Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who secured over 99 percent of votes in his re-election bid, shared insights into past tensions between Rwanda and Uganda during a news conference on Tuesday. Kagame recalled that the National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) government in Uganda, during its early years, attempted to thwart plans by Rwandan officers within its ranks to defect and launch the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) liberation war.
Kagame revealed that Ugandan officials planned to send four senior Rwandan officers, including Fred Rwigyema, for elite military training abroad to disrupt their plans. Rwigyema was selected for training in the United States, while Kagame himself was destined for Nigeria. Two others were designated for training in Russia and another unspecified country.
The scheme aimed to scatter the RPF ideologues and decapitate the emerging subversive outfit. Despite the covert nature of their plans, Ugandan authorities became aware and moved to disorganize their efforts. Kagame, who succeeded Rwigyema as the leader of the RPF, eventually went to Fort Leavenworth in the US for training under Rwigyema’s name to avoid further scrutiny.
These recollections contrast with President Museveni’s account. Museveni acknowledged Rwigyema’s nostalgic talks about Rwanda and disclosed his knowledge of clandestine plots, including dispatching Rwigyema to Tanzania to meet Rwandan dissidents.
Kagame’s detailed account shed light on the behind-the-scenes maneuvers that enabled Rwandan Tutsi exiles in Uganda to stage the liberation war that eventually stopped the 1994 genocide, during which nearly 1 million Rwandans were killed.
