The government will spend up to Rwf700m on demarcation of Rwanda’s border with Uganda, an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

Both countries have in the recent past had technical teams working together on surveying and re-establishing the boundary marks that separate them.

According to the Director General of Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Kabakeza, the project is in its advanced stages.  

"The work is complete. The technical committee is agreeing upon a new budget and according to the estimates in place, it may cost about frw700 m,” he said in an interview with The New Times.

The funds, Kabakeza adds, will cater for the establishment of border pillars that were fixed in the colonial era.

He hastened to add that the border demarcation exercise doesn’t carry matters of contention, adding that it is purely an administrative exercise by both countries.

Uganda’s High Commissioner to Rwanda, Richard Kabonero, underscored the importance of the exercise, saying it is a decision reinforced by African Union (AU) that calls for African countries to remark their borders.

He said that the exercise will also have a sensitization phase where the citizens of both countries will be informed on the benefits of demarcating borders. 

"Although there is free movement, there is need for our people to know where they should get services from.  There is no borderline, and the only administrative tools we have are these boundary marks,” he said.

The technical subcommittee reinstating boundary marks is a result of the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) framework between the two countries.

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