{UAH} Why Ugandan President Museveni Is Insulting Rwanda’s War Dead

Why Ugandan President Museveni Is Insulting Rwanda's War Dead

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1986

There's nothing infuriating than someone taking credit for your work. We've all had this happen at one point or another: you share an idea with a colleague and then hear them repeat it in a meeting; you stay late to finish a presentation yet your team member accepts all the praise; you lead a long overdue project to completion and your boss tells the higher-ups it was his doing.

But there is nothing more infuriating than someone trying to hijack the pain of an entire nation. That is exactly what happened in a speech Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni gave at the opening of the East African Legislative Assembly in Kampala on Tuesday.

President Museveni seemed to openly claim to have called the shots while no one else was willing to intervene when President Juvenal Habyarimana's government was killing Rwandans. Museveni has for years denied he had any role in what happened in Rwanda, in effort to counter a narrative among some Ugandans that he is of Rwandan origin.

But then suddenly, he wants to grab all the attention and take credit for where Rwanda has reached today despite being destroyed beyond repair only 24 years ago.

For starters, the information in the public domain about what happened in Rwanda is that; on October 01, 1990, a small group of Rwandans leave their homes, schools and jobs to launch a liberation struggle to fight for their right to return home.

President Habyarimana had told his party diehards that when a "glass is full" and you try to add more water, the rest will spillover. The analogy rimed with a clandestine agenda to erect all sorts of obstacles making return of Rwandan refugees unattractive.

Within four years, and after thousands of fallen fighters, the Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army rebels entered Kigali. A government-planned genocide had massacred more than a million Tutsis.

As Rwanda prepares for the 24th commemoration of the mass slaughter this coming April, some people – in what has become an annual custom, are positioning themselves for public display of their role to help.

And it could not have come at a right time – when Ugandan intelligence is trying to foment chaos in Rwanda. This site has several articles detailing how the notorious Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence – only known as CMI, is helping Rwandan dissidents recruit militants from as far as churches in Mbarara district.

In his speech to EALA, President Museveni was arguing that due to the failure of the "one East African government" project back in the 1960s, "satan" – as he said it in his own words, did invade east Africa. One of the "satanic" occurrences was the genocide in Rwanda. Museveni explained that regional neighbours to Rwanda were adamant to intervene because of the sovereignty principle.

Museveni went on to add that, with his help, the RPF stopped the genocide. "I supported them chini chini (clandestinely)," is how Museveni put it. In other words, Museveni is distinguishing himself as the only wise leader at the time, who ignored the sovereignty issues to intervene in Rwanda.

In addition, Museveni wants us to believe that without his help, the RPF would not have succeeded. President Museveni is hiding the truth from Ugandans, like he has for too long. Let us assume what he is saying is true.

But he should equally come out to detail the role played by Rwandan refugees in bringing him to power in Uganda. In the final days of the NRM war, while Ugandan combatants were scavenging on abandoned loot, the Rwandan refugees remained on the battlefield.

It is Rwandan refugees who continued to fight the Alice Lakwena rebels in eastern Uganda, and moved on to the north to battle the remnants – who later turned into Joseph Kony's Lord Restistance army (LRA).

One of the thousands of Rwandans who died in the liberation war that has turned Rwanda into what it is today. This picture is from the Campaign Against Genocide museum in Kigali. Museveni should not try to insult the death of this soldier and the many war dead

While the Ugandan fighters were busy in Kampala enjoying the loot, more than 3,500 Rwandan fighters were pacifying what had become a lawless country. What Museveni has not told Ugandans in that after winning his war, he started sidelining officers he considered Rwandans; many were kept on the war front, while others were held up in military barracks so they do not do anything for themselves.

When they had finally brought Uganda to order, the Rwandan refugees decided to continue to Rwanda to end their suffering. For the entire period of the liberation war, RPA troops were based inside Rwanda. Despite an onslaught of government troops backed by French commandos and weaponry, Rwanda fell.

After the war, Rwanda relied on Uganda for basic commodities due to its location. However, as Rwanda's economy has boomed – and the country gains world acclaim for the successful development model, Ugandan elites are feeling less and less insecure. There is absolutely no reason the Ugandan establishment can give to its people for not being able to bring Uganda out of crisis; what they are doing is find a scapegoat!

In July 1994, when RPF took over power in Rwanda, Ugandans took advantage of the victory and rushed to Kigali for business. Civil servants and casual labourers brought their skills for sale. Ordinary Ugandans continue flocking to Rwanda for opportunities. The doors will remain open, even when Rwandans are being kept in CMI dungeons and tortured accused of being spies.

President Museveni should not confuse any sane Ugandans that Rwandans are doing anything to harm their neighbours. Rwandans have nothing to gain from causing trouble in Uganda. But Museveni has a lot to gain when Rwandan eventually falls apart as a result of dirty games.

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