RPF invasion of Rwanda and denials

Denial. Even with Uganda openly supporting preparations for this RPF invasion of Rwanda, the Museveni government would spend the next four years vehemently denying that it supported the group.

Meetings by senior Tutsi officers in the Ugandan Army took place in full view of the public, in such places as the Fairway Hotel in Kampala.
In the third week of September 1990, trucks with supplies were assembled at Kololo Airstrip.

A large order for gum-boots was made at Bata shops in Kampala for the RPF soldiers. In the meantime, Tutsi nurses working at various hospitals in Kampala, Mbarara and other towns had been contacted to offer their services for the war effort.

Many Tutsi housewives in Uganda also took part in the mobilisation, preparing meals, packing food and collecting spare blankets and other beddings.
The new guerrilla force, the RPA, started massing most of its troops in the western Ugandan towns of Mbarara and Kabale. The main hospitals in these two towns were readied as part of the RPF’s rear bases when casualties started coming in.
On September 20, 1990, the invasion force set off for the Uganda-Rwanda border. They made a stop over at Wankolo Petrol Station to refuel their vehicles.

Major-General Fred Rwigyema, the head of the RPA and the most senior Rwandan officer in the Ugandan Army, had privately been expressing his sense of dread about the future.

There was intense intrigue within the Rwandan Tutsi community in Kampala and Rwigyema told some close friends that he was sure that he was one day going to be killed by his own people.

Over a cup of tea one evening, he told a friend that he might as well head the invasion of Rwanda at this time and, if need be, die at the battle front.

According to President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, just before Museveni flew to New York for the UN summit, Rwigyema went to State House Entebbe to bid farewell to him. As would be expected, they conversed for several hours that night.

Farewell
On the night of September 30, 1990, Rwigyema, dressed in a light-blue shirt, drove a BMW belonging to his Kampala friend, Capt. Mike Mukula, to bid farewell to a few close friends.

Rwigyema’s wife, Jeanette, had just had a baby boy. Rwigyema then drove off towards the Uganda-Rwanda border. He was one of the last Rwandans to depart Kampala.

A story is told in Kampala that upon arriving at the Uganda-Rwanda border area at Kagitumba, Rwigyema stripped off his Ugandan Army Major-General epaulettes, saluted in the direction of Uganda, and crossed over.

The largest military invasion ever from Uganda, and supported by Kampala, was underway.
Even with Uganda openly supporting preparations for this RPF invasion of Rwanda, the Museveni government would spend the next four years vehemently denying that it supported the group.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
Continues tomorrow