Ugandan farmer kidnapped from garden, taken to Rwanda

MARTHA LEAH NANGALAMA - Now this story sounds like Kunta Kinte. I think it is in the book series or films called ROOTS. Kunta Kinte was in the palm plantation of his family minding his own business, digging, weeding and harvesting and POOF! Someone grabbed him, chained him up and sold him into slavery.  Here comes Uganda and Rwanda. These jokes are getting too stale. At least just go to war and we will be okay with it. After all, both of you put our 2 countries through decades of war and you think that you grab one lone farmer and we will be scared running to hide under our beds like little boys? Mtcheeeewww!!

Uganda-Rwanda border

May 28, 2020

Written by URN for THE OBSERVER

A Ugandan farmer, Obed Nicholas Tugumisirize alias Kacucu has been kidnapped from his garden in Kitojo village, Katuna town council at the Uganda-Rwanda border.

Kacucu has been missing since Monday, and his kidnappers allegedly disappeared with him to the other side of Rwanda. His family members have already reported a case of a missing person at Katuna police station. They say that he was kidnapped while in the garden together with his wife and children.

Katuna town council chairman Nelson Nshangabasheija suspects that the suspected kidnappers could be Rwandan security officers. Kigezi Region Police spokesperson Elly Maate says that the police have initiated inquiries to establish the victim’s whereabouts.

This is not the first incident involving Ugandan farmers and Rwandan authorities. In April 2019, three farmers; Susan Rwanjungu and Junensia Bazongoza, all residents of Mushenyi village and Jovia Ruvungafu, a resident of Nyinarushengye village in Katuna town council were arrested by heavily armed Rwandan soldiers while digging in their gardens and taken into Rwanda.

The Uganda-Rwanda border has been closed since February 2019 following a diplomatic row between the two countries. The spat started after Rwandan officials including President Paul Kagame accused Uganda authorities of abducting its nationals and locking them up in un-gazetted areas as well as hosting, sponsoring and facilitating dissidents.

Talks to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries stalled following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. This week, 38 Rwandan nationals who crossed into Uganda via Kalangal for fishing activities were forcefully quarantined at Buvuma college school as they wait for their coronavirus test results.

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