Uganda intensifies RNC recruitment to destabilize Rwanda

After recently being sworn in for a sixth term President Yoweri Museveni looks determined to give the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) terror group his full support to destabilise Rwanda.

Kampala, Uganda - When President Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for the sixth term on May 12, many political observers in the Great Lakes Region expected him to turn a new page on relations with his neighbours by upholding the spirit of peaceful neighbourliness and regional integration. 

This optimism was based on the assumption that this could be his last term as President of Uganda and therefore, he would be happy to leave a good legacy in the eyes of Ugandans and neighboring countries. In African culture, when people are aging, they are expected to age gracefully. But Museveni has proved to be aging differently.

For several years, Museveni has sponsored terror groups to destabilize Rwanda, the ultimate aim being regime change. Despite the fact that all such attempts failed miserably, the plot against the government of Rwanda still continues. 

Reliable sources indicate that during Museveni’s swearing in ceremony, the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) terror group was represented by Frank Ntwali, a brother in-law to RNC leader Kayumba Nyamwasa. Their terror organisation is blamed for the spate of grenade attacks that killed people in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, between 2010 and 2013.

After Museveni was sworn in, Ntwali remained in Uganda where he continued to hold meetings with Ugandan officials and RNC coordinators in charge of mobilization and recruitment. Prominent among the mobilisers are the notorious Prossy Bonabaana, her comrade Sula Nuwamanya wa Kabirigi and Lt Frank Mushaija, all attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). Ntwali also held meetings with RNC youth coordinators from different parts of Uganda.

Reliable sources note that on May 23, Ntwali and Maj. Robert Higiro met with Museveni’s brother, Gen. Salim Saleh, at his rural home in Kapeka.

Attending the meeting also was CMI boss, Brig Abel Kandiho, the overall facilitator of RNC activities in Uganda. A day earlier, the terror group's coordinator in Kasese District, Sekamana Laban, chaired a meeting in Nkoko village in Hima Parish, Kichwamba sub-county. In this meeting, Sekamana urged RNC members to be bold and work together to overthrow the government of Rwanda. He requested them to establish many branches in the Rwamwanja refugee camp. The RNC members at the meeting were also advised to buy membership cards which they can present to security agents whenever it is necessary.  

Ntwali also received 37 Rwandan youth who have been mobilized by RNC representatives in the Hoima region particularly in the area of Kakumiro. These youth have been put on standby to go for military training in an undisclosed location. The RNC mobilizers are busy hunting for more youth recruits especially from areas of Kibale and Mubende.

On May 25, in the premises of the ADEPR church in Kyitendere village, Mwitanzige sub-county, in Kakumiro district, Mahirwe, the RNC youth coordinator in the area called for a meeting to mobilize the youth in the greater Bunyoro region to be ready to join an armed rebellion.

Again on May 30, at Kyirijjo trading centre in Kakumiro district, an RNC meeting chaired by one Uwihoreye Mathius also took place aimed at mobilizing cell leaders to document details of their members so that they can be issued with identity cards for security purposes.

It is now known that all RNC members are being issued with identity cards. Rwandan youth in Uganda who will not obtain these IDs risk being branded as Rwandan spies and dealt with accordingly.

For the past three years, while appearing in courts in Rwanda, several high profile terrorists earlier handed over to Rwanda by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) military and others extradited to Rwanda from other countries revealed how Uganda's intelligence agency is actively involved in anti-Rwanda activities.

Maj. (Rtd) Habib Mudathir of RNC, Callixte Nsabimana of MRCD-FLN, Ignace Nkaka, alias LaForge Fils Bazeye, and Jean-Pierre Nsekanabo, alias Theophile Kamara Abega, of the FDLR, Kabayija Seleman, Nzabonimpa Fidel of RUD-Urunana, and many more testified to Uganda authorities’ involvement in terrorist plots against Rwanda. They all named Uganda’s CMI as a source of funds, weapons, and assistance in terrorist plots, or other plans to destabilize Rwandan security.

The intensified recruitment drive by people intent on destabilising Rwanda is an indication that Uganda has not changed its stance on supporting Rwandan terror groups during Museveni’s new term of presidency.