrying mixed goods,” he said, adding that some of the trucks are carrying perishables while 17 of the Kenyan registered trucks are carrying petroleum products.