Drama ensued at the Uganda-Rwanda border of Buziba in Kamwezi Sub County in Rukiga district this morning during the repatriation of the bodies of two Ugandans short by Rwandan security last weekend.
The deceased Ugandans are John Bosco Tuhirirwe and Job Ebyarishaga, both residents of Kamwezi Sub-county. They were shot dead by Rwandan security at Tabarwe sector in Nyagatare district in the wee hours of Sunday morning, about 200 meters from Ugandan border on allegations of smuggling tobacco.
Three other Ugandans who were with the deceased including Aron Ainebyoona, Christopher Byamukama and Emmanuel Niwamanya managed to flee back to Uganda. Local leaders from Rukiga district and members of the deceased’s families gathered at Uganda-Rwanda border in Buziba around 11am this morning to receive their remains from Rwandan authorities.
The Ugandan team was led by Eddie Sserunjoji, the Kigezi Region Police Commander, Elly Maate, the Kigezi Region Police Spokesperson, Prikeria Muhindo Mwiine, the Rukiga Resident District Commissioner and Jackson Muganiizi, the Rukiga District LC Vice Chairman.
It took about an hour for Rwandan security officials led by Emmanuel Hatari, the Eastern Province Region Police Commander and David Claudian Mushabe, the Nyagatare district Mayor to arrive with the bodies amidst tight security. They tried to hand them over to Uganda authorities accompanied with death certificates.
However, Ugandan security authorities demanded that their counterparts present a postmortem and handover report before they receive the bodies. The Rwandan authorities instead handed over the deceased’s death certificates, which didn’t go down well with their Ugandan counterparts.
They sought an explanation while the Rwandan delegation didn’t present postmortem reports and handover certificates.
The Ugandan delegation was angered further when they realized that the death certificates were written in French and Kinyarwanda languages instead of English, which they could easily understand.
Sserunjoji, Maate and Muhindo declined to receive the bodies and demanded that the Rwandan officials first write a handover report.
This forced some Rwandan officials to drive back to Nyagatare to pick a police stamp and headed papers where to write the handover report after the Ugandan team rejected a draft on a plain piece of paper.
It took about 1 and half hours for the handover report to be drafted. The Rwandan team promised to handover the postmortem reports through embassies.
The Ugandan officials condemned the shooting of the Ugandans, saying killing doesn’t solve problems.
Prikeria Muhindo Mwiine, the Rukiga Resident District Commissioner, said the two should have been arrested and charged with smuggling.
David Claudian Mushabe, the Mayor of Nyagatare district maintained that the two were killed when they assaulted police officers.
Johnson Mushure, the father of Job Ebyarishaga said the death of his son is a big loss to the family since he was the soul bread winner.
He wants the Ugandan government to compensate his family to cater for the funeral arrangements as well as catering for the widow and his three children.