After NRA’s victory, Rwandans did not settle in Uganda and claim any recognition or seek spoils of war; they went home!
In an opinion in Chimp report, one Rudasingwa, member of an anti-Rwanda militia based in Uganda, claims that ‘Kagame would not have taken power without Museveni’s support’.
His opinion is as irrelevant as it is untrue. Irrelevant in the sense that there is no way to verify that, and untrue because historical evidence actually disagree with him, in fact the opposite is true!
Many Rwandans paid with their blood and sweat in the liberation of Uganda. Upon the formation of the National Resistant Army (NRA) Rwandan refugees constituted an important fighting force. Yet, after NRA’s victory, Rwandans did not settle in Uganda and claim any recognition or seek spoils of war; they went home!
Rwandans went home to Rwanda and never turned back. In fact, there are anecdotes of Ugandans who pursued them and attempted upon RPF’s victory, to forage on Rwandan soil and were prevented. There was no Ugandan who died in the Rwandan struggle.
It is not uncommon – as the Ugandan public is now used to – of Ugandan officers, active and retired, to publicly declare their entitlement to capturing wealth, often illicitly, due to their war effort half a century ago.
But it is not surprising that such an individual would write this. I am told by true freedom fighters that when both wars were being fought the man was simply not there. He wasn’t a member of the NRM and as such never took part in the Ugandan bush war. Later, when Rwandans decided to go and liberate their country, the man was nowhere to be seen, for he did not have what it took to withstand the abnegation and sacrifices that were demanded of freedom fighters.
Rwandans cannot be accused of Ubutindi, since no harm has ever been visited upon Ugandan citizens living and thriving in Rwanda as a retaliation to Ugandan government’s violent actions taken against Rwandan citizens. Similarly, unlike their neighbor, no Ugandan enemy has ever found sanctuary in Rwandan, as the saying goes, no sword drawn against Uganda has ever prospered on Rwandan soil. In the misguided article, several names of Rwandans are alleged to have fell victim of the Rwandan government; no single Ugandan is listed!
It shows inherent dishonesty then, that the author complains of ‘insults’ from independent sources allegedly targeting Ugandan leaders, but conveniently ignores the physical and material suffering of Rwandan citizens at the hand of official Ugandan institutions, namely the CMI and the Ugandan police.
Moreover, the author uses a treacherous technique known as ‘accusation in mirror’. Following the decried border closure, Ugandan authorities have been on record denigrating the Rwandan market and the Rwandan people. Yet, no Rwandan official has been heard speaking ill of Uganda. On the contrary, Rwandan leaders were open in earnest in their plight to their Ugandan counterparts, seeking an end to the harassment of Rwandan citizens in Uganda.
This, in a nutshell, is the crux of the conflict between our two countries: false equivalence, intrigues and lies; where Ugandans complain of the border closure with no intention of addressing its root cause; namely the harassment, detention and torture of Rwandan citizens travelling or residing in Uganda. The question is, if no Rwandan was being harassed in Uganda, would there had been any border closure in the first place?
Citizens of the sisterly nations, namely Rwanda and Uganda have not benefited from the conflict. This is no time for settling scores for we are bound by geography until the end of times. I shall refrain from using disparaging language, unlike the author in Chimp report. That he unscrupulously attempts to exacerbate the schism between brothers-in-arms really speaks to the character of the man and proves the point of this article. It is quite telling that the author takes as reference of truth late president Habyarimana; the man who planned the genocide against the Tutsi.
It is always those who did the least, who make the most noise. The man who preferred to continue living abroad during the RPF struggle, was among the first to claim the rewards of its victory. But his shaky morals couldn’t allow him to last. It is not surprising then, that today he has become an outspoken enemy of the RPF and, as sad as sounds, for a man who was brought back to Rwanda by the movement that stopped the genocide, to have now joined hands with its perpetrators – the FDLR.
