President Paul Kagame arrived in Uganda on Sunday for a private visit, his first visit to the neighboring nation in four years.
Later today, Kagame is due to attend a meal honoring his first son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Commander of Land Forces of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces and Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations, who turns 48 today.
The meal will be held in State House Entebbe, where the Rwandan flag will be raised in celebration of Kagame’s arrival.
The visit is part of continuing attempts to repair relations between Rwanda and Uganda.
Gen Kainerugaba has visited Rwanda twice this year in an attempt to repair relations between the two countries.
The visit comes weeks after Uganda announced the deportation of a leading figure belonging to the banned opposition group Rwanda National Congress (RNC), which Kigali considers a “terrorist” outfit.
The reported presence on Ugandan soil of rebels seeking to topple Kagame has been a long-running sore in relations between the two neighbors.
Kainerugaba had promised to crack down on the RNC, which was founded in 2010 by former Rwandan army chief Kayumba Nyamwasa and ex-spy boss Patrick Karegeya who both became fierce Kagame critics. Kagame last visited Uganda in March 2018 at Museveni’s invitation for private talks on bilateral, regional, and international issues.
Although the two men were close allies in the 1980s and 1990s, the two countries later fell out over mutual accusations of espionage, abductions and support for rebels.
The Uganda-Rwanda border was abruptly closed in 2019 as tensions spiraled, but was reopened in January this year in a major sign of warming ties.
Although Kainerugaba has repeatedly denied claims he intends to succeed his 77-year-old father – one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders – observers point to his rapid rise through Uganda’s army ranks as proof that he is being groomed for the top job.
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