Ugandan businessman killed in Rwanda as talks resume
Relatives of a Ugandan businessman, who was shot dead in Rwanda on Monday night want Kigali to release his body for burial.
Sidini Muhereza was reportedly shot dead by Rwandan security officers while trying to smuggle six cartons of matchbox into Rwanda.
However, his killing comes as Ugandan and Rwandan teams prepare to resume talks today over the border closure via video conferencing.
The two teams will discuss the Katuna Protocol that was signed after President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagamr met at Katuna border on February 21.
Mr Warren Musekura, the brother of the deceased, yesterday said his brother Muhereza, 35, was a resident of Kagogo Village, Bigagga parish, Butanda Sub-county, Kabale District.
He was killed in Hakako-Sebeya village, Rwerere Parish in Burera District about 5Km from the Uganda-Rwanda border line.
“It was around 7pm when our relatives who live in Hakako-Sebeya village in Rwanda telephoned us that Muhereza had been shot dead. It is now three days and we have not seen the body,” he said.
“We appeal to the Rwandan government officials to handover the body of our deceased relative for decent burial,” he appealed.
The Rwandan ambassador to Uganda, Gen Frank Mugambage, on Wednesday said he had no idea about the death of a Ugandan trader in Rwanda.
The Kabale District chairperson, Mr Patrick Besigye Keihwa, said he had been briefed about the incident and that the Ugandan security personnel in the border districts of Kabale and Burera were coordinating the process to return the body.
Muhereza is now the fifth Ugandan businessman to be shot and killed in Rwanda while allegedly smuggling goods into the same country since February last year.
Rwanda closed its Katuna border with Uganda and banned its nationals from entering Uganda.
Other Ugandans shot and killed in Rwanda are Job Ebyarishanga and Bosco Tuheirwe all residents of Rukiga District. The duo were killed on November 9, 2019, at night about 1Km inside Rwanda by Rwanda security operatives on allegations of smuggling raw tobacco into their country.
On May 24, 2019, Alex Nyesiga, 32, a resident of Nyakabungo Cell, Kyabuhangwa Parish in Rukiga District was shot dead as he tried to smuggle a bale of second hand clothes into Rwanda.
