Understanding the Banyarwanda; nationals, immigrants, #refugees and their three princes - #Uganda #Rwanda @aKasingye @KagutaMuseveni @IGPUganda

The Banyarwanda question is once again top on the political menu of Uganda's current affairs.  A mysterious Munyarwanda female information peddler is being accorded VIP treatment and security by the elite Presidential protection force, SFG.  Not only is she fleecing on the tax payer's money but she is enjoying special security when women in Entebbe and Wakiso are being mysteriously killed not to forget the residents of Kalungu who continue to suffer the wrath of the mysterious Panga Men.  Around mid last month, Umuhoza Mbabazi almost sparked off a bloody armed clash between friendly forces. 

While some circles suggest that she gave Museveni vital intelligence on the murder of Inspector General (IG) Kaweesi, she has personally come out to publicly declare that her earlier security providers, ISO had been forcing her to implicate the IGP, Gen. Kalekyezi in the same murder.  Whatever the so called "intelligence" that she provided to Museveni, we are yet to see action taken on that basis because other than speculations, no new suspects have been netted for the Kaweesi murder.  For now, we only need to interrogate he status in Uganda; is she a Ugandan, a visitor, an immigrant or a refugee??? As to whether she is a suspect under detention or a vital witness under VIP protection, the answer may never be found.

Senior police officers, a Rwandese army veteran and a Congolese were last week rounded by the army and charged before the military court martial for kidnap and forced return of a Rwandese refugee back to Rwanda in 2013. They are also accused of espionage; implying that once again Rwanda is an enemy state.  The police is helplessly protesting the manner in which the army is arresting its officers.  The police chief, Gen. Kalekyezi whose deep links with the Kigali regime is undisputable, is under psychological torture and “open arrest". More police officers continue to be rounded up by the army.

Coincidentally or otherwise, the army also arrested another Munyarwanda critic of the Museveni regime, Frank Gashumba on allegations of attempted fraud involving the Ministry of Defence. It is alleged that last month on the 19th October the Anti-Terrorism Squad pounced on two suspects, a one Nasser Mukungu and Kasumba who is a young brother to Frank Gashumba as they had gone to meet their victims at a hotel. That Nasser Mukungu was arrested but Kasumba managed to escape.  That Nasser Mukungu was released on police bond; which is very rare owing to the gravity of the alleged offence.  That it was until ten days later on 29th that Gashumba's young brother was arrested. 

Frank Gashumba is reported to have driven in the company of his Lawyer to the army headquarters to inquire into the matter.  He was arrested, detained and a purported search claimed to have recovered overwhelming incriminating evidence. The speed at which the army gathered the so called incriminating evidence against Gashumba is raising more questions than answers.  Before moving in to carry out the initial arrest, how much information had the army gathered by way of surveillance?

At what stage did the army view Gashumba as a suspect and what if he had not taken himself to the military installation?  Despite the ample time of ten days before arrest, suspect Frank Gashumba did not bother in anyway to dispose of the said evidence!!!!!   There could be more to the Gashumba saga than catches the public eye and most likely it may end at arrest, detention, search and display.  Moreover, what happened to an earlier related but clearer financial fraud scam where a Polish arms company fell victim in a fraud committed from boardroom of the army headquarters????

Banyarwanda are a people of Rwanda who are also called Rwandese in English and French though the current Tutsi regime in Rwanda adopted Rwandans as the new name.  The Banyarwanda are comprised of three ethnic groups; the majority Hutu (cultivators), the Tutsi (cattle keepers) and the Twa (hunters and gatherers). They speak one language called Kinyarwanda.  Banyarwanda have their home in Rwanda but are spread all over the Great Lakes Region of Africa mainly in Congo, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.  In Uganda, Banyarwanda came in phases; the earliest being both Hutu and Tutsi immigrants who came around 1900 in search of pasture and escaping forced labour respectively. 

Such immigration continued through the 1930s and 1940s having been attracted by availability of labour in sugar plantations and mines. Most if these early immigrants settled and got assimilated into their host communities mainly in Ankole, Buganda, Busoga and Kasese.  The colonial partition of Uganda's southern border saw Kisoro being apportioned to Uganda from the Hutu stronghold of northern Rwanda.  The Banyarwanda of Kisoro who are predominantly Hutu came to be known as Bafumbira.

The events in Rwanda of 1959 through 1960s witnessed the coming of the first Tutsi refugees into Uganda. Although this group was afforded all the freedoms and privileges, it did not assimilate because throughout their thirty years of exile they were preoccupied with efforts to return to Rwanda. It is this group that took advantage of the political turmoil of successive Uganda governments to forge their political struggle for returning to Rwanda. Lack came with the advent of Museveni on the political scene.  They overwhelmingly joined his armed political machinations that brought him to power in 1986. Immediately upon taking power he enacted the Anti-sectarian law specifically to protect the Banyarwanda who were now assuming privileged social, economic and political status.  In 1990, he helped them to invade Rwanda and dislodge the Hutu regime culminating into the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.

The Banyarwanda struggle to return to Rwanda was spearheaded by Tutsi refugees. The Banyarwanda Hutu who had already settled amongst the Ugandan communities were not bothered.  In fact, the predominantly Hutu Bafumbira population of Kisoro was considered friendly to the then Hutu regime in Rwanda.  The minority Tutsi Bafumbira population led by the then Bishop of Muhabura, Halel Imana actively supported the Tutsi RPF struggle.  That is how the likes of Museveni's police chief, Gen. Kalekyezi identifies with the Tutsi regime in Kigali. His young brother, Gen. Jack Nziiza after deserting Museveni's NRA rose to become a General in RPF and one of Kagame's top security managers. 

Other than refugees, the other Tutsi who had established themselves, save for a few like Donant Kananura, did not expressly support the RPF.  Consequently, it has been authoritatively reported that since capturing power in 1994, the Tutsi RPF leadership has been discriminating their own who did not reside in refugee camps in Uganda in preference for those who had been refugees and residing in camps.

Back in Uganda, when the Tutsi RPF took power in 1994, their refugee status in Uganda ended.  They attempted to overwhelmingly return on their own to Rwanda but the following year in 1995 Museveni granted them Ugandan citizenship.  The 1995 Constitution made Banyarwanda one of the indigenous tribes of Uganda.  The refugees halted their return to Rwanda and even those who had returned found their way back to Uganda.  Since then Museveni has gone ahead to accord preferential treatment to Banyarwanda. Consequently, even the Banyarwanda Tutsi who has been assimilated into the different Ugandan communities have had to come out and not only identify with the new tribe but also claim shareholding in the Museveni regime. 

He also entered into regional protocols that allow free movement of people within the East African Community thus opening the floodgates of a fresh influx of Banyarwanda into Uganda.  That's how the other Banyarwanda who were evicted from Tanzania in 2013 chose to come to Uganda and have been granted citizenship.

For over two decades, the defeated Banyarwanda Hutu who had initially shunned fleeing to Uganda later started sneaking and settling into Uganda from Rwanda, Tanzania, Congo and Burundi.  While many come in claiming to be Congolese or Burundian refugees, for various reasons others simply sneak in and settle in the countryside after claiming to be Ugandan Bafumbira. This is the group that Gen. Kalekyezi recently claimed are being sought by Rwanda for their role in the 1994 Genocide. 

Other than the much-hyped forced return of a former Kagame bodyguard, Lt. Joel Mutabazi, there are thousands of Banyarwanda Hutu whom the Museveni regime has since time in memorial been forcefully returning Rwandese refugees to Rwanda.  Over a decade ago, during their heated meeting at Mweya over the Kisangani clashes, Museveni put it to Kagame that refugees who were being returned to Rwanda were being killed.  Some areas of Mubende, Kyegegwa, and Masaka have the highest concentration of the fresh Banyarwanda Hutu settlements.

When Museveni and Kagame invaded Congo in the late 1990s, the Banyarwanda Tutsi calling themselves Banyamulenge were politically energized.  Though the two countries were forced to leave Congo, the Banyamulenge have remained a key political player in eastern Congo. These Banyamulenge have divided their allegiance to both Kagame and Museveni thus they regard both Uganda and Rwanda as their second homes.  This partly explains the status of the VIP Munyarwanda lady at the center of controversy over the Kaweesi murder.  While Kigali hosts a higher number of Banyamulenge refugees, Kampala has hosted and settled the former M23 fighters.  

Museveni never wanted Kagame to assume the presidency of Rwanda.  Museveni feared that the Kagame presidency would divide the allegiance of Tutsi in the Great Lakes region between him and Kagame.  He also preferred a puppet Hutu president of Rwanda whom he would easily bulldoze around.  Though his stance has never been very clear, the anti-Kagame forces continue to seek reliance of Museveni. Some powerful Banyarwanda individuals within the Museveni regime have opted to stealthy ally with the Kagame regime in its efforts to deal with potential dissidents.  This is what gave rise to the ongoing forceful return of refugees to Rwanda saga.

On the other hand, the defeated Banyarwanda Hutu see a potential alliance in the Hutu regime of Burundi under Peter Nkurunziza.  The Banyarwanda Tutsi in Kigali are mindful of the potential threat posed by a stable government in Burundi. This explains the current political turmoil in Burundi which is purely external generated.  On the other hand, the Tutsi in Burundi have a dream of one time regaining power with support of their patrons in Museveni and Kagame.  The same for the Banyamulenge of eastern DRC.

Therefore, Ugandans should not get excited with the speculated fall out between Museveni and Kagame.  What is going on is just a struggle over supremacy and influence over the Banyarwanda who are presumably a key political player in the Great Lakes region.  It is a struggle for the throne by the two princes, Kagame and Museveni while Burundi's Nkurunziza is acting an adopted prince.

INFORMATION IS POWER AND DEFIANCE IS THE WAY TO GO