Katuna meeting: 10th attempt to solve Uganda - Rwanda stand-off

Peace talks. Left to right: Presidents Sassou Nguesso (Congo Brazaville) Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Joao Mauel Laurenco (Angola), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo) hold hands in solidarity after signing a Memorandum of Understanding between Uganda and Rwanda at the Presidents Place in Luanda , Angola on Wednesday August 21, 2019. PPU PHOTO

What you need to know:

Neighbourhood. Relations between the two countries have been blowing hot and cold for different reasons and at different points in time.

Yesterday’s meeting between presidents Museveni and Paul Kagame was the 10 major round of talks that the two principals have held to mend relations between Uganda and Rwanda over the last two decades.
Relations between the two countries have been blowing hot and cold for different reasons and at different points in time. The very first time relations hit an all-time low was in August 1999, when the armies of the two countries faced off in the DR Congo’s Kisangani City.
The latest round of talks has largely been over the feeling in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, that Uganda has been, among other things, of help to the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), headed by exiled former Rwandan army chief, Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa.

August 1999, Mweya, Kasese, Uganda.
Though Mr Kagame was by then the vice president and minister of defence in Kiagali, it was he who attended the first meeting that took place at Mweya Safari Lodge in Kasese between August 16 and August 18, 1999. The talks followed fierce fighting earlier that month between the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) in Kisangani.
The Mweya talks, which were preceded by physical fights between Mr Kagame’s bodyguards and President Museveni’s guards, ended in the signing on August 18, 1999, of a ceasefire agreement, which provided for, among other things, court martialing of any officer who would violate the provisions of the ceasefire; lifting of all ambushes to facilitate meetings of liaison officers on either side; and ensuring uninterrupted movement of logistics, as well as evacuation of casualties.

August 22, 1999, Rwakitura
The two leaders once again met on August 22 in Rwakitura and signed another agreement in which they agreed on partitioning Kisangani; joint control of Bangoka and Simisimi airports; and withdrawal of troops from the centre of Kisangani. Each would keep only one battalion in the town. The parties also agreed to organise elections so that the people of Kisangani would vote a mayor.

July 2001, Gatuna, Rwanda
The third round of talks, which were held on July 6, 2001, at the border town of Gatuna in Rwanda, were brokered by President Museveni’s younger brother, Maj Gen Caleb Akandwanaho, alias Salim Saleh, who was at the time working as Mr Museveni’s personal envoy.
Uganda had in March 2001 listed Rwanda along with DR Congo and the Republic of Sudan as “hostile countries”. Tension had arisen out of allegations that Rwanda had bankrolled Dr Kizza Besigye’s 2001 election campaign.
At the same time, the former speaker of Rwanda’s parliament, Mr Joseph Sebarenzi Kabuye and Maj Alphonse Furuma had fled to Kampala where they separately issued statements critical of President Kagame just like three UPDF officers, Samson Mande, Anthony Kyakabale and Edison Muzoora had fled to Kigali where they too, issued statements critical of Mr Museveni before declaring war against the NRM government.
The two presidents agreed not to support each other’s dissidents and to bar them from engaging in hostile activities such as military training, spying or carrying out propaganda against their respective countries.

November 6, 2001, London, UK
The next round of talks were held in the United Kingdom at the behest of then British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and his secretary for international development Claire Short, amid reports the month before, of troop movements on either side of the Uganda-Rwanda border.
Hardly two months after the Gatuna talks, Mr Museveni wrote to Ms Short, accusing Rwanda of “planning aggression against” Uganda by recruiting and operating training camps in Kigali and in Rutshuru in DR Congo and by making inquiries about the strength and depth of the UPDF.
During the London meetings, the two leaders agreed to form a Joint Verification and Investigation Committee to investigate allegations of rebel training activities on either side of the border.

February 13, 2002, Kabale
The fifth round of talks, a follow up to the London meeting, had been scheduled to be held at Katuna, but strong winds blew away the tent during a downpour, forcing organisers to relocate to the White Horse Inn in Kabale.
During the meeting, which was chaired by Ms Clare Short, the two principals received reports of the Joint Verification and Investigations Committee, which reports related to the meetings that their defence ministers had held between December and January.
“The two presidents reconfirmed their commitment to full, normal relations between Ugandan and Rwanda and to the goal of frank and open discussion of all areas of common interest or potential concern,” a communique that they issued after the meeting read in part.

Friday July 29, 2011, Kigali, Rwanda
By July 2011, Mr Museveni had taken at least 13 years without flying to Rwanda. Yet even when he had made the journey by road, there had been a stand-off such as that of 2005, when more than half of his convoy was denied entry into Rwanda and both his Principle Private Secretary (PPS) at the time, Ms Amelia Kyambadde, and Minster for the Presidency, Ms Beatrice Wabudeya, were initially denied access to the meeting room.
That July, however, Mr Museveni flew along with his wife and daughter, Natasha Karugire, for a private cum state visit. The two held private talks at Mr Kagame’s residence in Muhazi and later on his farm, but little is known about what was discussed during the talks that were believed to have been brokered by first son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and journalist Andrew Mwenda.

December 23, 2011, Rwakitua and Mweya Uganda
President Kagame and his family arrived in Uganda on December 23. They spent days in Mweya Safari Lodge from where they drove to Mr Museveni’s home in Rwakitura for Christmas. Little is known of what they discussed.

March 2018, Entebbe, Uganda
On March 25, 2018, Mr Kagame held a closed-door meeting with President Museveni at State House Entebbe, but little is known of what was discussed. However, it is believed the talks touched on tensions that were developing amid accusations from Rwanda that Uganda had carried out “multiple unjustified arrests” of its citizens in Uganda without the knowledge of the High Commission in Kampala.
Days before Mr Kagame’s visit, Mr Museveni had skipped the African Continental Free Trade Area Treaty meeting in Kigali after his advance security team and Rwandan security failed to work out his itinerary.

August 21, 2019 Luanda, Angola
Mr Museveni and Kagame met in the Agolan capital Luanda. The meeting, the first since Rwanda’s decision in February 2019 to close the common border with Uganda, was chaired by Angolan President Joao Lourenco and attended by President Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo. The meeting at which the two principals discussed regional security, cooperation and strengthening of ties, was also aimed at easing tensions between the two countries and finding a lasting solution to the causes of their problems.
Presidents Museveni and Kagame then signed a peace pact aimed at ending months of tensions amid counter accusations of espionage, political killings and economic sabotage. A statement issued after the signing ceremony indicated that the two presidents had committed themselves to respecting each other’s sovereignty, the sovereignty of their neighbours and to “refrain from actions conducive to destabilisation or subversion in the territory of the other party (and) acts such as the financing, training and infiltration of destabilising forces”.
They also agreed to “protect and respect the rights and freedoms” of people “residing or transiting” through their respective countries and to resume cross-border activities, “including movement of persons and goods ... as soon as possible”.

February 2, 2020 Luanda, Angola
After the second meeting in the Angolan capital Luanda, the leaders of Uganda and Rwanda pledged to “continue to prioritize the permanent dialogue between the two countries for the development and well-being of their peoples” and to take “subsequent steps towards peace, stability, good neighbourliness and restoring mutual trust”.
The summit decided on a five-point course of action that provided for, among others, the release of the national citizens of each country listed by the two countries; refrain from all factors that may create the perception of supporting, financing, training and infiltration of destabilising forces in their neighbour’s territory; continue to protect and respect the human rights of the national citizens of the other party; continuation of the activities of the adhoc commission as a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of this process and; hold next quadripartite summit in Gatuna/Katuna on February 21, 2020.

Charged. Mr Rene Rutagungira appears before the General Court Martial at Makindye on charges of illegal possession of fire arms on January 16,2018. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.

Names in the middle of the storm
Rene Rutagangira. He is an officer of the Rwanda Army, who was arrested in Kampala in 2017 on charges of illegal repartiation of Rwandan nationals living in Uganda.
He was also accused of involvement in a spate of killings on Ugandan territory. He was among the nine Rwandans freed by the General Court Martial and handed over to the Government of Rwanda by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs early in January.

Charlotte Mukankusi
President Museveni in a March 10 letter to President Kagame said he had met Ms Mukankusi, who had visited him along with a one Gasana.
Ms Mukankusi reportedly told Mr Museveni that her husband, a one Rutagarama, had been killed by agents of the Rwanda State, including Nziiza and Munyuza. She is said to have told Mr Museveni that she had joined the RNC and wanted his support in helping it to resist Mr Kagame’s rule.
Ms Mukankusi is on the list of three outstanding issues that Rwanda says Uganda is yet to resolve. Rwanda wants Uganda to verify her stay and travel in Uganda during the period until January 2020 and to withdraw her Uganda passport number A000199979
Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa
A fortnight prior to the closure of the Katuna border on February 28 last year, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambage, delivered a message to President Museveni in which Rwanda demanded the closure of Mr Rujugiro’s businesses in Uganda on grounds that he was funding rebel activity against Rwanda.
In his March 10 letter, Mr Museveni told Mr Kagame that Mr Rujugiro, who owns Meridian Tobacco Company in West Nile, had met him separately and denied involvement in subversive activities against Rwanda. Mr Museveni said Mr Rujugiro had changed his mind about selling his business on grounds that even if he sold his business in Uganda, he would still have lucrative factories in Angola, Dr Congo and others from which he would be able to pick money to fund rebel activities.
Mr Museveni advised that if Rujugiro was still a problem, Rwanda could use Ugandan courts to bring charges of terrorism against him and have his assets frozen. That position had first been communicated on October 15, 2018, but was never responded to by Mr Kagame.

Prossy Bonabaana
According to the www.ktexpress.rw, Bonabaana is a “Kampala-based senior operative of Kayumba Nyamwasa’s RNC”, whose title is “National Coordinator” for RNC in Uganda.
The government of Rwanda recently included on a list of people whose activities it said it wanted Uganda to verify.

Sula Nuwamanya
He is one of the officials of Self Worth Initiative, a non-government organisation (NGO), which Kigali claims is a front for raising money for the RNC. Nuwamanya is also listed as one of the officials of the RNC.

Dr Gideon Rukundo Rugari
He is believed to be one of the founder members of the Self Worth Initiative, which Kigali claims is a front for raising money for the RNC. Dr Rugari, according to reports in the Rwanda media, recently held a meeting with other RNC mobilisers in Katanabirwa in Kyankwazi District.

Mr Emerithe Gahongayire
Kigali lists him among those that it says belong to the RNC leadership in Kampala. He is listed as one of the leaders of Self Worth Initiative.

Mr Emmanuel Mutarambirwa
He too is said to be part of the leadership of the Uganda chapter of the RNC and one of the founders of Self Worth Initiative.