By Spy Reporter
Just a day after Uganda and Rwanda signed a peace pact in Luanda,Angola, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has blocked access to several Rwandan-based news websites over allegations that they are disseminating harmful propaganda.
Our insiders at UCC revealed that these websites purport to disseminate news when they are actually spreading sectarianism.
Among the affected websites is the Rwanda State-owned media house, the New Times.
Sources from the New Times on Thursday quoted Ibrahim Bbosa, the UCC Publicist, as having confirmed the blockade.
“We wrote a letter to the operators instructing them to block the websites,” Mr Bbosa is quoted to have said on Wednesday.
He added that “Access was denied because the news websites were publishing content that was deemed ‘harmful and undermines the national security of Uganda’.”
The Director-General of Rwanda Utilities and Regulatory Authority Patrick Nyirishema was quoted by New Times saying that he had reached out to his Ugandan counterpart seeking clarification of the blockage.
Nyirishema said “I have formally reached out to my counterpart to seek clarification on the blockage of some news sites which is not proper in the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by our leaders today (on Wednesday).”
However, this came shortly after Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame had just signed a Memorandum Of Association to foster security and regional cooperation.
The pact was signed in the presence of their counterparts of Angola, DR Congo and Congo-Brazzaville.
Among the initial issues that strained the relations between the two countries was Uganda facilitating Rwandan dissidents and fugitives, plus arresting Rwandan operatives in Uganda without taking them court.
However, in the pact signed on Wednesday, Uganda and Rwandan leaders agreed to respect each other’s sovereignty and that of neighbouring countries, refrain from subversive activities on each other’s territory and to eliminate all factors that may create such perception, like sectarian propaganda.
