KAMPALA – The Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Community Affairs Ali Kirunda Kivejinja says there is no need for the East African Community (EAC) to intervene in the on-going border impasse between Uganda and Rwanda.
The Minister made the remarks on Wednesday during a media breakfast at Imperial Royal Hotel ahead of the celebrations to mark 20 years of the East African Community.
Kivejinja defended his position arguing that the community is optimistic that mutual talks between Uganda and Rwanda can help to end the tensions and fully revive cross border trade.
“The EAC isn’t involved in all these things, and the two heads of states, both of Uganda and Rwanda vowed that those matters should be left to them and they assured us that they will resolve them. Until they tell us that they have failed, then it will be our interest,” said Kivejinja.
The Minister’s statement comes at the time there is renewed rivalry between two nations after the Ugandan government issued a protest note to the government of Rwanda over the deadly border shooting of two Ugandan nationals by Rwandan security operatives on Sunday.
Job Ebyarishaga and Bosco Tuhirwe were killed at Tabagwe village in Nyagatare District in Rwanda with the Rwandan Government accusing the duo of smuggling tobacco into their nation with Rwanda describing the deaths as a pity and that their death should serve as a tough lesson for Ugandans to know that every country has its own rules, handles crime in its own way and methods neighboring East African country.
