3 Rwandan refugees resist transfer from city hotel

Kampala- There was chaos at Sky Hotel in Naguru, Kampala, as police attempted to relocate three Rwandan refugees from the hotel to another location.

The refugees, including the wife of the extradited Rwandan Lieutenant, Joel Mutabazi, resisted police attempts to put them in a vehicle and transfer them, saying they were not safe to stay in the new proposed place.

But sources say a Burundian military general identified as Jamari Ndayambaje, who was also staying at the hotel, was taken by police to a camp in Western Uganda.

Ms Gloria Keitets, Lt Mutabazi’s wife, Pascal Hakizimana, a 20-year-old Rwandan student who was kidnapped in August and tortured before police rescued him, and Maj Habib Mudisivu, a Rwandan army officer, who recently fled the country, resisted police at the hotel and said they would rather die than be moved from Kampala.

Hakizimana yesterday claimed he knows those who abducted and tortured him three months ago.

“I know them. They are here in Kampala,” he said.

Ms Keitetsi, who stays with her two children, said they might be kidnapped if they relocate.

Her husband, Lt Mutabazi, also a former bodyguard of Rwandan President Paul Kagame was irregularly arrested and extradited to Rwanda. Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said Police was implementing what OPM had told them to do.

“As police, we cannot relocate refugees. It’s the duty of the OPM. We were just implementing what we had been told,” she said.

Mr Douglas Asiimwe, a senior Refugee Protection Officer in OPM, said plans to relocate the refugees came following high costs incurred by government to keep them.

He says they pay for accommodation and food, which is increasingly becoming too expensive.

Also see,

Uganda Police boss suspended over handing over Kagame’s body guard back to Rwanda

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/10/uganda-police-boss-suspended-over.html