By Spy Uganda
The government of Uganda on Monday freed over 80 Rwandans who had been in detention for years without being paraded in courts of laws to answer the charges for which they were arrested.
Our Spies reveal that the freed Rwandans, many of them male, were later deported to Rwanda via Cyanika and Kagitumba border posts in Western Uganda.
We have learnt that the first group of about 80 Rwandans who had been in detention in Uganda a arrived in Rwanda on Monday, according to the officials at Kagitumba One Stop border post.
The second group of Rwandans to be freed from Uganda is expected in the country via Cyanika border on Tuesday.
The move comes a few days after the Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa revealed during a virtual meeting with his Rwanda counterpart Adonia Ayebale that there over 300 Rwandans detained in Uganda and that many of them are facing capital offences.
It should however be noted that the Rwandan president Paul Kagame closed his country’s borders with Uganda early last year after accusing Uganda of supporting dissidents and rebel groups that want to overthrow his government, plus illegally detaining hundreds of Rwandans without producing them in competent courts of law.
However, although the Ugandan government had initially denied allegations, the release of several Rwandan prisoners from various detention centres in Uganda has since proved that the Rwandan government’s allegations held water.
Relations between Rwanda and Uganda have been hostile for a long time, which culminated into the closure of the borders and Kagame’s ordering all Rwandans to desist from traveling to and from Uganda.
Following his directive, several Rwandans were shot for either trying to sneak from Rwanda into Uganda or vice-versa.
Despite various meetings between Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Kagame of Rwanda, the two countries still maintain hostile relations and one of the demands that was tabled by Rwanda before opening her borders to Uganda is the release of all Rwandan prisoners currently under detention in Uganda.