A source that spoke to The Monitor in Kampala yesterday
said that the two are still on very friendly terms.
�There is no reason to believe otherwise; they are still
friends,� the source said.
Maj. Gen. Kagame�s wedding to Jeannette took
place in June 1989 and the reception was held at Nsambya Sharing
Hall.
The kasiki (stag party) took place at the Kasisira, as the
former House of Entertainment at the Crested Towers was called
then.
The after-party was held at the Colline Hotel
Mukono.
Maj. Gen. Kagame was still part of the Ugandan army at the
time, heading a desk at the then Directorate of Military
Intelligence.
Part of the deal then was that Maj. Gen. Kagame would in
turn be the best man at Maj. Gen. Nyakairima's wedding. But by the time
the new army commander and Linda took their vows, his buddy had left
Uganda in 1990 to lead the RPA in Rwanda.
A senior source in Kigali told The Monitor that Maj. Gen.
Nyakairima�s appointment was well received in Kigali, in part due to his
close friendship with President Kagame.
The Rwanda government generally disapproved of the
outgoing army commander, Maj. Gen. James Kazini following fighting between
the two armies in Kisangani, DR Congo, between 1999 and 2000.
Maj. Gen. Kazini was the then commander of Uganda's
Operation Safe Haven from his base in Kisangani.
There was also
reportedly already a running personal feud between major generals Kagame
and Kazini that arose when the former still served in the Ugandan
army.
Maj. Gen. Kazini, who was then in Military Police,
reportedly ordered the shooting of Maj. Gen. Kagame's relative � a
security operative implicated in armed robberies and
kidnappings.
Maj. Gen. Kagame reportedly kept a grudge because he had
reportedly pleaded with Maj. Gen. Kazini to spare his relative to no
avail.
Maj. Gen. Kazini's removal as army commander was thus
bound to cause celebrations in Kigali. More so because it is Maj. Gen.
Kagame's former buddy who is now in charge of the
UPDF.
