Ex-Rwandan spy chief cleared to be buried in Uganda

Kampala. The Uganda government yesterday said the body of assassinated former Rwandan spy-master Col Patrick Karegeya can be returned to Uganda for burial.

Col Karegeya was born and raised in Uganda. On Thursday, his family appealed to the Uganda government to help bring his body for burial at the family home in Rwenjeru village, Biharwe in Kashari County, Mbarara District. The State minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Henry Okello Oryem, said because of Karegeya’s unique status, his family will be allowed to bury him in Uganda but “without involvement of government in the arrangements” and after Uganda consults with the Rwandan government. “We are doing it specifically on humanitarian grounds and not because of his previous connections with government (National Resistance Movement) or anything like that,” Mr Oryem said.

Col Karegeya was found dead in a Johannesburg hotel room, South African on Wednesday. A rope and bloodied towel were found in the hotel room. “Preliminary investigations revealed that his neck was swollen and there is a possibility that he might have been strangled,” said a police statement on Col Karegeya’s death. Col Karegeya leaves behind a widow and three children. Talking to the Associated Press news agency on Thursday, Rwandan ambassador to South Africa Vincent Karega, dismissed claims that Col Karegeya was assassinated, saying it is an “emotional reaction and opportunistic way of playing politics”. “We encourage the authorities to really look into the matter so that we know exactly what happened,” the Reuters news agency quotes him as telling a local radio.

Col Karegeya fell out with his former ally, President Paul Kagame and fled to South Africa six years ago with his colleague Brig Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa. The Kigali government declared them dissidents and placed charges of treason and terrorism on them. Brig Gen Kayumba survived two assassination attempts outside his house in Johannesburg in 2010. The Rwanda government has previously denied accusations of masterminding assassinations attacks on the dissidents. Yesterday, Mr Oryem expressed his personal sympathies to the bereaved family but observed that although Col Karegeya could have been born in Uganda, it does not automatically make him a citizen.

“If he did not apply to government to formalise his citizenship, then he is not. Yes, he has ever been in the National Resistance Army (NRA), a Ugandan rebel force that brought Mr Museveni to power in 1986, then Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) but then, he changed status after the fallout with the Kigali regime. “Decisions have consequences, especially if you keep changing statuses,” Mr Oryem said by telephone yesterday.