Visiting the border post at Gatuna

Monday 10 October

Ange and Gladys picked us up at 9am to take us for a visit to one of the District Offices and the border post at Gatuna, on the border with Uganda in the north. An exhausting but very interesting day.

We called in to the District Office in a town called Gicumbi - two small offices in a complex of government offices, staffed by just two people. But they were very friendly and it looked to be very efficiently run. They issue passports, laisser-faire documents, deal with NGOs and also deal with a Congolese refugee camp which is on the outside of the town.

Then on to the border post at Gatuna, where we were welcomed and given a comprehensive tour. Gatuna is one of the border posts that are now open 24 hours a day - an initiative of the current President to free up trade movements through the country.

The Customs manager also showed us around their operation, the highlight of which was the new scanning machine, used to scan trucks to make sure they are carrying only what their customs declaration says they should be. Very high-tech with lots of flashing lights and really cool graphics. They say it has helped enormously to reduce the time taken for trucks to pass through customs.

The new scanning machine at Gatuna border post

We were also taken over to meet the counterparts on the Ugandan side, who were very friendly and just as at the other border post I visited there is a lot of cooperation between the two sides. 

Entering Uganda

Entering Rwanda

No-one seemed to mind my taking heaps of photos, even on the Uganda side - rather different from border posts in other countries.

We thought it was going to be a quick trip up and back - everyone said it was only an hour or so to Gatuna. But we didn't get back to Kigali until nearly 6.30pm, just in time to head to the airport to meet David, Mandy and Jennie.