FDC to write to Rwanda government over border standoff

The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has announced that it will write to the Rwandan foreign minister, Richard Sezibera, seeking to find out why relations with Uganda have broken down.

“The FDC minister for foreign affairs will be writing a letter to Rwanda to find out the real issues that have caused the standoff at the border. We have heard some of them but they were not officially communicated,” FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Semujju Nganda said.

Mr Semujju who was speaking at the party’s weekly news briefing said they plan to use the response from Kigali to appeal to religious leaders to intervene in the crisis that has cost the Ugandan business community billions in lost trade.

He said, “If we are blessed with a response from Rwanda, we intend to share it with religious leaders and we want to ask them, because of their neutrality, to lead a dialogue between citizens. They may forget about Museveni and the leadership in Rwanda but we can have a dialogue between the citizens of two countries.”

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame mid-February confirmed in an interview with The East African newspaper of the Nation Media Group that the two countries have had tensions for two years.

Mr Kagame, who is the current chairman of the East African Community (EAC) after taking over from President Museveni, said what is happening between the two countries are matters that can be resolved but decried the many pronouncements without actions.

“It doesn’t hurt anyone to keep on trying. What hurts is keeping quiet. And, of course, things are not improving because of that, we are not doing much. We have had discussions over this for two years, we can resolve them whether it is egos or just wishing that things should be bad” Mr Kagame said during the interview.