Uganda’s police arrest 40 Rwanda National Congress recruits headed for DRC camps

Uganda’s police with support from their Tanzanian counterparts intercepted and arrested a group of 40 Rwandan refugees headed for Rwanda National Congress (RNC) training camps in Eastern DRC, a source told The Standard on Monday evening.

Highly placed sources said the group, comprising only young men, were travelling on forged Ugandan temporary travel documents that were given to them by Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) to enable the group cross into Tanzania, then Burundi, and to eventually reach their final destination in Minebwe, South Kivu, DRC.

The recruits were travelling in a Ugandan bus with yellow and green colors registration number UAD374B and lied that they were going to Burundi for a religious crusade.

However, when the group initially reached Kikagati border post, Uganda’s immigration department blocked them suspecting the authenticity of their travel documents. Immigration officials were also suspicious why such a big number of young Rwandan men would be travelling with Ugandan documents in one single group.

In the process of questioning the young men, sources at the Uganda’s Kikagati border post say, the immigration officials came under immense pressure from “above” instructing them to immediately release the group and allow it to proceed with their journey. The border post officials readily obliged.

However after the immigration officials alerted police of this big group crossing with forged documents, Uganda Police immediately alerted their counterparts in Tanzania to block and return the group to Uganda.

Upon their return to the border, sources say, the immigration officials were again instructed to release the recruits and facilitate their travel into Tanzania with immediate effect.

It is at that moment that Uganda’s Police intervened once again, and with help from their Tanzanian counterparts intercepted the group and arrested all the 40. They are now being held in Isingiro Police station.

“It was total drama this morning--the scuffle lasted almost three hours,” the immigration official who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity told this website. “When we released them the second time, we were shocked to see the Tanzanians working with Uganda Police return them.”

In a desperate attempt to cover up the scandal, a Ugandan website that is linked to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence immediately put out a story claiming the arrested Rwandan young men were “refugees on a missionary journey to Tanzania.”

Instead of explaining why a large group of Rwandan young men were given Ugandan travel documents, the story chose to castigate Uganda Police for arresting them, alleging they fear the group could be taken to Rwanda.

Nonetheless, credible security sources confirmed that the group was part of RNC recruitment drive happening in different refugee camps across Uganda and firmly supported by the Brig Gen Abel Kandiho of Uganda’s Military intelligence, CMI.

As recently exposed, a parallel scheme exists of covering up this recruitment drive for RNC by claiming that Rwandans who go missing in these camps are instead kidnapped by Kigali. The scheme is run from Kampala by renegades Rugema Kayumba, Cpl Mulindwa aka Mukombozi and Sande Mugisha coordinated by Kayumba Nyamwasa from South Africa with facilitation from Uganda’s CMI.

“This incident in Kikagati today should raise serious questions,” a security source in Kampala said. “It is shameful that this recruitment is happening in broad day light and instead of questioning the culprits behind it, they are instead rewarded with promotion.”

Observers expect immense pressure on the Uganda Police to release the RNC recruits because those who helped to recruit them fear the young men represent damning evidence CMI’s sponsored recruitment for the terrorist group RNC.

Moreover, these developments come a day after news reports exposed the on-going illegal detention of Rwandans visiting Kampala.

Over the weekend, plain clothed security operatives suspected to be CMI - RNC agents arrested a Rwandan named Fidele Gatsinzi in Kampala as he went to visit his son in school in Mukono Christian University.

Since September, dozens of Rwandans have been illegally detained by CMI under unclear circumstances and subjected to torture to induce false confessions that they are Rwanda spies. These innocent Rwandans are usually pointed out by Kayumba Nyamwasa’s agents operating in Kampala.

As these arrests increase, a general fear of safety for Rwandans travelling to Uganda is growing by the day. Many of them now tend to alert family members, friends, and officials, whenever they travel to Uganda, asking them to keep keen ‘eye’ out just incase they suddenly disappear.

Most of the young men intercepted on Monday by Uganda Police were taken from Refugee camps of Nyakivala, Kibale, and Mubende where RNC fugitives, Maj. (rtd) Habib Mudathir and Capt (rtd) Sibo Charles undertake most of the recruitment.