Every now and then Uganda’s authorities publish articles that exploit the late General Fred Rwigema for political propaganda against Rwanda. They published two last month, with the most recent published on April 28 and titled “the RPF invasion of Rwanda and the death of Rwigyema”. They claim to love Rwigema more than Rwanda does but they don’t realize that the authorities in Rwanda would never reduce their hero to something of a propaganda chip to play around with as a means of provocation. In the article, published in the state-owned newspaper The New Vision, they can’t help but refer to the Banyarwanda who had liberated them and left to liberate their own country as “our boys.” This patronizing attitude from the authorities in Uganda doesn’t cease to amaze; they appear to be tone-deaf to the fact that without a patronizing attitude on their part perhaps there would never have been a crisis between the two countries. As Dr Besigye once said, something has to be wrong with a leader who thinks that authorities of a sovereign country are his “Abazukulu.” “But it emerged later that the attack had the backing of many top NRA leaders and that is how it succeeded,” the author writes to take credit for the success of the RPA. However, just recently the same newspaper argued that the RPA “disintegrated” in the initial days of its attack because it didn’t have experienced commanders. It seems the authorities in Kampala want to associate themselves with the successes of the RPA while distancing themselves from the setbacks the force faced when it launched an attack in October 1990. Of course, everyone knows that the support the Banyarwanda gave to the NRA struggle far outweighs anything the authorities in Kampala ever contributed to the RPA liberation. Banyarwanda spilled blood to liberate Uganda and of course benefited from not having a hostile rear-base as well as a route for its logistics from the Mombasa port. One would think those who spilled blood would be loud about their contributions compared to those who provided a passage route for goods they didn’t even purchase. Moreover, unless the state newspaper wants to portray the President of Uganda as a liar, the idea that the RPF attack had “the backing of top NRA leaders” is not supported by Museveni’s declarations. Indeed, Museveni is quoted in William Pike’s book describing how surprised he was by the attack and that contrary to what they are now saying he had been working with Habyarimana, sharing information behind the back of the RPF. “This took us by surprise. We had been getting intelligence reports which we shared with the Rwanda authorities (Juvenal Habyarimana’s government) but they were not confirmed,” Museveni said. “We got some information that people were deserting but what surprised us was the scale and rapidity of the desertions.” The authorities in Kampala then venture into ambiguity because the facts are not on their side. “Maj. Paul Kagame was recalled from training in the US and appointed as the new leader of RPF, replacing Rwigyema,” they write with emphasis on “appointed” to suggest that they had a role in this decision because the “Bazukulu” cannot make decisions of their own. Again, this is another way to try to claim credit for Kagame’s success from the time he arrived at the scene to reorganize the force and subsequently as the president of Rwanda. However, if the authorities in Kampala are so good at identifying good leaders what stops them from doing the same for their country? More dubious reporting shifts to the circumstances leading to President Pasteur Bizimungu’s resignation in 2000. How a story about the attack of the RPA in October 1990 was covered in The New Vision at the time diverts to Bizimungu keeping a “low profile” nowadays remains a mystery. If the authorities in Kampala had not made it a habit to manipulate events in Rwanda for propaganda reasons one would have concluded that this is innocent incompetence and leave it at that. However, the pattern of behavior from Kampala of attempting to manipulate Gen Rwigema’s death to divide the RPF and drive a wedge in the RDF gives the game away. “Questions remain about the death of Rwigyema,” they write to invent non-existent questions. For all Rwigema did for Ugandans, the decent thing to do would be to allow him the much-deserved rest in peace. But we should by now know how much decency we should expect from Kampala.
