Kagame: Museveni to Blame for Prolonged Uganda-Rwanda Crisis

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has insisted that his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni is responsible for the standoff between Kampala and Kigali.

Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have remained frosty, with either country blaming the other.

Kigali accuses Kampala of sending her nationals to spy on Uganda with the intention of destabilizing the country.

On the other hand, Kigali blames Kampala for arresting and detaining her nationals and for reportedly backing rebels seeking to topple Kagame.

The relations hit a low in February 2019 when Kagame announced the closure of the Katuna/Gatuna, the border point between Uganda and Rwanda, disrupting trade and complicating relations between the two nations.

The two presidents even held talks at the Katuna/Gatuna border, and signed an extradition treaty  on release of detainees, among other issues.

But the talks have not yielded much in as far as ending the crisis is concerned. Two months ago, in September, 2021, Kampala proposed a meeting to review the implementation of the terms of the 2019 agreement.

In response, Rwandan foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta told his Ugandan counterpart Gen Jeje Odongo: “No meeting is planned for now, but Rwanda remains open to follow-up dialogue on the issues raised.”

Now, in a November 21 meeting with Aljazeera, Paul Kagame read from his script of blame, accusing Uganda of continuing to harass Rwandans.

“We have had situations where Rwandans suffer or are not allowed to go to Uganda to do their business normally. The establishment in Uganda simply hunts down Rwandans wherever they find them,” said Kagame.

“They have all kinds of pretexts they put forth; talking about insecurity that is caused by Rwandans, and we have raised issues around that which amount to persecution rather than anything originating from Rwandans that go to Uganda. But when Ugandans come to Rwanda, they have not experienced the same hardships as Rwandans do when they go to Uganda.”