Deputy President William Ruto has expressed concern over the rift between Uganda and Rwanda that President Uhuru Kenyatta had travelled to Kigali and Entebbe to mediate.
President Kenyatta held talks with Rwanda’s Paul Kagame on Sunday before stopping over at State House in Entebbe, Uganda, to meet President Yoweri Museveni the following day.
The talks were necessitated by Rwanda’s move to shut the busy Gatuna border to commercial traffic from Uganda.
Rwanda then banned its citizens from visiting Uganda and claimed that they risked arrest and detention.
Ruto, while commenting on the same, stated that it was not prudent for East African countries to close their borders to each other.
“We have a border in one country being blocked by another country in East Africa, really? That makes us really concerned.
“We should actually be thinking of how to eliminate work permits. We should be thinking of how to integrate this region,” expressed Ruto.
He also referred to the border rows between Kenya and Tanzania that saw the latter dispose of items that had crossed into its territory, in a rather unusual way.
“We are seeing cattle of people being auctioned when they cross some borders… others are banning chicken while some EAC countries are closing their international borders,” lamented Ruto.
He advised that border conflicts were retrogressive and hampered the unity of East African countries.