How Uganda brokered final deal with Rwanda

The State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Henry Oryem Okello, has described President Museveni’s decision to dispatch his son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for talks with Rwanda President Paul Kagame as the game-changer in talks between the two countries.

Speaking to Sunday Monitor on Friday morning, the minister indicated that talks between the two countries had been ongoing nonstop and at all levels since February 2019 when the border was closed, but seemed to have failed to yield results.

Mr Oryem described President Museveni’s deployment of Gen Kainerugaba, who is also a senior presidential adviser on special operations, and commander of Land Forces of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), as the “last card” and one that had yielded results.

“Lt Gen Muhoozi’s appearance, I would say was the last card in a situation where the different avenues had been utilised (and not yielded results) and you do not use your last card until it is necessary and the timing is right. You also must be very mindful to use it in a very strategic way,” Mr Oryem said.

Mr Oryem said one should, however, be careful when taking a decision to play his or last card in a delicate game of diplomacy such as the one that Uganda and Rwanda have been engaged in over the last 35 months.

“If you mistime, you can cause an embarrassment to yourself. In our case, if Muhoozi’s deployment had failed, it would mean there is no other avenue. Everything has been exhausted” the minister said.

Mr Oryem’s comments come in the wake of an announcement by Rwanda on Thursday afternoon that the common border between the two countries at Gatuna/Katuna, will be opened tomorrow, a month shy of three years since it was first closed to both human and cargo traffic.

“…the government of Rwanda has taken note that there is a process to solve issues raised by Rwanda, as well as commitments made by the Government of Uganda to address remaining obstacles,” the statement reads.

“In this regard and in line with the communique of the 4th Quadripartite Summit held at Gatuna/Katuna on February 21 2020, the Government of Rwanda wishes to inform the public that the Gatuna border post between Rwanda and Uganda will be reopened from January 31,” the statement further reads.

The statement was released five days after Lt Gen Kainerugaba, who held talks with President Kagame in Kigali on January 22.

The talks seem to have yielded immediate results as he secured the immediate release from Rwandan custody, of a UPDF soldier, Pte Ronald Arinda, who is said to have “strayed” into Rwanda.

Lt Gen Kainerugaba’s involvement in the talks between the two countries came almost two years after an impasse in talks.

Whereas Mr Oryem indicated that there has been a nonstop process aimed at normalising relations and see the border reopened, sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Sunday Monitor that very little progress had been made since late in December 2019 when Mr Museveni first dispatched Mr Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to Kigali with a special message to President Kagame.

Mr Museveni seems to have engaged a bigger gear this year, beginning with sending Mr Ayebare to deliver another special message on January 17.

A day before Mr Ayebare arrived in Kigali, Lt Gen Kainerugaba had taken to Twitter where he posted photographs of Mr Kagame and alluded to close ties between the Museveni and Kagame families.

“This is my uncle, Afande Paul Kagame. Those who fight him are fighting my family. They should all be careful” he posted.

Gen Kainerugaba also took to Twitter following his talks with President Kagame.

“We held very cordial and in-depth discussions about how to improve our bilateral relations. I’m confident that under the leadership of our two presidents, we shall be able to quickly restore our historical good relations,” he tweeted.

Mr Oryem was, however, quick to point out that the deployment of a member of the First Family, should not have come as a surprise to Ugandans and should also not be considered an all too knew development as it has happened elsewhere.

“What President Museveni has done by deploying Muhoozi is nothing news in Diplomacy. President Trump would use his son in-law and his daughter for very serious diplomatic engagements with Russia, with Europeans, with NATO and they would yield results at that level,” he said.

He added: “We have seen it in the UK where the Royal Family is used to open avenues of diplomacy or open avenues for business and commerce on many occasions. That close, personal intimate engagement can yield results where there might be difficulties,” Mr Oryem said.

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