A Facebook post shared on 11th January 2021 claims that Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has expressed his support for Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, on his decision not to resign. In the post, he allegedly calls out individuals who are against Museveni and even offers his army for backup in case of an attack.
Background
Uganda is set to hold general elections on January 14, 2021. President Museveni, who has been in office for 35 years (one of the longest-serving presidents in Africa), is seeking his sixth elected term.
President Museveni, 76, has no designated successor within his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). In 2017, he signed a law removing the presidential age limit of 75, allowing him to run again for the presidency.
Verification
An online search for the exact words in the Facebook post reveals that a similar post had been shared on February 21, 2018.
Presidents Kagame and Museveni were once great allies. In 1986, Kagame was part of the rebel fighters that took power in Kampala, led by Museveni. Almost a decade later, Museveni returned the favor by arming and supporting Rwandan rebels led by Kagame to seize power in Kigali. The two then teamed up again in 1996 to bring down Mobutu Sese Seko and install Laurent Kabila as president in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
But more recently, relations between the two leaders have soured; following accusations that both sides were seeking to destabilize the other through the support of rebel groups and mistreatment of citizens. Hopes of resolving the spat were restored in 2019 when the two presidents met at the Luanda summit facilitated by Angola and the DRC.
The key outcome was a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which committed both parties to release imprisoned citizens, refrain from supporting destabilizing groups and create a commission to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
The alleged utterances by President Kagame supporting Museveni, however, do not appear in any major news outlet, government site or his social media accounts.
Verdict
The claim supposedly showing President Kagame’s utterances in support of President Museveni is FALSE.
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