Five Rwandans were on Sunday, March 7, deported from Uganda after being illegally detained in the country for varying periods. They were dropped at around 8pm at Kagitumba One-Stop Border Post in Nyagatare District and were received by Rwandan immigration officers. They have been identified as Michel Matabaro (58), Tresor Hirwa (30), David Rukundo (25), Patrick Rugema (22) and Muhamad Ndaheranwa aged 25. They are part of the thousands of Rwandans who have been dumped at the border by Ugandan authorities after lengthy periods of detention. In February this year, another group of seven Rwandans, including a one-year-old baby, were handed over to Rwanda one of them a woman who could not walk due to a torturous ordeal. The five had gone to Uganda at different times and for different reasons, with some having lived and worked there for years. Michel Matabaro Matabaro, 58, travelled to Uganda in 2016 through porous border to Kyenkwanzi District where he got a job as a casual worker. He was arrested on January 21, 2021. He was then detained in Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and stood accused of being a member of ADEPR church – the Pentecostal church of Rwanda. ADEPR which had opened branches in Uganda, has over the years had its members tortured in the neighbouring country over unfounded accusations that they were spying for Rwanda. Before he went to Uganda, Matabaro was a resident of Kayonza District. Tresor Hirwa The 30-year-old travelled to Uganda in 2017 and had since established a retail business dealing in used clothes and shoes in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Hirwa, who lived in Gasabo District before he relocated to Uganda, was arrested on September 22, 2020 by CMI and stood accused of being in Uganda illegally. He has effectively been in detention for six months. David Rukundo Rukundo lived in Nyagatare District before leaving the country for Uganda in January last year. Rukundo, 25 years, travelled to Kenya through Uganda using ungazetted border exits. He was arrested on January 19 in Busia, a border town near Kenya, when he was trying to get back into Uganda. According to available information, Uganda’s security officers tried to get money from him, which he did not have. When he failed to raise the bribe, he was thrown in a detention facility where he stayed for five days before being transferred to CMI headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala. Patrick Rugema Rugema, who is also the youngest in the group, hails from Muhanga District, Southern Province. The 22-year-old went to Kenya in December 2019 through Tanzania. Rugema was going to visit his brother and he was arrested when he tried to return through Uganda in September last year. He stood accused of espionage and detained for five days. After the initial five days, Ugandan security organs released him to return home (Rwanda), but was rearrested and taken to Makenke military barracks in Mbarara District. Rugema was later transferred to CMI on the same charges of espionage. Muhammed Mudaheranwa Mudaheranwa travelled to Uganda in 2018 from DR Congo through Bunagana border, as a bus conductor. He was arrested on September 23, 2020 in Kampala and was detained at Mbuya CMI on accusations of being a spy. Illegal detentions of Rwandan nationals in Uganda is one of the issues at the heart of strained relations between the two neighbours; others being Kampala’s alleged support to anti-Kigali militia groups and economic sabotage. The two governments have since held a series of high-profile meetings, including at the Heads of State level, under the facilitation of Angola and DR Congo, in bid to find a lasting solution. The last meeting of the four Heads of State took place in February 2020 at the Gatuna border post prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.
