The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Benjamin Rutabana, a French citizen, on Ugandan soil still baffles his family and friends.
The whereabouts of Rutabana who disappeared about a year ago, remains unknown. However, there is a ray of hope as President Museveni has since picked interest in the matter.
In recent exclusive findings by a US NGO, International Relief and Human Rights Initiative (IRHRI), which was contacted by Rutabana’s family to help in finding his whereabouts, it is believed that his is still on Ugandan soil and he is safely protected and no longer detained.
This followed court processes and diplomatic conversations between French and Ugandan authorities, plus various media outcries and through engagement between IRHRI and Ugandan authorities.
Mr Greg Heavens, the IRHRI CEO, in a media statement published on their website on Friday, reveals that Rutabana is alive and well, and not being held against his will.
“While it might not sound comforting to Rutabana’s family and well-wishers that he is alive and well in Kampala, there are likely more stakes surrounding his reappearance than his disappearance,” he says, while quoting his trusted sources in Uganda’s top security agencies.
He says, since Rwanda showed a suspicious interest in him after learning that he is in Uganda, letting him go has to be tactical. He thinks that’s the reason Museveni is still keep him safely in a yet to be know place.
Sources say, Rutabana disappearance came after a standoff with his formers colleagues in the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) leaders led by Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa. He says that after being taken through a torturous process after the blackmail, Nyamwasa or anyone who might be acting on his behalf thought they had finished him off.
Mr Greg says the French ambassador to Uganda whom the court advised together with the government of Uganda to apply diplomatic means to find the whereabouts of Rutabana, when contacted, said “we take note of the court ruling” only without divulging more details on how far they have reached with diplomacy or if they can confirm that Rutabana is safe and well protected.
IRHRI revealed that a section of selfish people from RNC portrayed Rutabana as subversive that leading to his arrest by Ugandan security forces. This came after they swindled the money from him and they wanted him to lose the grounds to ever claim it.
Sources say Rutabana and Nyamwasa had fallen out in the months preceding his visit to Uganda and that this fallout, it is said in some circles, to have led to his betrayal in Kampala or rather someone in his circles blew the whistle to Ugandan authorities.
It is alleged that the duo differed in opinions, on among others the killing of their boys in DRC, and the latter (Nyamwasa) seemed not to act. Thereafter some of the survivors called Rutabana in confidence that they had actually fled to Uganda.
So Rutabana’s visit to Uganda was meant to improvise safety for the survivors. However, it is believed that Nyamwasa thought that the former was actually undermining him, if he came to Uganda and since he has colleagues in Uganda’s security circles so he blackmailed him leading to his immediate arrest.
However, Kayumba was recently quoted in the media as saying he is in no way connected with the disappearance of Rutabana.
“What can make me happy today is being able to see him alive and safe and able to reunite with his wife and children. Firstly, it is sad because Ben Rutabana has a wife, children, and extended family and until today we don’t know his whereabouts like our colleagues who have disappeared in the past. My prayer is for him to be found safe,” Gen Nyamwasa said.
He claims that Rwanda has a hand in this cases and are trying to tarnish name as well as the rather good image of Rwanda Nation Congress.
“I have no doubt that Rwanda knows Ben Rutabana’s whereabouts because the first person to write about his disappearance was their agent (Tom Ndahiro). Where did he get the information? Kagame thinks is that he can use Rutabana’s disappearance to tarnish my name and that of RNC when they clearly know his whereabouts. The judgment is out and clear. It can’t work,” Gen Nyamwasa said during a Talk show on Washington- based Radio Itahuka in early July.
Mr Greg, trashed Kayumba’s utterances describing them as full of as lies and insisting that the information IRHRI has got clearly indicate that Kayumba knows much about Rutabana’s disappearance.
Mr Greg has since asked the French Embassy in Uganda to come out and talk about the rights of their missing citizen so as to secure him from the hands of evil and corrupt people who can potentially harm him.
“Special thanks go to some individual Ugandan top security officers who took risks and accepted to share information with us to see that Rutabana can be helped. Some were interrogated, some were punished, but as a human rights body, we thank them for not being selfish while they see someone’s rights being violated. We do give them special recognition,” Mr Greg said.
He also urged President Museveni to do everything he can in his power to secure the release of Rutabana such that his family can again have a glance at him.
“All our sources indicate that Rutabana is still within Uganda under the custody of top security organisations, that’s the conclusive information we have. I urge Mr Museveni and his government to ensure his immediate release. Uncertainty really engulfs his family, they need him since he was the breadwinner and has not been seen for a year now,” he noted.
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