Rwandan Refugee Shot and Killed by Armed Assailants in Nakivale

A Rwandan refugee was attacked and shot dead by armed men in Nakivale refugee settlement on Boxing Day.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at around 8:30pm at Kashasha cell, Mirambiro parish, Rushasha sub-county in Nakivale refugee settlement in Isingiro district.

The deceased has been identified as Bucumi Laurent a 65-year-old male.

It is reported that two unknown men dressed in dark clothes armed with an SMG rifle and a knife attacked Bucumi Laurent, a businessman and Rwandan refugee.

He was attacked while at his home with his wife Owamanyi Macelina aged 43, also a Rwandan.

As Bucumi was grabbed, stabbed on the right arm, his wife made an alarm. He was shot twice in the chest and the neck, and he died instantly.

Ugandan security recovered four cartridges and one live ammunition from the scene. The wife to the deceased was taken to Police for questioning and further enquires.

The case was registered vide Nakivale Police station CRR 193/2018.

This news website spoke with refugees in Nakivale who say Kinyarwanda speaking gunmen often kidnap them.

“We live in fear. We don’t know who will be taken next,” one of the refugees told our reporter.

“Many of fellow refugees have been killed. They are kidnapped never to return,” another said.

One of the refugees who lives in Nakivale said Bucumi had for long been concerned about the refugees who are kidnapped from Uganda and taken back to meet their death.

“He told me he had registered as a refugee from another country in order to make it difficult for the tormentors he had fled from, to kidnap or kill him,” the refugee who preferred anonymity said.

“Recently, however, he told me that a friend had advised him to run away to another country as our tormentors had dispatched one of their killing squads to Uganda to finish some people off”.

The refugee appealed for increased security in the refugee camps, especially at night.

“Here in Nakivale camp, we have for a long time heard people cry for help in the night. In the morning, we learn that they have been killed or kidnapped and taken away,” the refugee said.