LAST RESPECTS: Soldiers carry the caskets of the crash victims during the funeral service at Kololo Airstrip yesterday

By Alfred Wasike
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday recounted his last meeting with Dr. John Garang who died in the presidential helicopter hours after they met in Museveni’s home at Rwakitura.

“My fallen comrade rang me on Thursday (July 28) and said he wanted to talk to me about some very important things about his people, Africa and beyond.” Museveni said. He said he was very busy upcountry but asked Garang to go to Entebbe where the helicopter would pick him up for Rwakitura.

“He spent those two last days with me. We discussed regional security, and the new scenario in Sudan after the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) that the SPLM and Khartoum signed in Naivasha in January this year.”

Museveni said nothing conclusive was agreed because army chief Lt. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, who busy, needed to be part of the talks. “I asked him to stay the night until Aronda came,” Museveni said. Garang was supposed to travel direct to his base at New Site and not through Entebbe because the MI-172 helicopter had extra fuel tanks and had been recently overhauled, Museveni said.

He said before the flight, he, Garang and Nyakairu sat under a tree and discussed the weather and fuel requirements. “I told Garang that the plane was very well-equipped with modern gadgets. It also had extra fuel tanks. Nyakairu was confident but did not like the idea of carrying too much fuel.”

Museveni said he advised that if it got late, he could sleep anywhere in Uganda like Gulu, Soroti or Mbale. “But the pilot could have thought that instead of carrying too much fuel and that since Rwakitura is narrow, he chose to refuel at Entebbe. We are now handling the consequences.”

On Saturday morning, the helicopter flew Museveni to Mbarara before Garang’s flight. When he learnt that the plane was missing, Museveni contacted Garang’s wife Rebecca Nyandeng and the SPLA leadership but he was not worried because his crew was used to that weather.

“But I assure you that if the investigation finds that it was a result of foul play, the perpetrators will pay,” Museveni said. He said SPLA, Ugandan, US, Russian and Kenyan investigators visited the crash site, inspected the bodies and recovered the black box. He said former army commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini oversees the Ugandan team.
Museveni said “vision is a scarce commodity in Africa” and that Garang was a rare visionary, uncompromising on Sudan’s destiny and a Pan-Africanist who was not a traitor.

Museveni, who presided over the national prayers for Garang, five SPLA officers and seven Ugandans, in Kololo, hailed the SPLA for handling the tragedy well.
He praised the group for assisting Uganda fight LRA and ADF rebellion. He dismissed allegations that Garang’s death would resurrect Kony, saying the LRA was finished and Kony’s only chance was to come out. Museveni said he first met Garang in 1967, who said the Sudanese conflict was not about north vs. south because even in the Arab-dominated north, black Muslims were discriminated against. Rather, the struggle was about religious and ethnic sectarianism.

“I told Bashir (Sudan President) several times that if the north were clever, they would have utilised a man with a vision like Garang instead of running around with such idiots as Muslim fundamentalists. Who cares about these idiots? Even these so-called special envoys are equally unserious.” He said when he paid his last respects to Garang in Yei last week, he told Salva Kiir, Garang’s successor, that after the burial, he would brief the SPLM chiefs about the meeting with Garang. Museveni said the talks focused on the SPLM negotiations with Khartoum. He said US President George W. Bush’s official Danforth had blamed Garang for not signing the accord although he had been granted all his demands. However, Garang insisted that certain issues had to be included and that Bush backed off after Museveni wrote to him, saying he would not support his cause if he did not support Garang’s. He said Bush ordered his delegation to remove pressure on Garang especially when Danforth said the US and Norway would guarantee the “bad agreement.”

“Why guarantee a bad agreement when you can sign an acceptable one? I don’t accept this idea of Western countries guaranteeing for us. Africans should guarantee their own destiny. I told them that how can they guarantee when their governments are seasonal?”
Asked whether he was devastated by Garang’s death, Museveni said, “Many of you are eating already prepared food. Many of you don’t know that the food you are eating is a result of sweat and blood. Let me tell you how freedom fighters handle tragedy. It is not correct that I was devastated.”

He said, “There are two responses. There is a cool headed appreciation of the tragedy focusing on the causes and consequences. But you may also be angry especially after you discover that it was done by an enemy or negligence.”

Museveni cited his 1969 visit to the FRELIMO captured areas of Mozambique, the assassination of his Mozambican mentor, Dr Mondlane, his 1973 narrow escape from dictator Idi Amin’s soldiers in Mbale, the plane crash that killed Mozambique President Samora Machel, RPA commander Maj. Gen. Fred Rwigyema’s killing in 1990 and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s death in 1999 as tragedies he coped with in a cool-headed style.

“Freedom fighters don’t get devastated over tragedies otherwise you lose direction or bearing. We must maintain constant vigilance, constant mistrust and constant mobility. Let us be thorough in our investigation,” he stressed.

He threatened to close newspapers for meddling in security issues without consulting authorities. “I am an elected leader in Uganda. I will no longer tolerate a newspaper, which is like a vulture. When people are mourning, vultures are celebrating. They must stop or we shall stop them. Museveni cited The Monitor, The Weekly Observer and Red Pepper.

“I thought they were confused young boys excited by naked women but they must stop meddling with security,” Museveni said.
Ends