Ugandan authorities have deported another Rwandan businessman who was picked from his place of work in western Uganda by operatives attached to Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.

He was dumped at Gatuna border post Monday night before he was picked up by Rwandan authorities.

Speaking from Kigali, Emmanuel Cyemayire said he was arrested on January 4 from his workplace in Mbarara town in western Uganda.

In Mbarara town, he said he operated an electronics shop with stock worth over UGX 20 million (approximately Rwf5m).

He said he was first detained at Makenke Barracks in Mbarara where he spent a night before being transferred to Kampala where he was tortured.

"While in Makenke Barracks, a soldier who was interrogating me presented to me two documents, one of them a statement by Deo Nyirigira, who happens to be my local pastor, accusing me of being a "a Kagame agent”,” he said.

Nyirigira is the lead pastor of Agape, a pentacostal church located in Mbarara town which has been linked to the terrorist network by Rwandan dissidents, that calls itself Rwanda National Congress.

He identified the officer who interrogated him in Mbarara as Major Fred Mushambo, who heads the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence in Mbarara.

Looking frail, 40-year old Cyemayire narrated that from the time of his arrest, he was kept blindfolded, saying that in Mbarara, he was kept tied up in a room whose floor was littered with stagnant water.

From Mbarara, he driven, again blindfolded, to another destination, which he later discovered to be Mbuya Military Barracks in Kampala.

"I spent about eight days being tortured, spent much of that time with hands and legs tied on the stairway and several officers were asking me why I frequently travelled to Rwanda,” he narrated.

"I was at first told that I was illegally staying in Uganda but when I told them to check my passport and presented my trading license, I was told that my release was at the discretion of their boss one Abel Kandiho.”

Brigadier General Kandiho is the Director of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence in the Uganda People’s Defence Force.

Following his ordeal, Cyemayire said that after getting medical attention, he would approach Rwandan authorities to help him secure his property back in Uganda.

Genesis

According to Cyemayire, he has been peacefully operating his business in Mbarara until after the Presidential Elections held in Rwanda last year.

He said that some individuals, including his pastor, Deo Nyirigira, were opposed his drive to encourage members of the Rwandan community in western Uganda to participate in the presidential elections that were held last year in August.

"Nyirigira openly preached to the congregation – mainly composed of Rwandans – not to participate in the elections. Actually I am certain it is him who masterminded my arrest,” he said.

Cyemayire is not the first Rwandan to suffer at the hands of Ugandan security operatives.

Late last year, five Rwandan business operators were dumped at the border after enduring torture for several days.

They all left their businesses when they were eventually deported.

Before them, another Rwandan, Fidele Gatsinzi, who lives in Rwanda but was in Uganda to visit his son studying university there, said he was picked up in broad day light by Rwandan dissidents before he was handed over to CMI.