Uganda cries for EAC’s help over Rwanda border wrangles

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Uganda is considering petitioning the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania, to challenge what it perceives as Rwanda’s economic sabotage in breach of the regional bloc’s guidelines, a minister said on Sunday.

Mr. Philemon Mateke, the State Minister for Regional Cooperation, told Daily Monitor on Sunday evening that he would confer with his senior line minister, Mr. Kirunda Kivejinja, on the petition “because interfering with cross-border trade by Rwanda violates the East African Community guidelines yet it (Rwanda) is the chair of the community.”

Kigali at the end of last month abruptly stopped vehicles from Uganda from entering Rwanda through Katuna, citing ongoing construction works at Gatuna side of the frontier. 

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A senior official familiar with the goings-on between the countries, but who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Rwanda’s last-minute notification about closing Gatuna border post was suspicious because road works are planned in advance, and it unlikely informed its sudden decision.


President Kagame, the immediate past African Union chairman, succeeded President Museveni as EAC chair last month amid rising tension and long-standing counter-accusations, including claims that either government is propping up subversive elements against the other. 
Rwanda’s ambassador to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambage, yesterday said he was “engaged” and unable to speak on Kampala’s latest charges.

After days of quiet, Uganda opened up, with Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo dismissing the allegations by Kigali against Uganda, including of indiscriminate incarceration of its nationals, as baseless.

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