President Paul Kagame on Monday, March 14 received in his office the Commander of the Land Forces in the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Muhoozi, who arrived in Kigali Monday morning, was in the country as part of the ongoing efforts to normalize relations between the two countries, which have been icy for nearly four years. The details of the meeting, which took place in Village Urugwiro, were not available by press time. On arrival in Kigali, Muhoozi was welcomed at Kigali International Airport by Anne Katusiime the Ugandan Deputy High Commission to Rwanda and Brig. Gen. Willy Rwagasana, the Commandant of the Republican Guard. Also part of the welcome party was Col Ronald Rwivanga, the Spokesperson of Rwanda Defence Force. In late February, Muhoozi, who is also the Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations, had announced plans to travel back to Kigali and ‘sort out outstanding issues’ between Uganda and Rwanda. Muhoozi arrived in Kigali for the second time this morning after his first official visit in late January 2022, where he held a tête-à-tête with President Kagame. Rwanda and Uganda’s bilateral relations have started blossoming as the borders between the two countries were re-opened in late January 2022. The borders were closed in 2018 following a number of grievances by Rwanda which Uganda had failed to address. These included hosting hostile groups which use Uganda as a base to plan activities to destabilise Rwanda and enjoy support from some Ugandan public institutions. Other grivances include the arbitrary arrest, abduction, torture and illegal detention of Rwandans by Ugandan security forces, among others.
