Government dismisses alleged aiding of Ugandan rebel group

Rwanda government has dismissed press reports that Colonels Samson Mande and Anthony Kyakabale who recently deserted the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and fled to Rwanda had formed a rebel group which is seriously recruiting the youth in western Uganda, Rwanda’s interior minister Jean de Dieu Ntiruhungwa told journalists on Friday. “Those are unfounded allegations that hold no truth. Journalists are accustomed to writing unverified stories to justify their own wishes,” Rwanda News Agency (RNA) quoted him as saying. “We don’t harbour dissident Ugandan officers here in Rwanda and we don’t know where they are,” he added. Uganda’s independent ‘Monitor’ newspaper reported that a rebel group believed to be spearheaded by the two colonels had embarked on extensive recruitment of the youth in the districts of Mbarara, Rukingiri, Ntungamo and Kasese with the help of Rwandan government. On Thursday, the paper reported that both Mande and Kyakabale were cited in Kabale and Rukingiri districts, southwestern Uganda. Rwanda’s commissioner general of police, Colonel Frank Mugambage, said that both Rwanda and Uganda were enjoying “a reciprocal co-operation” in security matters to the extent that Rwanda could not allow its territory to be used as a safe haven for elements potentially dangerous to the security of her neighbour like Uganda. “Rwanda cannot and shall not allow any foreign nationals to abuse the hospitality accorded to them thereby compromising the security of the region,” he said.