Ugandan soldiers defect, seeking political asylum

Some 50 Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) soldiers have defected to neighbouring Rwanda seeking political asylum, news agencies reported on Tuesday. Rwandan government spokesman Joseph Bideri told Reuters on Sunday that the soldiers “accuse the government of Uganda of political persecution, corruption and torture”. Responding to a UPDF statement that Rwanda should hand over dissident army officers to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as required by international law, Bideri told the independent Ugandan newspaper ‘The Monitor’ on Monday that “Uganda is holding some Rwandese army officers who haven’t been handed over to the UNHCR. They therefore have no example to talk about.” However, Lt. Col. Noble Mayombo, head of the Ugandan military intelligence, assured ‘The Monitor’ that all dissident Rwandans in Uganda are under the protection of UNHCR. UPDF spokesman Lt. Col. Phineas Katirima denied that any Ugandan officers had fled because of torture, and Mayombo added it was “ironic for people to leave Uganda citing torture and seek asylum in Rwanda”. Relations between Kigali and Kampala soured last year when the two countries’ armies fought in the northern DRC city of Kisangani, and deteriorated further earlier this year when Uganda called Rwanda “a hostile nation”.