David Bahati, the State Minister for Planning in the Ministry of Finance on Saturday revealed that the President of Uganda is handling the issue of Uganda-Rwanda border closure by himself.
“On the issue of the closed border, his excellence Yoweri Museveni is handling the issue himself and you know he met with President Paul Kagame in West Africa and as a country we sent a delegation to Rwanda so we are hopeful in very few month the border will be open. We are praying for the border to be open.” Bahati said.
Bahati was speaking to the Kabale Municipality National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders at Little Litz gardens Kabale.
In August this year, Presidents Kagame and his Uganda counterpart Museveni signed a pact in Angola aimed at ending the months of tensions.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco along with his counterparts from Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo witnessed the event in Luanda.
In mid-September, a meeting was convened in Kigali and both nations Uganda and Rwanda reportedly agreed to open borders soon.
However, there are little signs showing whether the borders will open despite the signing of agreements and holding regional meetings.
The borders were closed after the two countries accused other each of espionage, political killings and attacks on trade.
Since the border was closed in February 2019, many Rwandans have been arrested, detained or shot dead while attempting to cross into Uganda.
Kigali advised its citizens never to cross to Uganda, saying Kampala was torturing her innocent citizens living in in the East African country.
It was later reported that Kigali had introduced a fine of USD 5,000 to anyone who was arrested while attempting to cross to Uganda or selling Ugandan products.
Bahati, who also doubles as the Greater Kabale NRM chairperson called on the structure leaders to work harder for the party such that it beats its counterparts in other districts in the for the forthcoming elections.
A lot of money has been lost since border closure. In early June this year, it was reported that Kampala had lost more than $664 million’s worth of exports to Rwanda while Kigali had lost $104 million during the three months the Gatuna border had been closed.
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