This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
Published on July 2, 2019, a coalition of East African citizen groups has taken Uganda and Rwanda to the East African Court of Justice over a trade dispute.
Trade between the two countries has been severely disrupted since late February when Rwanda abruptly closed its border with Uganda, severing a major economic land route used daily by merchants and businesspeople on both sides.
The border closure followed months of rising tensions between Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, former allies turned foes who have exchanged public accusations of spying in each other's territory.
Three civil society groups, on behalf of communities along the border, have filed a complaint with the East African Court of Justice demanding reparations from Uganda and Rwanda for their losses.
The court, in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, was set up to rule on matters of the East African Community (EAC) — a six-member bloc including Rwanda and Uganda as well as Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, and South Sudan.
Sheila Kawamara-Mishambi, executive director of the East African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women, one of the complainants, said the attorney generals of both countries had been served with court papers 'over the continued arbitrary border closure.'
The coalition said the blockade contravened the treaty terms of the EAC concerning freedom of trade and movement over the border.
'The court should declare that this impunity must not be allowed to happen anywhere else within the EAC,' the statement read.
