This paper sheds light on socio-economic, political and security issues border users experienced during Rwanda-Uganda border closure. As members of the East African Community, Rwanda and Uganda are important to each other in terms of sustaining cross-border diplomatic relations to allow their citizens to explore opportunities in either country. However, due to suspicion and mistrust between the leaders of the two countries, Rwanda closed its border with Uganda, making it difficult for border users to pursue their daily routine as well as cross-border security cooperation. The objective of this was to explore the border users’ experiences as a result of the border closure. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. These included border security officials, traders, drivers, boda-boda riders, and ordinary citizens; while secondary sources were published materials such as Journal Articles, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, and other documentary texts. Despite extensive research on the closure of the Rwanda-Uganda border, the studies that are currently available offer important insights into the reasons behind the closure, its overall effects on the states, and efforts to resolve it, but they pay less attention to the socioeconomic and security experiences of the border communities. Through the guidance of the critical security studies theory, interviews were conducted to collect data from participants who were purposively selected based on their lived experiences of the border situation. Results revealed border closure heightened political tension between the two states, and there was a strong appetite for the denial of citizens to move cross-border, weakened socioeconomic activities along the border, which undermined East African Community objectives. The paper concludes that border users had multidimensional experiences during the Rwanda-Uganda border closure. It criminalised the movement of people across the border, which created an interruption in cross-border security collaboration and cooperation. The paper recommends that not only leaders of the government of Rwanda and Uganda but all leaders of EAC member states, should avoid suspicion and mistrust between or among themselves and focus on diplomacy in solving their differences whenever they arise.

Keywords: Border-closure, Human Security, border users, Rwanda, Uganda