“This is my uncle, Afande Paul Kagame. Those who fight him are fighting my family. They should all be careful.”
Muhoozi Kainerugaba – Commander Land forces, UPDF
First son and Uganda people’s defence forces(UPDF) Commander of land forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has warned “those who fight” Rwandan president Paul Kagame saying they are “fighting his family.”
Muhoozi wrote on his official Twitter handle.
Uganda and Rwanda have for the past 3 years been in a diplomatic cold war with allegations being thrown around from both sides.
Rwanda accuses Uganda of harbouring discedents against the government of Rwanda whereas Uganda counter accuses Rwanda of the same.
How it all started
Kagame closes border
During the time of the border closure, Rwandan authorities accused Uganda of abducting Rwandan citizens and locking them up in ungazetted areas. Rwandan nationals were also advised against travelling to Uganda, on grounds that there safety could not be guaranteed.
Telecom officials deported
In January 2019 at the height of the diplomatic row, Uganda deported a French and Rwandan executive from telecoms group MTN, accusing them of planning to compromise national security, while other employees were being investigated for alleged incitement to violence.
Chief Marketing Officer, Olivier Prentout and head of Sales and Distribution, Annie Bilenge Tabura, were deported to France and Rwanda respectively.
Police said on Twitter that the pair were deported “over their engagements in acts which compromise national security”, without giving further details.
2021 PEGASUS leak; Kagame spies on Uganda
In August 2021, an investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) linked Rwanda to a series of wiretapped conversations of top Ugandan officials.
The OCCRP issued a detailed report on Monday indicating how Rwanda wiretapped on various phone conversations of Uganda’s top officials including ex-Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and former Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa.
The report alleged that Israeli-made spyware was also used to monitor phone conversations of director-general of External Security Organisation (ESO) Joseph Ocwet.
Talks along the closed border
The last time Kagame and Museveni met physically was in February 2020 at the Uganda-Rwanda border at Katuna. Expectations were high that the summit would culminate in the opening of the border a year after it had been shut down by Rwanda. It turned out to be another symbolic meeting but without much takeaway.
Present were Angolan President Joao Lourenco and the DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi who were present at other summits held in Luanda, Angola. It was the last major summit between the two and few expect anything of the sort to happen again.
Regardless of the row, the two countries maintain embassies in each other’s capitals.
The good old days
Museveni and Kagame have not always been at loggerheads. The Ugandan president actually conferred upon President Kagame the highest honour available in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa medal.
During these good old days, Kagame and Museveni’s families spent holidays like Christmas together.
President Kagame and other members of his Rwandan Patriotic Front fought alongside Museveni in the 1980s. In return, he supported their struggle in the 1990s.
