Protests As Ugandan Killed In Rwanda Is Buried
Residents of Karera Village in Kamwezi Sub-county, Rukiga District staged a peaceful demonstration during the burial of Jack Turyahikayo Rwakigezi, who was shot dead on Tuesday last week by Rwandan security operatives.
The 52-year old Rwakigezi was accused of smuggling metallic plates and cups from Rwanda to Uganda.
The Rukiga Resident District Commissioner, Fred Nayebare, said that investigations by security show that Jack Rwakigezi, was shot dead at around 8pm in Nyakisa Hill in Mpororo Border Village in Kashakye Parish, Kamwezi Sub-county.
He was shot after crossing into Uganda, but the body was carried back to Rwanda until days later when it was repatriated through Kamwezi border in Rukiga District.
Nayebare who led the Ugandan delegation to the Rwandan border to receive the body, was accompanied by the UPDF 33rd Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Stephen Sabiiti, and the Rukiga district chairman, Robert Mbabazi Kakwerere before they handed it over to the relatives for burial.
Nayebare promised that a police post would be set up at Mpororo Border and the officers will conduct day and night patrols to ensure that Ugandans are safe.
He condemned the killing of Ugandans by Rwandan authorities who accuse them of breaking their rules.
The mayor of Nyagatare District in Rwanda, Stephen Gasana, who was accompanied by the Nyagatare District Police Commander, JB Dusengimana, led the Rwandan delegation that delivered Turyahikayo’s body.
They accused the deceased of trying to injure Rwandan security operatives with spears and pangas.
However, they did not present the exhibits of the items they claimed the deceased used to fight the Rwanda security operatives.
The chairperson of Kiruhura Border Village, Abel Rubahika, condemned the many incidents of Rwandan security operatives shooting and killing Ugandans yet they accommodate and employ their citizens in the border villages.
The late Turyahikayo is survived by four wives and 11 children.
Incidents of shooting smugglers by Rwandan security authorities along the Uganda-Rwanda border were rampant during the border closure from February 2019-January 2022.
