Ramaphosa inauguration: What did presidents Museveni, Kagame discuss?

Cyril Ramaphosa was on Saturday sworn in as the President of South Africa at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria under the watchful eyes of various high-profile guests including Uganda President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.

The two heads of state, according to a picture that was circulated by Lindah Nabusayi with caption; “let peace prevail’, sat next to each other for the first time since Rwanda closed her borders on Uganda.

Kagame, who has since claimed that his problem with Uganda was made in South Africa, is said to have arrived earlier, with programs director Jessie Duarte introducing him as ‘the president of Uganda.’

Duarte later on apologised and corrected the mistake.

When Museveni arrived much later, he was introduced as ‘Africa’s charismatic leader,’ and made his way to the empty seat, next to Kagame.

The two were later on seen chit chatting, probably for the first time since they exchanged letters in March over the alleged presence of Rwandan dissidents in Uganda including Charlotte Mukankusi and Rwandan tycoon Tribert Rujugiro.

Then, Museveni wrote to Kagame explaining circumstances under which he met these people.
“Greetings from the people of Uganda and from myself. I am writing to let you know that by accident, I, at last, had a meeting with a Rwandan who admitted to being a member of the group you told me about — Rwanda National Congress (RNC). This is a lady known as Mukankusi, whom, I am sure you know, but I had never met before,” Museveni wrote.

“One of my National Resistance Movement (NRM) contacts kept telling me that there was a Rwandan lady who had some important information to give me and that she wanted to come with somebody known as Gasana, who also had important information.”

Details about their discussions are yet to be known but sources say the two leaders discussed the reopening of the borders as well as trade.