Théodomir Nsengiyumva is nursing serious wounds after he was badly beaten by officers from Uganda People Defence Force (UPDF), who later dumped him at Cyanika Border Post over the weekend. Until last week on Friday, the 42-year-old man had lived in Uganda for over four years working as a farmer and casual labourer in Rushebeya Village, Gatsiba Parish in Kabale District. Narrating his ordeal, Nsengiyumva noted that it all started in the morning on Friday, April 24, following a dispute that erupted between him and a neighbour over a boundary of the farm which him and his wife, a Ugandan, were cultivating. Nsengiyumva said that when they were cultivating around the boundary of their farm, a neighbour started complaining that they had gone beyond their boundary, and she immediately called UPDF soldiers. “When the soldiers came, they immediately started beating us, without even verifying the boundaries to see if indeed we had gone beyond ours – which was not the case,” he said, adding that besides the two officers, there were two other men who were in civilian attire. He added that as the beating intensified, the soldiers kept asking him why he was in Uganda. “I was badly beaten around my back and on the legs; I was screaming and whoever came to the rescue would turn back on seeing it was soldiers beating me and my wife,” he said. He added that later, he was put in a vehicle and driven towards the border, where he was dumped. The victim who hails from Bungwe Sector, one of sectors of Burera District that share a border with Uganda, was rushed to Bungwe Health Centre by Rwanda National Police officers, after he was picked from the border. He was later on transferred to Rugarama Health Centre where he is currently receiving medical care. During the interview on Sunday, Nsengiyumva noted that though his health was improving and the pain subsiding, he was afraid he could get a permanent disability. Besides getting medical treatment, Nsengiyumba was placed on 14-day quarantine that looks to assess whether he might be carrying coronavirus.
