Last week Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni did what he has done every election cycle in that country, for the last twenty years. He sought to drag Rwanda into his countrys recently concluded elections mess. For political observers and historians with interest in the affairs of this region, it would have been out of character if Museveni had changed his script. When he, therefore, accused a certain country in the region of meddling in Uganda’s elections everyone knew which country he was pointing at. In case anybody had doubts, his Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence through its publication, Chimpreports dutifully translated the message, naming Rwanda as the country the president accused. Seeking to smear Rwanda by mentioning it in his electoral food fight is routine and expected, if it wasnt for the timing and Musevenis widely documented decades-long efforts to not only impose on the Rwandan people his own choice of who he wants to be their leaders, but also his proven history of working to destabilize Rwanda. There is neither what about nor any moral equivalence, simply because Rwanda has never sought to interfere in Ugandas affairs and the Ugandan rulers allegations are nothing but a smokescreen meant to distract from his refusal to cease his governments support for terrorist groups, including the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) that have launched violent attacks on Rwanda, seeking to cause bloodshed in the country. Its almost a year now since President Museveni was tasked by the Quadripartite Summit held at Gatuna on February 21, 2020, under the auspices of the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding, with the Presidents of Angola, Joao Laurenco and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)s Felix Tshisekede, as mediators, to submit a report on the activities of the RNC and allied terrorist organisations operating on the Ugandan territory and supported by his government. The report was supposed to be verified and confirmed by the Ad Hoc Ministerial Commission for the implementation of the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding. As is always the case, president Museveni hasnt done any of what he agreed at the Summit but has instead continued his project to destabilize Rwanda, by funding and supporting the same groups he promised to come clean on. President Musevenis protracted agenda to dominate Rwanda has been widely chronicled in these pages and well documented in various media outlets elsewhere. One of the most outrageous episodes that stood out, was the Ugandan presidents evident entitled attitude towards Rwanda displayed when in 2000, as Rwandans were choosing their leaders, he dispatched his then special assistant, General Kale Kayihura to tell then Vice President Paul Kagame that he shouldnt stand as a candidate for President of Rwanda. When President Kagame read Museveni the riot act, the Ugandan ruler wasnt about to give up and quickly moved to enlist the support of regional leaders to help him accomplish his imperialist scheme. He sent an emissary to Dar- es- Salaam seeking to draw the late Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa into his plot. However, if Museveni thought Tanzania was going to support his intrigue, he had another thing coming. Since April 1979, when Tanzanian troops matched on Kampala and toppled Idi Amin, after the Ugandan dictator had attacked their country and claimed part of its territory, Dar-es -Salaam has always known every snake that crawls in Kampala. President Mkapa, therefore, was well aware of Musevenis expansionist ambitions and wasnt surprised when he was approached. After carefully listening to the envoy, the Tanzanian president sought to know if then Vice President Kagame was among the candidates the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was forwarding for the position, since Museveni wasnt objecting to anyone elses participation. Indeed, the RPF had three competing candidates to choose from. President Mkapa made it clear to Museveni that his government would be happy with whoever the RPF chose to become president, precisely because thats the formula by which the Tanzanian people and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) in particular select their leaders. Besides, he said, Tanzania had no business meddling in other countries electoral processes. As has been recounted and recorded before, pertaining to similar incidents, President Musevenis malign designs against Rwanda have always been exposed and called out by other African heads of state, including the late South African president Nelson Mandela. In 1998, during coffee break in Nairobi, at one of the several summits held around African capitals as the leaders worked to find a solution to the war that was raging in the DRC, then ruled by Laurent Desire Kabila, President Musevenis insidious agenda towards Rwanda was laid bare by a universally revered leader, who knew how to seize the moment to put his message across. Before the session resumed, President Mandela elegantly strolled and approached the Rwandan delegation, not far from where the Ugandans were standing as both parties waited for the deliberations of the summit to continue. You must be wondering why we havent delivered your guns, the former South African leader probed addressing himself to the Rwandan team. Without waiting for an answer, he went on to clarify; You need to know that we have held onto those weapons on the advice of president Museveni here, Mandela disclosed, pointing at the Ugandan president who was visibly shaken and looked small. A stricken Museveni couldnt find his voice to even attempt to dispute the truth he knew had caught up with him. The next day after he had recovered and regained his composure, he called Kigali to deny what Mandela had publicly pinned him on, blaming it instead on what he sought to diagnose as the South African leaders declining cognitive capacity. It didnt work and he knew it. It should be recalled that when Mandela called Musevenis treachery out, the South African government had agreed to sell Kigali the weapons after the United Nations Organization bureaucracy and bad intentions on the part of certain Western countries implicated for their role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, had caused delays in finalizing the necessary paperwork to lift the arms embargo which had been imposed on the genocidal regime. The RPF, which fought and defeated the political and military forces that planned and carried out the genocide, brought it to an end and had never been targeted for any arms sanctions. President Musevenis latest accusations are in keeping with a familiar record of his baseless and tired allegations, whereby he has tried to tie to Rwanda every presidential candidate in that country over the years, who has posed what he perceived to be a credible challenge to his rule. Until he can devise other ways of misleading the world and is able to cover up his support and funding for terrorist organisations, including RNC and FDLR, the Ugandan president wont be changing his script anytime soon.
