Uganda, Rwanda sign extradition treaty

Uganda and Rwanda have signed an extradition treaty that will see the exchange of wanted criminals between both governments, the Nile Post has learnt.

After failure to stabilise the relations between the two neighboring countries, the two presidents returned to Luanda for a second meeting early this month organized by President João Lourenço and it was agreed that the two leaders meet today at the Katuna/ Gatuna border point.

On Friday afternoon, delegations from both countries led by Presidents Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame from Rwanda met at the Katuna border point for the fourth Quadripartite Heads of State Summit and signed the extradition treaty.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Angolan President João Lourenço and Felix Tshisekedi, his DRC counterpart.

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.

The extradition treaty may however see genuine asylum seekers and refugees caught up in the melee as countries may allow for them to be extradited without first carrying out independent verification of the cases.

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 in the past years not yielded any tangible results but have continued.