Sex scandal stirs diplomacy row
2006-04-11 13:05
Kampala - A seemingly minor affair involving a Rwandan diplomat and the wife of a Ugandan businessman has reignited tensions between the feuding neighbours with the Rwandan government expelling a Ugandan diplomat and accusing Kampala of harbouring Rwandan dissidents.
Ugandan police on April 1 arrested the first secretary of the Rwandan embassy in Kampala, John Ngarambe, in a hotel room, for being in the company of a married woman.
Authorities later explained that Ngarambe did not identify himself before being briefly detained and later released.
Rwanda's state media reacted angrily to the incident, saying it was an attempt to frame Ngarambe and Foreign Minister Charles Murigande sent a note to the Ugandan government asking it to apologise for what he called the harassment of the diplomat.
When it did not receive an apology, Rwanda on Saturday gave the first secretary at the Ugandan mission in Kigali 48 hours to leave the country and the Rwanda Times accused Kampala of harbouring Rwandan dissidents.
Kampala was planning to host rebel leader Ignace Murwanashyaka who was recently arrested in Germany and faces trial for crimes against humanity committed in Rwanda, the paper said.
The acting permanent secretary in the Ugandan foreign affairs ministry, James Mugume, downplayed the spat telling Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Tuesday that "there is nothing to worry about."
But the incident marks a deterioration in Rwandan-Ugandan relations which had improved vastly since the late 1990s when their armies fought over a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo resulting in the deaths of scores of soldiers on both sides.
The British government later intervened and peace talks were held in London between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.
However, in July last year, Uganda expelled a Rwandan diplomat from Kampala saying his behaviour was not compatible with his diplomatic status, a term usually used to denote spying activities. Rwanda, on that occasion, reciprocated by ordering an Ugandan diplomat to pack his bags.
"Rwanda wants to assert itself and keep total independence from the real or imaginary patronage of Uganda like Eritrea with Ethiopia. The two men, Kagame and Museveni seem to be fighting personal battles," a Kampala-based diplomat told dpa on condition of anonymity.
Uganda's military spokesperson, Major Felix Kulayigye denied the Rwandan accusations that Uganda was sympathetic to dissidents from that country.
"That is not true. We have never hosted any Rwandan dissidents, we are not hosting them now and we will never do. Those are wrong accusations." - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA