Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Frank Mugambage has dispelled reports that a female victim of a gun incident in Entebbe, Uganda is Rwandan. Ugandan government-owned publication, New Vision, published an article alleging that a woman shot dead on Thursday night in Entebbe was Rwandan. However, the envoy rejected the claim terming it as propaganda deliberately falsifying identities. “We have been trying to find out. What is coming out is that they are Ugandan although there has been a lot of media propaganda portraying them as Rwandan citizens,” he said. She was shot dead along with another person, a man. Uganda’s Police said in a statement that its Directorate of Criminal Investigation confirmed that the female victim was a Ugandan from Mbarara District. They identified the victim as 37-year-old Merina Tumukunde. The false reports had also featured on a number of Ugandan news sites as well as social media platforms. Pro-Kampala publications have for some time now been doing everything possible to blame the Rwandan government for any murder case involving Rwandans. And observers say New Vision’s misleading report was designed to drag Rwanda’s name into the Entebbe fatal shooting. Rwandans have, beginning early this year, reduced travel to Uganda in light of a travel advisory following illegal arrests, torture and deportations at the hands of Ugandan authorities. Evidence has surfaced pinning Uganda on aiding several anti-Rwanda armed groups, including FDLR, the offshoot of forces and militia largely blamed for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and FLN, which last year made incursions on Rwandan territory through Burundi, killing at least nine civilians and wounding several others. There is also ample evidence of Uganda’s support for RNC terrorist organisation of fugitive Kayumba Nyamwasa. An agreement recently signed in Angola’s capital, Luanda, between President Paul Kagame and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, with the two leaders committing to work to normalise relations has yielded nothing so far. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
