The local and church leaders in Kamwezi Sub County Rukiga District have warned Ugandans in the area against smuggling food items and manufactured goods to Rwanda.
The LCIII Kamwezi Sub County, Mr Tedson Niwagaba, sounded the warning on Tuesday afternoon at the burial ceremony of Alex Nyesiga, a Ugandan that was last week shot by the Rwandan security operatives in anti-smuggling mission on the Ugandan side about 50 metres away from the borderline.
Nyesiga was shot dead alongside a Rwandan businessman John Batista Kyerengye. The shooting took place at Habusavu trading centre, located at the border of Rwanda and Uganda.
“Stop smuggling food items and manufactured goods from Uganda to Rwanda if you still value your lives. Let the Rwandan nationals come for them.
The shooting and killing of Alex Nyesiga and John Batista Kyerengye [a Rwandan national] on the Ugandan side indicates that Rwanda security operatives have proved to be hostile to you,” Niwagaba said.
He added, “Some of you believe that there is a lot of profit in smuggling goods to Rwanda because the Rwandans pay you good money but remember your lives are more expensive than those profits.”
The lay leader at Runoni Church of Uganda, Mr Alex Kyarimpa, appealed to the local traders to stop behaving like a caterpillar that was advised to get out of the maize cob and later ended up losing its life after the maize cob was cooked.
The LCV councillor for Maziba Sub County, a neighbouring Sub County in Kabale District, Mr Elson Twinamatsiko also warned Ugandans against frequenting Rwanda because the situation has proved to be fragile.
“There were many people from the neighbouring Kabale District who wanted to come and attend this burial ceremony but they feared arrests because the short cut route to this place passes through Rwanda.
For now, stop crossing into Rwanda for any activity until the situation has normalised,” Mr Twinamatsiko said.
The local leaders thanked the Ugandan security personnel for preserving the scene of crime and their quick response to evacuate the bodies of the deceased persons.
By Daily Monitor
