Uganda, Rwanda police chiefs discuss security challenges

Aug 04, 2014

Rwanda and Uganda Police chiefs have held talks in Kabale to review the implementation of the existing partnership agreement between the two forces, and agree on the development of joint initiatives that will help them manage and respond to security challenges along the Northern Corridor

By Abdulkarim Ssengendo

Rwanda and Uganda Police chiefs have held talks in Kabale to review the implementation of the existing partnership agreement between the two forces, and agree on the development of joint initiatives that will help them manage and respond to security challenges along the Northern Corridor.

Ensuring security along the Northern Corridor including the flow and safety of traffic is among the resolutions agreed upon by the two institutions in a meeting co-chaired by Inspector General of Police, Gen.Kale Kayihura and his Rwandan counterpart Police Emmanuel K. Gasana

The two chiefs made the commitment in a tripartite meeting on bilateral cooperation held at White Horse Inn Hotel in Kabale district on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by high ranking police chiefs from the two police institutions. The meeting was organized to review the implementation status of the memorandum of understanding between the two police institutions and follow up of their past recommendations.

The two forces also agreed to continue the process of rolling out community policing models along the common borders and develop capabilities through training, sharing experiences and best practices and conducting joint coordinated operations within respective common borders.

Gen. Kayihura highlighted the existing challenge of unregulated movement of people across the common border and said effective systems should be established to know and monitor the movement of people across borders.

He appreciated the seriousness and commitment of Rwanda national police in achieving a lot in capacity building. He further appreciated the efforts by officers from both sides in fighting other forms of cross border insecurity.

"I want to thank the joint teams that have come up with a very concrete way forward in terms of actualizing our cooperation, the problem of Africa is getting things done, so the challenge is to get what we have outlined get implemented," Kayihura told the metting also attended by heads of various police departments in the two forces and local leaders from Kabale and Kisoro districts.

Gasana emphasized the importance of such meetings in combating modern and emerging transnational crimes such as cyber crimes, terrorism and ideological crimes existing in the region. He further mentioned the importance of the need to review the existing memorandum of understanding between the police institutions.

The meeting resolved to reinforce cooperation between the two police institutions in fighting transnational and other organized crimes. A joint standard operation will be developed to manage and respond to incidence along the Northern corridor.

The forces also agreed to continue the process of rolling out the process of community policing models along the common borders and this to be part of the territorial commander's day-to-day activities.

During the meeting, a concern of visa fee and taxes charged on Ugandans and Rwandans crossing to DRC was raised.

The meeting recommended that the IGP of Uganda invites the IGP of DRC and Rwanda for another tripartite meeting to resolve the issue.

The meeting ordered the Interpol offices to effectively monitor the resolutions and progress of implementation and report periodically.

The next follow up meeting will be held in Rwanda on a day yet to be agreed between the two police chiefs
 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});