UPDF Soldier Abducted By Rwandan Soldiers at Cyanika Border

Rwandan soldiers on Saturday evening crossed into Uganda’s territory abducted a UPDF soldier attached to 35th Battalion based in Kisoro.

The abducted was part of the Ugandan soldiers on routine patrol on Uganda’s side around the Cyanika border point with Rwanda.

A source familiar with the incident told this website that the soldier had stayed behind to ease himself before he fell in an ambush by Rwandan soldiers who had crossed to the Ugandan side.

Cases of Rwandan soldiers crossing into Uganda have been common and a number of Ugandans have been abducted by the Rwandan army operating along the Uganda-Rwanda border.

In May last year, a Ugandan farmer, Obed Nicholas Tugumisirize alias Kacucu together with his wife and children were kidnapped from their garden in Kitojo village, Katuna town council at the Uganda-Rwanda border.

The kidnappers reportedly disappeared with them to the side of Rwanda.

In July last year, a similar incident happened when Levy Byomuhangi, a resident of Rugarama village in Nyinamuronzi ward, Katuna was kidnapped by gunmen dressed in Rwandan army uniform at Mushenyi village, Karuhanga parish, Rubaya Sub County, about 20 metres away from Uganda-Rwanda border.

In April 2019, three other farmers; Susan Rwanjungu and Junensia Bazongoza, all residents of Mushenyi village and Jovia Ruvungafu, a resident of Nyinarushengye village in Katuna town council were arrested by heavily armed Rwandan soldiers while digging in their gardens and taken into Rwanda.

Rwanda unilaterally closed its border with Uganda in February 2019 following a diplomatic row.

Talks to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries stalled following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic although Rwanda continues its acts of hostility through abductions of innocent Ugandans at the common border points.