Rwandans top Uganda's list of foreign criminalsBy ANDREW BAGALA in Kampala | Wednesday, June 6  2012 at  14:10

Rwandan nationals topped foreigners in Uganda committing crimes, while nationals from Mid East were the most victimised by criminals, the Uganda Police Force Annual Crime and Traffic Safety Report has shown.

Statistics released by the Inspector General of Police, Lt Gen Kale Kayihura, showed that 332 Rwandans were investigated, mostly on immigration offences, in which 153 people were involved.

Theft cases where the second offence committed by Rwandans, with 60 people investigated.

Rwandans were followed by Congolese, whose 166 nationals were investigated for allegedly committing crimes.

Tanzanians came third and Kenya followed with 119 and 118 persons investigated respectively.

At least 698 foreigners were investigated for crimes in 2011 in Uganda.

Despite the East African Community suggestion to open up border for member states, immigration offences were still high, with 232 people investigated. 

Victims of crime

Uganda has a big number of Kenyan, Tanzanian and Rwandan students, expatriates and business people, but most of them were in urban areas where the crime rate was high.

Lt Gen Kayihura said they were developing East African police cooperation strategies, which would streamline operations to curb such cases.

“We want to make sure that security on the northern corridor is tight to stop highway robberies and thefts,” Lt Gen Kayihura said.

The northern corridor is the major trade route for East Africa states.

The corridor starts from Mombasa Port and connects Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, South Sudan and Burundi to the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, 1,173 foreigners were also victims of crime last year in Uganda.

Rwandans topped the list with 205 of their members reporting cases.

The Congolese came second, reporting 176 cases, while 111 Kenyans, who were in the third position, reported cases to police.

Statistics show that theft offences were the most committed by foreigners, with 627 people investigated.

The report shows that Kenyans ranked highest among the foreigners who were killed in Uganda, with five deaths reported last year.

In other violent crimes, one Kenyan was raped, two defiled, four assaulted and seven robbed.