13 Rwandans released ahead of Museveni-Kagame meeting

Government has released 13 Rwandan nationals who had been in detention on charges of espionage and other security related offences.
The decision to release the suspects came as President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame prepare to meet at Katuna border on Friday to discuss an end to the diplomatic row between the countries.

Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa Tuesday handed over a group of men and women for deportation to Rwanda. They were handed over to immigration authorities in the presence of the First Counsellor at the Rwandan High Commission to Uganda, Mr Noel Mucyo.
The release of 13 Rwandan nationals brings the number to 22. They were all facing similar charges including illegal entry and infiltration.

Mr Kutesa, however, explained that “the withdrawal of the charges against these people, just as with the nine that were released on January 8, does not in any way suggest that the accused are innocent of the charges for which they were being tried.
“It is simply an option that government has chosen in order to facilitate normalisation of relations in the context of the Luanda process,” he said.
Asked about the number of people remaining in Ugandan detention facilities, the minister explained that many have since been deported and only 39 others are remaining in custody and serving sentences.
He said the persons handed over include those who were rearrested after they had been deported for espionage and security related offences in 2019 but they came back to Uganda.

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Ministers meet ahead of Museveni, Kagame border meeting

On Sunday, Mr Museveni and Mr Kagame were again in Angola where they resolved to meet again at Katuna border on February 21, as they seek ways to permanently end hostilities

The suspects include Ntirushwa Maboko and his wife Ukwitegestse Ansiira, Jean Bosco Habomugisha and his wife Christine Mukamazima, Ukwigezi Narcise and Ms Hycinthe Dusangeyezu, the wife to Rene Rutagungira, who is among the nine deported in January.
Those released last month were arrested between 2017 and 2018 in Kampala and Mbarara districts over accusations of possession of illegal firearms and ammunitions.
Speaking on behalf of Kigali, Mr Mucyo said the Rwandan government is fully committed to implementing the Luanda agreement.

“I am not aware of the negative comments to Uganda of recent. The Rwandan government has clearly stated that deaths on Rwandan side were those killed while smuggling through ungazetted territory,” Mr Mucyo said.
Rwanda has since released Peter Egessa, a Ugandan Information Technology (IT) expert based in Kigali, Rwanda, who had disappeared in December last year.

Progress
In August 2019 in Luanda, Angola, the two heads of state concluded a memorandum of understanding concerning the normalisation of relations between the two countries. The follow-up meeting is expected this Friday at the border.

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