NAIROBI, 22 May (IRIN) - Members
of Rwanda's Hutu militia group, the Interahamwe, who were responsible for
the 1994 genocide and have since been in exile are currently active in
Uganda, news agencies have reported.
AFP
cited what it said was a report from a military commission - the Joint
Verification and Investigation Team - set up by Rwanda and Uganda to probe
the activities of Rwandan dissidents stating that "there has been
some Interahamwe activity in the national Mgahinga Park area" of southwestern
Uganda.
According to the document there were "unconfirmed reports of Interahamwe presence in the dense forest of Bwindi" in southwestern Uganda, AFP reported, and that "small groups of Interahamwe would transit from the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] to Rwanda". Moreover, clashes had also broken out in February between the Interahamwe and the Ugandan army, following the discovery of Interahamwe camps and leaflets containing propaganda against Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
AFP noted, "The report doesn't say whether the Rwandan rebels have received training or support from the Ugandan army or government".
The military commission, comprising two Rwandans, two Ugandans and a British representative, conducted its interviews with civilians, Ugandan army representatives, local police officers and a national park warden between 14 and 16 May.
Responding to the allegations, Ugandan army spokesman Maj Shaban Bantariza told IRIN on Wednesday that whereas the report had mentioned "some Interahamwe activity", it had not specified what the word "activity" actually meant.
"It is very important to define what those activities are," he said.
"It [the Joint Verification and Investigation Team] was set up to establish whether the Interahamwe had established camps in Uganda and whether that was with the Ugandan government's support," he said. "Neither of those things has been found. There are no camps in Uganda and no attacks have taken place from Uganda."
He acknowledged that some Interahamwe had "slipped" into Uganda in the past - into Mgahinga Park that bordered the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda - but that Uganda had deployed a battalion over a year ago to drive them out. He said whenever Interahamwe fighters were found it usually resulted in clashes between the Uganda forces and the militia fighters, after which the Rwandans were chased back into areas beyond the military's control.
Referring to an incident in 1999 when the Interahamwe killed eight foreign tourists in Bwindi Park, he said "we have deployed a battalion to fight them so they don't attack our tourists again".
The Ugandan government-owned newspaper, The New Vision, reported on 20 May that according to the investigation team there were no camps in Uganda training Interahamwe fighters aimed against the Rwandan government. "The report we write is confidential. But it is true that the report cleared Uganda of any Interahamwe camps," the newspaper quoted the head of the Ugandan team, Maj James Mugira, as saying.
But the Rwandan army spokesman Col Jean-Bosco Kazura told IRIN, "The evidence is that there are Interahamwe in Kisoro District." He said the Ugandan government "obviously had to reject such allegations, but that the reality is that Interahamwe are there".
The Ugandan military, he said, had rejected the idea of conducting a joint Rwandan-Ugandan operation to neutralise the Rwandan forces in the area.
Kazuru added that the two countries were trying to "normalise" their relations, but that Uganda was allowing "those killers" to operate from its country. He said progress could be made if the Ugandan government accepted that the Interahamwe were operating from its country, and then prevented them from doing so. "They should disassociate themselves from the Interahamwe. It is not understandable that they would give them sanctuary," he added.
[ENDS]
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