As if issuing passports to RNC terrorist wasn’t bad enough for business, Museveni stages Kabale rally to blame his victim

On Saturday, February 21, right after the Summit at Gatuna border post, that brought together President Paul Kagame, Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni and the Presidents of Angola, Joao Lourenҫo and his Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) counterpart Etienne Tshisekedi, as the mediators continue efforts to help end the standoff between Rwanda and Uganda, the Ugandan President made a stunning headline. On his way back from the Summit, Museveni addressed a public rally at the town of Kabale. In spite of the overwhelming evidence, that had just been tabled at the Summit, indicting the Uganda government for its funding and support of Rwanda National Congress (RNC), a terrorist organization that has targeted Rwanda over the years, as well as the Final Communiqué of the Summit, requiring Uganda to put an end to the activities of the RNC on its territory, Museveni declared that accusations that his government actively supports the RNC, are untrue and that Uganda doesn’t host any leaders and members of the group. Clearly, the President was spoiling for a fight and was making it abundantly clear that he is going to work to undermine the Luanda process at any cost. President Museveni drew the line in the sand even before the ink on the “Final Communiqué”, which his government had just signed had dried. You get an idea of how serious the President’s message is to Kampala when you take a closer look at who in the Ugandan news media gave the story prominence to highlight its importance. Uganda government Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI)’s mouthpiece, Chimpreports on February 21, 2020, published a lead story proclaiming that “Museveni Blames Diplomatic Row on Rwandan Army…” Reading from the same script, government-owned New Vision on February 23, 2020, run an almost identical front-page story: “Museveni Blames Border closure on RPF internal fights”. Museveni’s statement was so provocative some of his most ardent propagandists were taken aback wondering what exactly motivated him into such unhelpful and empty utterances, with Chimpreports concluding that “Museveni’s statements just hours after today’s meeting were possibly meant to project strength and innocence in the wake of serious accusations …” For keen observers of the Great Lakes politics and Rwanda-Uganda relations in the last quarter of a century, President Museveni’s statement at the rally in Kabale doesn’t come as a surprise. If he chooses to ditch the Luanda process, as his angry but outlandish message seems to suggest, it wouldn’t be the first time. President Museveni has, over the years, turned around to reject resolutions agreed upon between the two countries whenever he has sensed that mediation efforts are succeeding. Indeed, his timing has always been impeccable. Just before he and President Kagame met in London for a meeting in 2001, convened by then British Minister for Overseas Development, Claire Short after Museveni’s disgraceful letter to the British minister, the Ugandan President struck. According to the International Crisis Group (ICG)’s December 21, 2001 report released in Brussels and Nairobi, Museveni, in a provocative move “appointed Major General James Kazini as acting head of the army to replace Lt General Jeje Odongo, the day before the London meeting, a decision according to the report that did not “bode well for Uganda’s interest in reconciliation. General Kazini had been clearly identified by a Joint Investigation team set up by Presidents Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni after the fight between the armies of the two countries in 1999, in Kisangani, as the sole individual responsible for the clashes. The report further pointed out that: “The replacement of Odongo by Kazini appears to be a clear sign that Ugandan leaders are not inclined to accept responsibility for the clashes”. Uganda has been, during the process, accusing Rwanda of “aggressive spying”, an allegation deliberately amplified by the Ugandan media. This allegation which happens to be the only one that Kampala has been peddling over the years proved baseless and unfounded, it never featured in the February 14, 2020 Ad Hoc Commission meeting in Kigali and was not part of the subsequent Communiqué and its resolutions. Perhaps even more revealing was that Uganda’s purported key grievance was never brought up at the February 21, 2020, Summit at Gatuna. On the contrary, at both the Kigali Ad Hoc Commission meeting and later at the Summit at Gatuna Uganda’s support and funding for RNC dominated the proceedings. The Summit tasked Uganda to verify RNC terrorist activities on its territory, an exercise that must, in turn, be “verified and confirmed by the Ad Hoc Ministerial Commission for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding of Luanda”. The key issue to Uganda in all these deliberations has been the alleged closure of the border between the two countries and the Summit resolved that once Uganda has verified RNC activities and taken “all measures to stop and prevent it from happening again”, the border would be re-opened. Clearly, if it wasn’t for the level of diplomacy that characterizes such processes involving Heads of State, Uganda’s culpability and complicity in RNC activities is evident. It is evident, not in what was reflected in the Summit Communiqué, but in what was left out. If, indeed, there had been a doubt in the minds of the mediators about Uganda’s role in the activities of the RNC, one would have expected the Final Communiqué of the Fourth Quadripartite Summit in Gatuna to include a clause requiring Rwanda to “open” the border in the event that the verification proved there are no RNC activities on Ugandan territory. This was left out precisely because the principal mediators knew the truth. The most striking indictment of Uganda’s role with the RNC is the timely coincidence of Museveni’s falsehoods and denials in Kabale, with the breaking news in all of Uganda’s news media on the same day, that his government had relented under pressure from Rwanda and had finally revoked the RNC’s Chief of Diplomacy, Charlotte Mukankusi’s passport, that was issued by Kampala to enable her travel around the world doing the terrorist outfit’s outreach work. She has frequented Kampala, the most recent being a trip she made in January to mobilize and consult with other RNC leaders hosted by that country, as well as meeting top Uganda government officials. It should be recalled that Museveni, early last year, publicly admitted that he has met Charlotte Mukankusi in her capacity as the head of RNC diplomacy. What, therefore, boggles the mind is how Museveni thinks he can somehow make all that disappear by staging a few minutes rally in some remote town, to blame the victim.

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As if issuing passports to RNC terrorist wasn’t bad enough for business, Museveni stages Kabale rally to blame his victim