The General Court Martial in Makindye has released two people including a Rwandan national who were arrested last year in Kisoro district for being in unlawful possession of a gun.
Selemani Kabyinja,36, a Congolese national was arrested together with Fidel Nzabonimpa,20 a Rwandan National in Kisoro, near the border with Rwanda in October 2019 before being charged with illegal possession of an SMG rifle by the army court.
They have been in detention since then but on Monday, the army prosecution led by Lt. Col. Raphael Mugisha presented a nolle prosequi in which it discontinued charges against the two people before the court chairman, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti released them.
Despite being civilians, the two were arraigned before the army court because section 119 (1) (h) of the UPDF Act 2005 states that every person found in unlawful possession of firearms, ammunition or equipment ordinarily being a monopoly of the defense forces is subject to military law.
Museveni, Kagame meet
The release of the Rwandan national comes only days to the meeting between President Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame at the border in Katuna on Friday, February 21 as part of the efforts to normalize relations.
In August last year, the two heads of state signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Luanda, the Angolan capital that was meant to end a border standoff between the two nations and repair relations.
The two presidents after failure to end the bickering met again early this month and they resolved to meet against at the Katuna/Gatuna border on February 21, in a bid to forge a way to permanently end hostilities.
Following the Luanda agreement, Uganda has released a number of Rwandan citizens who had been arrested and detained over several charges.
In January this year, Uganda handed over nine Rwandan nationals to Rwanda’s High Commission in Kampala.
These had been arrested and formally charged in 2018 of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, but the charges were dropped by the army court as part of the Kampala establishment’s efforts to normalize relations between the two brotherly neighbours.
https://nilepost.co.ug/2020/01/08/uganda-hands-over-9-rwandan-nationals/
