Rwandans reportedly rounded up in border town

Ugandan security forces on Thursday carried out an eight-hour operation to round up suspected “RPA [Rwandan Patriotic Army] infiltrators” in the southwestern town of Kabale near the countries’ common border, the independent ‘Monitor’ newspaper reported. “Roadblocks were mounted at all entry points to town and people who could not properly identify themselves were taken to the police station,” it said. Virtually all hotels and lodges in the town were checked, and those found with Rwandan documents were “asked many questions,” it said.

Local authorities denied the operation targeted Rwandans, saying it was meant to “crack down on idlers,” the newspaper added. Meanwhile, the semi-official ‘New Vision’ newspaper on Thursday said residents of the Ugandan border town of Mirama Hills had stopped working in their fields because of the reported troop build-up on either side of the border and increased tensions between the two countries. Rwanda News Agency, however, quoted sources close to the border as saying traffic remained normal, although travellers had abandoned the crossing point at Omukigando.

Already strained relations between Uganda and Rwanda have deteriorated further in the past week amid serious clashes between the two countries’ troops in the northeastern DRC city of Kisangani.