Col. Mande, envoy clash in sweden

Jun 14, 2005

RENEGADE UPDF officer Col. Samson Mande (left) clashed with Uganda’s ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Umar Lubulwa, at a debate in Sweden on Uganda’s politics and the forthcoming referendum.

By Henry Mukasa
RENEGADE UPDF officer Col. Samson Mande right) clashed with Uganda’s ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, Umar Lubulwa, at a debate in Sweden on Uganda’s politics and the forthcoming referendum.

The meeting, held in Stockholm on Friday, was organised by Ugandans in Sweden to discuss political developments in Uganda.

Sources at the meeting said Lubulwa defended the referendum on political systems, the Government’s position on the war in the north and lift
ing of presidential term limits, to the annoyance of Mande.

The source quoted Mande as shouting, “Go and tell your government it has lost control in Scandinavia and it is we FDC (Forum for Democratic Change) who are now in charge. The Swedish authorities listen to us only.

“Go and tell your president that I am now in charge of Ugandan affairs here and I am not in DR Congo as they say in Kampala. Go and address the problems in northern Uganda instead of coming to address us here.”

Lubulwa, however, said on telephone from Copenhagen, Denmark, yesterday that the debate ended well, that he sat next to Mande at lunch and had a chat with him.

“When people talk about Uganda’s politics, they tend to get charged.

They asked questions, some I could give answers to but others were hopeless. As I was answering, someone in the audience would comment and there would be laughter,” Lubulwa said.

He said he told Mande that the Government was aware of his presence in Sweden because his relocation from Rwanda was negotiated and he should not boast about it. He said he advised Mande to abandon aggression against Uganda since it was still healing the wounds of past wars.

Lubulwa said he reminded Mande about his arrest when he was working at Uganda’s High Commission in Tanzania and his arrest with 40 guns and asked him whether his hatred of the Government was just out of anger.

“He said, ‘Yes, I was arrested by government' but denied he had guns or was planning to wage war. He asked me, ‘If I had the guns, where are they?

“I told him it would be best if he had no problem with the Government.

He talked about persecution.... that his son was killed, his people were imprisoned and I asked him, ‘If you don’t have rebel activities, why do you say my people?’ He said people being arrested as (PRA) were his relatives,” Lubulwa said.
Charles Inyoin, one of the organisers of the debate said there was no fracas.

“Mande is actually pleading. He would like to return. He denied all connections to rebels,” Inyoin said, adding that all the remarks were recorded.

A source said when Lubulwa said Uganda did not need term limits as it is in Sweden, Mande said, “You don’t have to compare with these people.”

Mande also reportedly said FDC was boycotting the referendum on political systems because it would not be fair and that the Government was using it to campaign ahead of the 2006 polls.

Another source said most participants complained about promotions of one tribe in the army, rampant corruption and Uganda’s military activities in Congo.
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