Residents of Karera Village in Kashekye Parish, Kamwezi Sub-county, and Rukiga District yesterday held a nonviolent protest at Jack Turyahikayo Rwakigezi’s funeral, who was shot dead by Rwandan security personnel on Tuesday of last week.
Rwakigezi was charged with bringing metal plates and glasses into Uganda illegally.
According to security investigations, the victim was shot and killed at around 8 o’clock in Nyakisa Hill in Mpororo Border Village in Kashakye Parish, Kamwezi Sub-county, Rukiga, according to resident district commissioner of Rukiga, Mr. Fred Nayebare.
After entering Uganda, the victim was shot, but the body was brought back to Rwanda until Monday afternoon, when Rwakigezi was returned through the Kamwezi border in Rukiga at around 4 o’clock.
“We are tired of Rwandan security operatives killing our people whom they suspect of smuggling goods either into their country or vice versa. This is the sixth person from Kashekye Parish who has been shot dead by Rwandan security operatives since 2019. We deserve an apology from the government of Rwanda over these extra-judicial killings,” Mr Nayebare said.
The Rwandan team that presented Turyahikayo’s body was led by Mr. Stephen Gasana, the mayor of Nyagatare District in Rwanda, who was joined by Mr. JB Dusengimana, the district police commander.
They claimed that the deceased attempted to harm the Rwandan security personnel using crude weapons like spears and pangas.
“The deceased was shot dead after resisting arrest after he was intercepted while smuggling goods out of Rwanda. The deceased was in the company of five other colleagues that carried traditional tools, which they threatened to use to injure our security operatives, and in self defence, [our team] shot him dead while the rest ran away and disappeared,” Mr Gasana said as he presented a postmortem report to Mr Nayebare.
The deceased’s purported weapons against the Rwandan security agents were not displayed, nevertheless.
The Ugandan delegation that received the body before it was given to the relatives for burial was led by Mr. Nayebare, the UPDF commander for the 33 Battalion, Lt. Col. Stephen Sabiiti, and the chairperson of the Rukiga, Mr. Robert Mbabazi Kakwerere.
Mr. Nayebare pledged to set up a police station at the Mpororo Border Post and send out day and night patrols to make sure Ugandans are safe inside their nation.
According to Mr. Kakwerere, the recent murders of Ugandans may cause Kigali and Kampala to once again have chilly ties.