MPs cancel Kigali trip, call for withdrawal of UPDF

A Ugandan parliamentarian group scheduled to travel on a ‘peace mission’ to Rwanda has postponed its trip, pending confirmation from the Rwandan authorities that it can go ahead. The chairman of the Ugandan parliamentary foreign relations committee, Elly Karuhanga, said on Tuesday that details of the proposed visit by four Ugandan MPs had been sent to Rwanda two weeks ago, but that no response had been received. “We are still waiting for a response from Rwanda. As parliamentarians, we cannot gate-crash; we have to be given clearance from any country to be visited,” Karuhanga told IRIN.

“Our main intention as representatives of the Ugandan people is find out the real causes of the current tension and make informed decisions so that the good relationship between the two governments is restored.” He said he was also drafting a resolution to call for the withdrawal of the UPDF from the DRC. “Our president has been all the time telling the country that our boys went to Congo to prevent genocide in Rwanda but, to the everyone’s dismay, both countries [Rwanda and Uganda] have ended up sending body bags home.

Rwanda, as a sovereign country, has a right [to make its own decision] to stay, but I am going to convince parliament that Uganda has no more business there,” Karuhanga added.