Rwanda demands apology

Apr 04, 2006

RWANDA yesterday said it was not satisfied with the reasons advanced by Uganda for the arrest of its senior embassy official, John Ngarambe, terming his arrest an abuse of his diplomatic immunity and demanding an apology.

By Steven Candia and Eddie Sejjoba

RWANDA yesterday said it was not satisfied with the reasons advanced by Uganda for the arrest of its senior embassy official, John Ngarambe, terming his arrest an abuse of his diplomatic immunity and demanding an apology.

Even after getting an explanation from state minister for foreign affairs Okello Oryem, Rwanda maintained that the arrest of the First Secretary was a breach of the Geneva Convention.

Oryem yesterday met Rwandese ambassador Ignatius Karegesa over the weekend arrest.

Speaking shortly after the meeting, Karegesa said he was dissatisfied with the reasons advanced for the arrest.

Karegesa said Oryem had explained that Ngarambe was arrested because he delayed to identify himself and that he had committed the offence as an individual and not as a diplomat.

But Karegesa argued that Ngarambe’s actions could not be divorced from his status as a diplomat.

“The police knew this man. Gen. Tinyefuza informed me at 8:00pm that a senior embassy official had been arrested. that means they knew he was a diplomat,” Karegesa said.

Rwanda foreign affairs minister Dr. Charles Murigande said in a phone interview, “the minimum Uganda can do is to apologise.”

Karegesa said by arresting and detaining the diplomat, Uganda had breached article 29 of the Geneva Convention on diplomatic relations.

Murigande said, “To our knowledge, Ngarambe was not involved in any crime. Is it not allowed in Uganda to talk to a woman, or is there any law anywhere in Uganda that says you cannot talk to a woman?”

Acting Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary James Mugume, who also attended the meeting, said, “The two met and it was over the recent arrest of the Rwandese First Secretary but most importantly about enhancing bilateral relations between the two countries.”

Oryem termed Ngarambe’s arrest an unfortunate and regrettable incident.

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