Rwanda protests arrest

Apr 03, 2006

RWANDA government has summoned Uganda’s ambassador to Kigali, Richard Kabonero, to protest the arrest of its senior diplomat in Kampala on Saturday.

By Eddie Ssejjoba

RWANDA government has summoned Uganda’s ambassador to Kigali, Richard Kabonero, to protest the arrest of its senior diplomat in Kampala on Saturday.

Rwandan foreign affairs minister Dr. Charles Murigande summoned Kabonero on Sunday and handed him a note protesting the arrest

A senior Rwandan diplomat, John Ngarambe, the first secretary at the embassy, was arrested at night from a room at the Lake Victoria Windsor Hotel, Entebbe with a married woman, Joyce Nganza, wife of Mbarara businessman Edmond Rugunda.

Kabonero confirmed the summons, saying he had communicated the matter to the Uganda foreign affairs minister, Sam Kutesa. He said Kutesa expressed the government’s position and described the incident as unfortunate, but left it to the Kigali authorities to take appropriate action.

Kabonero said it was after he delivered the government’s position that Dr. Murigande handed him the protest note.

Uganda’s acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs, James Mugume, confirmed that the Rwandan government had sent the note protesting the arrest and the manner in which the diplomat was detained at Entebbe Central Police Station, contrary to the 1961 Vienna Convention.

“We are trying to handle the matter carefully,” he said.

Mugume said the Police were investigating and the Government was eagerly waiting for a full report on the matter. He said the Police were still interviewing hotel workers on duty at the time of the arrest.

Mugume, however, said as soon as the Police established that Ngarambe was a diplomat, he was released.

“If they (Rwandan government) look at the full report and facts, they will know that it was not the government, but just an irate husband following his wife,” he said.

He said, “Obviously the Government is not involved. It was just a husband who followed and nabbed his wife with another man in a hotel and tipped the Police.”

Mugume said, “It is a criminal act but we respect the Vienna Convention. That is why they let him go.

He said state minister for foreign affairs Okello Oryem would today meet Rwandan ambassador Ignatius Kamali Karyegesa over the matter.

A Rwandan newspaper, The New Times, however, said the diplomat was set up, mentioning Gen. David Tinyefuza in the saga.

“Masked armed men who pretended to be hotel workers delivering food pounced on the diplomat’s table, forcing him into the room with a female guest. He was stripped naked, boxed and later taken half-naked in handcuffs,” the paper quoted a source familiar with operations of the Uganda presidency. It said the diplomat had been on official duty at the hotel.

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