Museveni’s letter to Kagame: Was there any coded message?

On July 24, 2018, I made a facebook post that went thus: ‘Breaking news: Fugitive Rwandan Diplomat Eugene Gasana may have…; details to follow.’ Many Ugandans, of course, didn’t know Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana. But a highly placed Rwandan official expressed interest in the post and privately asked for details. I didn’t respond to him.
Until President Museveni’s letter to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda leaked to the press, Gasana was (supposed to be) living in complete anonymity (and under the radar of Rwanda’s intelligence services). Even up to now, I don’t think Ugandans care about the said Gasana. Let us call him ‘Bugeni’ (as any street child in Kigali’s Gatsata or Gachingiro would do).
Mr Museveni said he had thought he was going to meet Gasana; an old acquaintance from his Ntare School days, who was later to log in a lengthy service as a Uganda diplomat. It is true that the said Bugeni (Eugene) Gasana is not the guy who studied with Mr Museveni at Ntare School. Bugeni lived in Burundi.
The guy who studied with Museveni at Ntare School was called Emmanuel Gasana. Indeed he served in Uganda’s Foreign Service for a long time until 1994, when he absconded from duty and went to Rwanda. The said Emmanuel Gasana was from Namutamba or some place in that geography in central Uganda. To the best of my recollections, Emmanuel Gasana was related to Mr Armstrong Gatete (former news reader on Radio Uganda in the 1980s).
I first met Emmanuel Gasana in 1996 (or thereabouts) when he was one of the senior aides to Paul Kagame (then vice president and minister for Defence). He told me that when he left Uganda’s mission in Ethiopia, he sold his car to ‘that fellow at the Ugandan Embassy in Kigali. He is the Secretary to Embassy. You ask him. I served in Uganda’s Foreign Service for a long time’.
When Vice President Kagame became president, he moved with all his aides to Village Urugwiro (State House); save for Emmanuel Gasana.
I remember President Kagame attended Emmanuel Gasana’s burial (or funeral) in early 2000s. So, you can imagine the shock and surprise when Mr Museveni wrote that he had thought he was going to meet Emmanuel Gasana (RIP)? And to make matters worse, Mr Museveni even revealed that he met Bugeni (the fugitive Rwandan diplomat Eugene Gasana). The issues between President Kagame and Bugeni Gasana are personal; and I have a strong feeling that Mr Museveni knows this fact. So, did Museveni have to bring the said Bugeni in the middle of this diplomatic row?
Which is why we ask: Was the leaked letter laden with a payload (message) our ordinary eyes could not see? After all, the text and texture of the letter lacked the rhythm and flow always associated with communication at president-to-president level. With the direct reference to Bugeni, was Mr Museveni trying to psychologically unsettle Kagame? Was there a need to mention Jack Nziza and Dan Muyuza (other than those names and actions attributed to them carrying a direct message to the addressee)?
Even then, who leaked the letter? It is the general practice in office administration and management that a letter written in confidence from one principal to another would be beyond the reach of the personal assistant.
But the bigger question is: How did we expect the Rwandans to respond to this leaked letter? Paul Kagame made an impromptu visit to Angola. My fear is that a mad man may take advantage of this feud and provoke one of the two protagonists to make a strategic mistake.