Ad Hoc committee meeting in Kampala Dec 2019
The ink is barely dry on the latest communiques from the next round of meetings to resolve the ongoing Rwanda-Uganda crisis, and there are signs that Uganda is looking for reasons to renege on any agreement that may be reached, or pull out of the negotiations altogether.
For anyone following Uganda’s often inexplicable anti Rwanda machinations, there is some sense madness. Actions being contemplated, or already decided upon, are almost always heralded by one or other publications, like Spyreports, which are controlled by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
As well its own publications purporting to be independent news websites, CMI has its own pool of writers, who are unleased against Rwanda, in particular spewing vulgar insults against the person of Rwanda’s head of state, Paul Kagame.
These include Charles Kambanda, Sula Nuwamanya Wakabiligi, Gideon Rukundo Rugali, Titus Seruga, and arguably the star of the motley crew, one Robert Patrick Fati Gakwerere, a pseudonym used by Kayumba Nyamwasa, who now heads the Rwanda National Congress (RNC).
Like Kayumba Nyamwasa, almost all of these names are Rwandans, fugitives from their own country, now being used by CMI in an effort to destabilise their country of birth.
Charles Kambanda, now teaching in the United States, was dismissed from the National University of Rwanda, for gross misconduct, where he earned the nickname Professor Grades-for-Sex.
When he is not writing insults against President Kagame, Kambanda publishes opinions denying genocide.
In an apparent effort to deliberately sabotage the ongoing negotiations, CMI seems to have directed the poisoned pens of Kayumba Nyamwasa and his merry men, including Kambanda, to begin leaking the pernicious claims against Angola, one of the mediators.
The current basis for discussions to resolve the crisis, are based on the MoU signed in the Angolan capital of Luanda.
In claims that most likely presage an intention to renege on that agreement, CMI’s writing pool is claiming that Angola is “too close to Rwanda.” The reality is of course that both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it was first agreed to hold meetings in Luanda, and Angola itself, are directly affected by the armed groups that have been wreaking havoc in the region and destroying lives.
In an effort to find a pretext to tear up the Luanda MoU, members of RNC like Eugene Gasana, a close lieutenant to Kayumba Nyamwasa, has been crossing the region, touting what he claims are improper business interests between the Rwandan leadership and Angola.
The reality is ofcourse that both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it was first agreed to hold meetings in Luanda, and Angola itself, are directly affected by the armed groups that have been wreaking havoc in the region and destroying lives.
But all this febrile activity, intensified insults, are also to muddy the waters about Rwanda’s clear evidence of Uganda’s support for terrorist groups like RNC, and divert attention to these spurious claims.
It is likely to be a futile exercise. Rwanda has steadfastly held the moral high ground, always insisting that the crisis can resolved, and committing to discuss the issues whenever Uganda is ready to do so.
Far from being an issue, Angola and the DRC are in many ways the perfect mediators. Not only the two countries have an intimate understanding of the issues, they are distanced enough from the disagreements, to help find common ground between the parties in conflict, Rwanda and Uganda.
And having all but admitted Rwanda’s grievances to be well founded, it is now almost certainly too late for Uganda to try to wriggle out of its responsibility for these grievances.
The cat is already out of the bag, there is really no going back, best for the Ugandan leadership to grit its teeth, and follow through with the agreement to end the crisis.
