By Gerald Bareebe
Daily Monitor
July 25, 2009
Kampala
Uganda yesterday responded to accusations by Rwandan Army officers that President Museveni belittled President Paul Kagame and the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) by trying to ‘re-write history to claim ownership of the liberation of Rwanda’
President Museveni was one of the guests during Rwanda’s 15th Liberation Anniversary at Amahoro Stadium on July 4 from where he is said to have delivered a speech which infuriated some senior officials of the RPF who accused the Ugandan leader of showing ‘condescending attitude towards Rwanda’.
After being decorated by President Kagame with two medals for his role in the war, President Museveni talked about the tense relations he has had with the RPF leadership since the armies of the two countries clashed in Kisangani, DR Congo in 1998 and also tried to explain his role and that of the National Resistance Army-now UPDF- in the liberation of Rwanda.
But the Presidential Press Secretary, Mr Tamale Mirundi, told Saturday Monitor yesterday, that the President did not undermine the role of the RPF or President Kagame because he never said that he was the sole deciding factor in the success of Rwanda’s liberation struggle. “The President did not say that the Ugandan army (NRA) captured Kigali,” Mr Tamale said. “He simply said that he created the situation where by RPA was never defeated.”
Mr Mirundi added: “If there is a disagreement over an issue, the Rwandan government can write to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But there are some people who want to benefit from such situation and those are the ones writing such stories in the media.”
A senior Rwandan Army officer writing under the guise of Andrew Gashabizi wrote an article in the Rwandan government-owned newspaper, New Times, entitled ‘Museveni squandered an opportunity’ where he accused President Museveni of ‘ trying, in vain, to extend the same attitude prevalent in Uganda of attributing every success registered through the sweat and toil of all Ugandans to himself and his brother.”
Another senior RPF officer, Michael Mukarage, wrote in the same paper a story which was picked by All Africa. Com, an online news agency, accusing the ‘ruling clique in Kampala’ of falsifying history to steal credit for the success of the Rwandan liberation struggle.
With reference to Dr Kizza Besigye beating a 24 hours’ UPDF surveillance to flee into exile after the 2001 elections and the failure by UPDF to end LRA insurgency, the RPF official said there was nothing much Rwanda could have learnt from NRA and can learn from UPDF in military or intelligence terms. The Coordinator of National Intelligence services, Gen. David Tinyefunza chose not to comment on this issue when he was contacted by Saturday Monitor.
Related Materials:
We stood with Rwanda during the hard times
The honours: Rwanda decorates foreign dignitaries
Rwanda: The Liberation Struggle Belongs to the People
A TRIBUTE TO GISA [GENERAL FRED RWIGEMA], A YOUNG MAN WITH AN INDESCRIBABLE BEAUTY
Museveni stirs anger in Rwanda
The RPF liberation struggle: Museveni involved in war planning
Uganda-Rwanda: Museveni’s untold role in RPF war
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