‘Forged Letters Plot To Discredit UPDF’

Jul 19, 2002

THE Chief of Military Intelligence, Col Noble Mayombo has said there is an international conspiracy supported by local collaborators to discredit Uganda by forging letters alleging that the UPDF plundered the war-torn Congo.

By Alfred Wasike THE Chief of Military Intelligence, Col Noble Mayombo has said there is an international conspiracy supported by local collaborators to discredit Uganda by forging letters alleging that the UPDF plundered the war-torn Congo.He said the Government will expose the group and that their local agents will be punished.The Justice David Porter commission recently received copies of letters from the UN panel on the DRC alleging that the Army Commander Maj. Gen. James Kazini wrote to rebel leaders seeking for permission for his three trucks carrying Coltan to pass through rebel-controlled customs check points in June 2000.Mayombo allegedly wrote demanding for US$380,000 from Prof. Ernest Wamba dia Wamba for a secret operation. Wamba allegedly wrote back authorising payment to Mayombo also last year. Kazini, Mayombo and Wamba appeared before the Porter probe and denied writing the letters. They also denied plundering the DRC.A visibly irked Mayombo yesterday said, “We have established that there are people who are not happy with Uganda’s strict adherence to the Lusaka Peace Accord requiring withdrawal of all foreign armies. The conspirators are not happy that we withdrew our troops from the Congo,” Mayombo argued.He said, “They are not happy that we set up a mechanism in the name of the Justice Porter Commission as per the UN requirement to determine the culpability of our officers mentioned as looters in the UN reports. We assure this nation that anyone who did not abide by the orders of the Commander-in-Chief will be punished.”“Look at those letters critically. We demand that they present to the Commission the originals. I am refered to as Col when I was a Lt Col. While the Army Commander is refered to as Brigadier General. “These letters were written by a French speaker. There are so many discrepancies that show that they are forgeries. They are not admissible evidence,” he said. “Of all the countries that sent troops to the DRC, only Uganda set up a commission of inquiry into the allegations raised by the UN panel. This has displeased some people because it has shown that Uganda abides by UN requirements”, he added.“We owe it as a duty to Ugandans to expose those who are bent on discrediting our country and the credibility of its leaders by forging those letters and sending them to the UN panel in Nairobi so that they can make it look like our mission to Congo was merely to loot and jump out”, he argued.He stressed, “We had genuine security reasons. The ADF and Interahamwe were using the Congo to destabilise Uganda and Rwanda. We sorted them out. We cannot be freedom fighters and looters at the same time.”Ends

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