The Executive Director of British charity Oxfam Winnie Byanyima earlier urged President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to use diplomacy to repair the strained relationship between the two countries amid growing tension.
On Sunday evening, Byanyima sent a series of Tweets about the closure of the Katuna border post and the responsibility of leaders to peacefully resolve the deteriorating relations.
“Hello @KagutaMuseveni @PaulKagame you have some explanation to make to us citizens. Are you accountable Excellencies? I’m not taking a side here, and yes I’m making an equivalence. Both leaders need to shape up & manage state relations in our best interests- we the citizens. If they can’t, they should ship out & let others restore peaceful relations, human rights & protect jobs & incomes,” Ms Byanyima tweeted on Sunday.
Rwanda’s State Minister for East African Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, who is taking the front seat in making public comments about the on-going Rwanda-Uganda deteriorating situation, was not holding his guns with Byanyima.
Responding to Byanyima, he said: “Please speak for yourself and for your President, if your wish. You are not a citizen of #Rwanda, you failed to condemn human rights abuses against Rwandan citizens in #Uganda; therefore, you have no title or moral authority to lecture our President on anything,” he tweeted.
Byanyima is also the wife of Kizza Besigye, the leading opposition politician in Uganda and founder of the biggest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
This had followed another incident at Gatuna border in which Anselm and his aunt Edith Byanyima were refused to cross to Rwanda by Uganda immigration officials. They were returned to Kampala.
