Africa-Press – Rwanda. A man who formally headed the Joint Chief of Staff of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) between 2005 and 2012 is now the new Uganda’s High Commissioner to Rwanda. Maj.Gen. Robert Rusoke a retired senior military officer also served as Uganda’s Ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan since 2012.
His appointment to head the Uganda embassy in Rwanda could signal a new chapter in the relations between the two countries that have been navigating complex diplomacy for the past three years.
For the first time, Uganda’s choice of a high ranking military officer as its ambassador to Rwanda, diplomacy pundits argue that this contents Rwanda.
Rwanda has always desired to engage with Ugandan diplomats that deeply understand the historical background of their relations. Out gone High Commissioner Oliver Wonekha remained a low-key person to an extent that she rarely made it to Rwanda and Uganda media headlines even at the time of escalated political tensions in 2019 and 2020.
Therefore appointment of Maj.Gen. Robert Rusoke makes Rwandans contented because foremost he has direct communication to President Yoweri Museveni, and minimal margin of misjudgment on contentious security matters between Rwanda and Uganda and the region.
Rwanda does not require to go through lobbyists or middle-men and fixers to project or even communicate her interests, concerns and needs to the Kampala establishment.
Tensions between the two countries have hardly been addressed at several regional meetings. This Prompted President Paul Kagame to directly present Rwanda’s complaints against Uganda to President Museveni.
In February 2019, Rwanda closed its common border with Uganda, and issued a travel advisory to its citizens against traveling to Uganda. Later in March Rwanda publicly accused Uganda of abducting its citizens and supporting rebels bent on overthrowing the government.
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