Uganda, Rwanda to sign extradition treaty

Uganda and Rwanda are set to sign an extradition treaty that will see exchange of wanted criminals between both governments.

President Museveni and Paul Kagame of Uganda and Rwanda respectively recently reached a consensus to have all prisoners held in each other’s country released.

On Friday, representatives from both governments met in Kigali for the third time as part of the Ad Hoc Commission on the implementation of the Luanda Memorandum of Understanding between the two neighboring countries and agreed to expedite the preparation for an extradition treaty.

“Both parties committed to finalize the extradition treaty to be signed in the presence of heads of state at the fourth quadripartite summit to be held in Katuna common border between Uganda and Rwanda on February, 21, 2020,” the joint communiqué after the meeting on Friday read.

After failure to stabilise the relations between the two neighbouring countries despite signing a pact to cease hostilities among themselves, the two presidents returned to Luanda for a second meeting on organised by President João Lourenço for talks and it was later agreed that the two heads of state meet but also agreed to release prisoners held by each other.

Extradition treaty

An extradition treaty allows one sovereign jurisdiction to make a formal request to another sovereign jurisdiction for criminals who have run to another country.

If the fugitive is found within the territory of the requested state, then the requested state may arrest the fugitive and subject him or her to its extradition process but the extradition procedures to which the fugitive is subjected are dependent on the law and practice of the requested state.

On several occasions, the Kigali establishment has claimed that a number of people destabilizing their country are harbored or resident in Uganda therefore by signing an extradition treaty between the two countries; Rwanda will be able to always make formal requests to have these fugitives repatriated back to Kigali to face the wrath of the law.

On the other side, Uganda has always blamed the Kigali establishment of working behind its(Uganda) back to infiltrate its security agencies leading to illegal arrest and repatriation of Rwandans from Uganda.

A number of senior police officers are currently battling charges related to arrest and forceful repatriation of Rwandan refugees from Uganda.

The frosty relations between Uganda and Rwanda that had gone on for a couple of years finally became pronounced in March last year when Rwanda closed its borders with her immediate neighbor, Uganda.

Efforts to mend the relations between the two brotherly neighbors have not yielded any tangible results but continue.

The meeting in Kigali on Friday saw the Ugandan delegation led by Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa also include William Byaruhanga(Attorney General),Gen. Jeje Odongo(Internal Affairs Minister), Amb.Joseph Ocwet(ESO chief), Amb Oliver Wonekha(Ugandan High Commissioner to Kigali), Col.Paddy Ankunda(Ministry of Defence) and Amb. Patrick Mugoya(Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary).

The Rwandan delegation was led by their Minister in charge of East African affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, Johnston Busingye(Attorney General),” Gen.Patrick Nyamvumba(Minister for Internal Security) and Prof.Shyaka Anastase(Minister for Local Government) among other officials.

Also present was Gilbert Kankonde Malamba the deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Interior, Security and Customary Affairs in Democratic Republic of Congo and Manuel Domingos Augusto, the Angolan Minister for External Relations who attended as representatives for the facilitators.