Lt Mutabazi YoweriThe UN yesterday issued a strong protest to the government of Uganda over the rise in abductions and the attempted assassination of Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
This came hours after it emerged that a former bodyguard of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who had been granted refugee status in the country, has gone missing.

 

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Lt Mutabazi after who was rescued by the UN call as well as Ugandan authorities, but his former colleague Mr Innocent Karisa’s whereabouts remain unknown, while Lt Joel Mutabazi, who had been arrested by Ugandan police under unclear circumstances, was being extradited to Rwanda using what later turned out to be a fake Interpol arrest warrant.

Their apparent abduction sparked immediate outrage from the UN agency responsible for refugees.
The agency yesterday appeared to question the Ugandan government’s commitment to its obligations under international law to assure the safety of refugees and asylum seekers. “UNHCR is sending a strong protest note to the Ugandan government over the recent spate of abductions of refugees and asylum seekers and the assassination attempts on Joel Mutabazi by people who appear to be non-Ugandans,” UNHCR spokesperson Kitty Mckinsey said.

A number of former associates of the Kigali regime have, in the past, either transited through Uganda en route to exile, or settled in the country, a situation which has caused a freezing up in relations with Kampala on occasion. Highly-placed sources in the government, who insisted on remaining unnamed due to the sensitivity of the affair in light of Uganda’s delicate relations with Kigali, said the so-called international police warrant for Mutabazi was a fake.

The affected two former close protection officers on the Rwandan presidential security team have been living in Kampala after falling out with Kigali. Lt Mutabazi is reported to have spent a night at Jinja Road Police Station after his last minute rescue.
He had been picked up from his home in Namugongo outside the city on the same Tuesday night by a force of individuals dressed in Ugandan police uniforms and other unknown people believed to be from Rwanda.

Uganda’s state minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Mr Musa Ecweru, who is handling the Mutabazi case yesterday said the police made a mistake in arresting and attempting to extradite him to Rwanda.
When asked why police was using a fake Interpol arrest warrant, Interpol boss Asan Kasingye said: “I can’t comment on the issue.”

In 2012, unknown armed assailants attempted to kill Lt Mutabazi at his former home in Kasangati.
Meanwhile, Karisa, the other former Kagame bodyguard, went missing on Wednesday, sparking off a frantic search by family members.

Kalisa InnocentMr Karisa escaped from Kigali and sought refuge in Uganda in 2010. Efforts to reach the Rwandan High Commissioner in Uganda, Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambagye, for comment on the duo’s cases were futile as his mobile phone was switched off. First Secretary at the mission John Ngarambe referred this newspaper to Foreign Affairs minister in Kigali, but Ms Louis Mushikiwabo did not answer our repeated calls.