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FRANCE-UGANDA-RWANDA-TELECOMMUNICATION-POLICE
Uganda deports Frenchman, Rwandan over ‘national security’
KAMPALA, Jan 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Ugandan police said Tuesday they had
deported a French national and a Rwandan employee of the MTN Uganda telecom
firm, claiming they were a threat to national security.
Olivier Prentout from France and Annie Bilenge-Tabura from Rwanda had been
using their positions to “compromise national security”, police spokeswoman
Polly Namaye said in a statement.
“We strongly believe that the deportation of the two foreigners, who were
using their employment as tools to achieve their ill motives, has enabled us
(to) disrupt their intended plans of compromising our national security,” she
said.
MTN’s Uganda branch said in a statement that Prentout, their marketing
chief, was arrested at Entebbe airport after returning to Uganda while
Tabura, who heads sales and distribution, was detained at their office in the
capital Kampala.
“Both Mr Prentout and Mrs Bilenge have been deported from Uganda to their
home countries, France and Rwanda respectively,” MTN said in a statement.
“MTN Uganda, together with all its employees, remains fully committed to
operating within and respecting the laws of the country,” it added.
Based in South Africa, MTN is one of the largest telecom operators on the
continent. This incident is not its first brush with Ugandan authorities.
Last July, MTN said armed men claiming to be from Uganda’s Internal
Security Organisation “kidnapped” two of its contractors and forced them to
open up the company’s main data centre, where they made an unsuccessful
attempt to access servers.
MTN Uganda said at the time that it took the “criminal incident” seriously
and had reported it to the authorities, while adding it didn’t believe it was
under investigation.
Rwanda and Uganda have had strained relations in recent years. The two
East African neighbours each accuse the other of espionage.
Uganda has occasionally arrested suspected Rwanda spies, while Rwanda has
accused its northern neighbour together with Burundi of supporting rebels
opposed to President Paul Kagame.
BSS/AFP/RY/1710 hrs