The Special Forces Commando unit that guards President Museveni has been withdrawn from Rwanda after the head-of-state cancelled his planned trip to the Capital, Kigali.
President Museveni had confirmed his attendance at the much anticipated African Union Extraordinary Summit on the African Continental Free Trade Area set for 21 March 2018.
The Kigali Extraordinary Summit was agreed to during the ordinary session of the Assembly of the Union held in Addis Ababa in late January 2018.
The Free Trade Area is one of the flagship projects of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063 and aims to deepen the integration process which Museveni has campaigned for many years of his presidency.
The function is being driven forward along with other key related initiatives such as the Single African Air Transport Market and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport.
ChimpReports has learned that the last advance team of President Museveni flew out of Kigali on Sunday night.
It remains unclear why Museveni decided to cancel the trip.
But this development comes just days after Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo made controversial remarks about Uganda during a recent press conference in Kigali.
Mushikiwabo, who called a press briefing to discuss the anticipated African leaders’ summit in Kigali, accused Uganda of mistreating Rwandans.
Mushikiwabo was quoted by the media as saying Kigali was concerned about continued mistreatment of Rwandans in Uganda despite the presidents’ meeting to discuss the issues.
“When something like this happens to countries, we try to talk as leaders to resolve these issues. President [Paul] Kagame met his Ugandan counterpart [Yoweri Museveni] in Ethiopia on the sidelines of the African Union summit and discussed the issues. What we want is to see these issues resolved because there no reasons Rwandans should continue to be mistreated as we have seen in Uganda,” Ms Mushikiwabo said.
Kigali has previously accused Kampala of illegal detention and torture of its citizens and harboring dissents intent on destabilizing Rwanda.
Uganda, however, says those arrested were suspected of being spies and harassing Rwandan refugees.
Informed officials say the Ugandan government was shocked to see Mushikiwabo blasting Museveni’s government at a press conference.
“It would have been difficult for President Museveni to attend the Kigali Summit under these circumstances,” said an official informed about this latest development.
Deputy Presidential Press Secretary Lindah Nabusayi referred this website to her boss Don Wanyama who promised to get back to us on the matter.
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as this is a sensitive matter, said Mushikiwabo should have discussed Rwanda’s concerns with diplomats not at a press conference.
The impact of this development on Uganda’s relations with Rwanda remains unknown.
But both Kampala and Kigali insist they are doing everything in their means to strengthen their bilateral ties.
President Museveni in January met with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The move was seen as an attempt to breathe new life into Uganda’s sour relations with Rwanda.
During the Kigali function, leaders will hold consultations on other important aspects of the African agenda, including peace and security and the institutional reform of the African Union.
Source: http://chimpreports.com/
