Former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President Dr. Col (Rtd) Kizza Besigye has held a private meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in New York City – the United States of America, the Kampala Post reports.
Dr. Besigye left the country last Friday aboard KLM Airlines for the US.
Mr. Kagame who is in the US for the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly (September 24 to 29) organized to meet Dr. Kizza Besigye on the sidelines with their discussion remaining private.
The development comes at a time Uganda and Rwanda are in talks to normalize bilateral relations following the unilateral closure of the Rwandan border with Uganda in February.
At the recent meeting in Kigali, Uganda and Rwanda officials undertook to “refrain from actions conducive to destabilization or subversion in the territory of the other party (and) acts such as the financing, training, and infiltration of destabilizing forces”.
However, the meeting between Rwanda’s President Kagame and Dr.Besigye who has openly urged Ugandans to defy the laws of Uganda, saying he and his group intend to overthrow President Museveni’s government will only act as a setback.
It should be remembered that following his defeat in the 2016 elections, Dr. Besigye organized a private ceremony in which he declared himself president. He has since established what he calls the “people’s government” and urged his supporters to ensure the removal of President Museveni from office before the next election scheduled for 2021.
Earlier this month, the Internal Affairs Minister, Gen Jeje Odongo, blamed the spate of murders and insecurity in some parts of the country on politicians, who he said are using the situation to politically discredit the ruling National Resistance Movement party.
Gen Odongo said progress was being made by security forces to implement action plans suggested by President Yoweri Museveni in a past address to Parliament.
“The security agencies have tried to understand what factors drive this new crime trend and politics is one of the drivers,” said Gen Odongo.
“One of the greatest successes of the NRM government has been to provide security for Ugandans [and] this is why the population has voted for NRM; many detractors are aware of this and are trying to create the impression that the NRM government has failed on this,” Gen Odongo said.
President Yoweri Museveni has in the recent past noted with emphasis that “Uganda now is in peace – from one corner to the other corner, adding that nobody can disturb Uganda’s peace.
“We defended the peace of Ugandans when we were much weaker. There is absolutely nobody that can disturb our peace,” Museveni said.