We acted in self-defence! Rwanda defends shooting dead of two Ugandans

BY CONRAD AHABWE

 

Rwanda President Paul Kagame arrives at border where the two Ugandans were shot by Rwanda security forces (PHOTO/File).

KIGALI – Rwanda National Police has said they shot dead two Ugandans at their border because the duo became violent and assaulted police officers.

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, JB Kabera, the Rwanda Police Spokesman, said their officers on patrol intercepted a group of suspected smugglers who crossed inside Rwandan territory at an ungazetted border point with Uganda.

“Today, November 10, 2019 at around 0300 AM in Tabagwe Sector, Nyagatare District, Police officers on patrol intercepted a group of suspected smugglers who crossed inside Rwandan territory at an ungazetted border point with Uganda. The smugglers became violent and assaulted police officers who reacted in self-defense shooting dead two while the rest escaped. The deceased were identified as lob Ebinclishanga, 32 and Bosco Tuheirwe 35, both Ugandans,” he said.

Related news

2 Ugandans Killed in Rwanda Amid Border Tension

“An investigation into this incident has started. Rwanda National Police condemns violent behavior by smugglers and urges the public, especially those residing along the common border to focus on legal commercial activities using official border points,” he added.

Kigezi region police spokesperson Elly Maate identified the deceased as Job Ebyarishanga and Bosco Tuheirwe, both residents of Nyakabungo village in Kyabuhangwa parish, Kamwezi Sub County.

“It’s alleged that on 9/11/2019 at around 20:00 hours at Tabagwe village in Nyagatare district in Rwanda two Ugandans were shot dead by Rwandese security forces on allegation that they were smuggling tobacco into Rwanda which is prohibited in the country,” Mr Maate said in a statement.

“We are compiling information about the whole incident,” he said, adding that the case has been recorded at Mpororo Police Post under file number SD03/10/11/2019.

The Kamwezi sub-county chairman, Mr Tedson Niwagaba, said he had contacted the authorities in Nyagatare in Rwanda where the deceased were killed from, to have their bodies handed over to the relatives.

Rwanda police later released a statement on Sunday evening, explaining that they found the Ugandans smuggling and when they confronted the police officers who shot in self defence.

This is not the fight time Ugandan and Rwandan nationals are being shot by security agencies near the Rwandan border over alleged smuggling of goods into their territory.

On November 4, 2019 a Rwandan national Jean Piere Havugimana, 28, was shot and injured by Rwandan security personnel on the left shoulder inside Rwanda about 300 meters away from the international boundary with Uganda as he tried to smuggle about 50Kgs of Irish potato from Uganda.

On May 24, 2019, Alex Nyesiga a resident of the same village and a Rwandan national John Batista Kyerengye, were shot and killed by Rwandan security personnel inside Rwanda has they allegedly smuggled a bale of second hand clothes into their country through Habusavu porous border entry.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

2 Ugandans Killed in Rwanda Amid Border Tension

KAMPALA — Uganda’s police said on Sunday that two Ugandans had been killed by Rwandan security forces in an incident that may escalate the border tension between the two East African countries.

Related news

Why Rwanda is not in good terms with Uganda

Elly Maate, police spokesman of Uganda’s Kigezi region, which borders Rwanda, said the victims had smuggled tobacco to Rwanda.

Maate warned Ugandans to stop using unofficial border points to enter Rwanda.

"These two Ugandans were shot dead on November 9th at around 20:00 hours at Tabagwe village in Nyagatare district in Rwanda by Rwandan security forces on allegations that they were smuggling tobacco into Rwanda," said Maate.

He said Uganda's border security officials were working to repatriate the bodies from Rwanda for burial.

The political tension between the two countries climaxed in February when Rwanda closed its border and blocked all goods from Uganda.

As a result of the closed border, communities near the border have resorted to smuggling.

Last week, one Rwandan was killed and another injured by the Rwandan police after they crossed the border to buy food in Uganda.

Maate warned Ugandans to stop using unofficial border points to enter Rwanda.

"I want to caution our people along the border to stop doing things that put their lives at risk by entering the country through porous border points because our security forces can't protect you," he said.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Why Rwanda is not in good terms with Uganda

Rwandan President Paul Kagame speaks at a press conference in Kigali on November 8, 2019. PHOTO | URUGWIRO

Rwandan president Paul Kagame has criticised Uganda for failing to organise a second bilateral meeting to discuss and resolve problems that have frozen movement of people and goods across their borders.

Mr Kagame told a press conference last Friday that whereas Kigali had successfully organised a bilateral meeting in August, Kampala had failed to do the same as agreed.

“The meeting in Kigali went well and there was supposed to be a meeting 30 days after that in Kampala but it did not happen. I am not fully knowledgeable about why it did not happen but after the October 16, we learnt that another date had been set.”

“The official communication suggested November 13. Then we got another indication it may be moved to November 18,” he added.

President Kagame said tension between their countries is due to Uganda’s support for Rwandan rebels and the detention without trial of Rwandans in Uganda.

“One reason for their arrest is that they were in Uganda illegally, or that they were spies. Some were arrested because they refused to join these (rebel) groups. So those recruiting them (in Uganda) said, OK, you refused to join because you are an agent of Rwanda government,” he said.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Nigeria has taught Ghana how to defy ECOWAS protocols - GUTA

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Foreign Affairs Minister

Since late August 2019, Nigeria has closed three of her borders -Seme-Krake, Igolo and Idiroko. According to President Buhari, the move is to curb smuggling of rice into the country through its neighbouring countries.

The country further tightened the screws by banning trade across all land borders to force its neighbours, especially Benin and Niger, to halt food smuggling into the country.

But the closure of the border can be traced to President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy of curbing imports to boost local production and conserve foreign exchange reserves when he took office in 2015.

However, the policies, instead of making Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production rather kept prices high and led to the smuggling of rice and other goods from Benin into Nigeria.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has it that Benin has become the world’s No. 2 exporter of rice to Nigeria, therefore, with the closure of the border, Benin suffers the most.

But while Benin experiences the direct effect of the border closure, other West African countries, including Ghana, have decried the decision, as it is having unintended side effects on their economies as well.

Dr Joseph Obeng, President of the Ghana National Traders Union, told The Chronicle in an interview yesterday that Nigeria’s decision did not only have adverse effect on food items, but a clear violation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols on movement of people and trade among member countries.

According to him, Nigerians see the protocols as sacrosanct, hence their decision to nullify it without prior notice to ECOWAS, and urged Ghanaians to follow suit.

“What they have done is a breach of the ECOWAS protocol itself. They have breached the fundamental principle of the protocol on free movement of goods and services.

“They have flouted the laws with impunity without any sanction from the ECOWAS Commission,” he told The Chronicle.

Dr Obeng indicated that if Nigeria has taken such a decision and yet, no punitive measures had been meted out to her, then Ghana should not worry itself over not respecting the protocols.

“What we are saying is that [the] Ghana government, having seen that the option Nigeria chose has nullified the ECOWAS protocol, should also have the teeth to bite and do what they could not do under the guise of the protocol.

“The protocol is not cast in iron that we cannot get ourselves out of it. We should not even use it as a reference point. I am jealous of what the Nigerians have done. We should take a cue from it,” he said.

Though Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, on October 15 gave the assurance that the government would exhaust all diplomatic avenues to get Nigeria to re-open its western borders for the free flow of goods from Ghana to the sub-region, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, says Nigeria did not err in closing its western land borders to countries in the ECOWAS sub-region.

The Minister said the only way to get Nigeria open the border is through diplomacy, because there is no law forbidding Nigeria from closing its borders.

Though unilateral border closures go against all commercial and freedom of movement treaties signed under ECOWAS, Mr Ahenkorah told Onua FM on Wednesday that “Nigeria has not violated any laws.”

He explained that the ECOWAS treaty says factories in the sub-region can produce and export to other ECOWAS countries, “but we did not inculcate how to resolve disputes and grievances in the law, so if it happens that way, we use diplomatic means to resolve the issue.”

The Comptroller-General (C-G) of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali, has also insisted that despite the rights for movement of persons among ECOWAS states, there must also be primacy of security over such rights.

Responding to critics who accused the Nigeria government of breaching the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of people and goods, the NCS boss said: “When it comes to security, all laws take back seat.”

He explained further: “We want to make sure that our people are protected. You must be alive and well for you to begin to ask for your rights. Your rights count when you are well and alive.

“Go and ask the people in Maiduguri that when Boko Haram was harassing them, the only question was survival, there was no question of right. This time, Nigeria must survive first before we begin to ask for our rights.”

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.

Why African nations close borders: Nigeria, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Eritrea

Nigeria became the latest African nation to close its borders, following similar actions by Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan in recent months.

The borders have been closed for various reasons including diplomatic disputes, security concerns, health precautions and economic considerations among others.

The closures, especially by Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria are a slap in the face of continent’s integration efforts.

The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement provides for the free movement of goods and persons across African countries.

In this article, we explore the various reasons that have caused the border closures.

Nigeria

Nigeria’s customs agency on Monday confirmed that it had closed its land borders indefinitely, barring all movement of goods, as it struggles to curb smuggling.

“All goods for now are banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and that is to ensure we have total control over what comes in,” Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service, told reporters in Abuja.

Ali’s announcement was the first official confirmation of a total shutdown in trade across Nigeria’s land borders, which had been reported by local media since August.

“We are strategising on how best the goods can be handled when we eventually get to the point where this operation will relax for the influx of goods,” he said, adding that it would still be possible for goods to cross at points equipped with special scanners.

The closure has no impact on Nigeria’s economically crucial oil exports, which are shipped out almost entirely via the nation’s seaports and offshore oil platforms.

Ali said reopening the borders would depend on the actions of neighbouring states, and that as long as they and Nigeria were not in accord on what goods should be imported or exported overland, the frontier would remain shut.

The move is likely to make a variety of food items, such as rice, tomatoes, poultry and sugar, more expensive for consumers.

Exports are also restricted, which will stop movements of cocoa and sesame seeds via land borders, Nonso Obikili, director at the Turgot Centre for Economics and Policy Research in Abuja said.

READ MORE: Nigeria urged to reverse border closure decision

Sudan

Last moth, Sudan closed its borders with Libya and the Central African Republic, citing security reasons.

A statement issued by the Sudanese authorities said vehicles had been illegally crossing the borders with the two nations, which have both been mired in violence.

READ MORE: Sudan closes borders with Libya and Central Africa Republic

Rwanda – Uganda

In August this year, Uganda and Rwanda agreed to re-open their borders, and committed to resolving a diplomatic dispute that had raised fears of hostilities.

Rwanda had closed a busy border crossing with Uganda in February, accusing its neighbour of harassing its citizens and backing rebel groups against the Kigali government.

READ MORE: Rwanda clarifies on border dispute with Uganda

Kenya – Somalia

In June this year, Kenya closed its border with Somalia, and suspended cross border trade, as part of security operations against terrorist group Al Shabaab.

“Apart from security concerns, we are also aware of human and narcotics trafficking. That must stop. It is now a crime and for those who do not know, the border remains closed until further notice,” police chief Kioi Muchangi explained at the time.

Kenya has on several occasions closed its border with Somalia, over security and sometimes diplomatic reasons.

READ MORE: Kenya indefinitely closes border with Somalia, trade ban imposed

Rwanda – DRC

While many countries have heeded the World Health Organisation (WHO) call not to close borders in the wake of the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities in Rwanda closed their border for several hours.

The closure was prompted by the confirmation of a third death in the Congolese city of Goma. The city lies just across the Rwandan city of Gisenyi, and many of the two cities’ residents cross the border for work and other activities.

READ MORE: Strict movement along Rwanda-DRC border

Ethiopia – Eritrea

Hardly a year after Ethiopians and Eritreans celebrated the re-opening of their borders, President Isaias Afwerki’s government closed the border points at Serha-Zalambesa, Bure – Assab and Om Hajer-Humera, without giving its neighbour any official explanations.

READ MORE: Eritrea shuts all borders with Ethiopia – unilaterally

Equatorial Guinea’s planned wall

In August, authorities in Cameroon expressed concerns over plans by Equatorial Guinea to build a wall along their shared border.

According to a number of different sources, Equatorial Guinea accuses Cameroon of letting West Africans enter its territory illegally.

Thanks for reading. Follow the page and Share it.