RWANDA on Monday said it had reopened its busiest border post with Uganda to cargo trucks for 12 days, over three months after it was closed.

The border closure which was triggered by security and economic disagreements between the nieghbours has caused tension in the region.

In a statement, Rwanda’s revenue body said it was ““pleased to inform the general public that heavy trucks are allowed to provisionally cross Gatuna border,” for 12 days starting Monday.

Rwanda, at the end of February, started blocking Ugandan cargo trucks from entering the crossing, which Rwandans call Gatuna and Ugandans call Katuna.

Authorities in Kigali also stopped Rwandan nationals from traveling to Uganda.

Rwandan officials said they would decide after two weeks whether to reopen the border permanently.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said that Rwandans were still banned from traveling to Uganda.

“That issue will be solved when the issue of illegal arrest, harassment and torture of Rwandans in Uganda will have been solved by Ugandan authorities,” Nduhungirehe said.

The government of President Paul Kagame has accused Kampala of harassing Rwandans who travel to Uganda and giving succor to rebel groups, including the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and the FDLR who want to oust Kagame.

The blocking of cargo has disrupted commerce on the crucial regional transport artery.

Rwanda depends for much of its imports on a trade route through Uganda to Kenya’s Indian Ocean Seaport of Mombasa.

The route is also used to transport goods from Kenya and Uganda to Burundi and parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

-NAN

BE

– June 10, 2019 @ 19:37 GMT |