Kiyonga Insists Raid Not By ADF
May 16, 2003
THE National Political Commissar Crispus Kiyonga yesterday maintained that the terrorist attack on Kasese in 2001 was not by ADF rebels but by local politicians who were opposed to President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election bid.
By Jude Etyang and Hillary Nsambu
THE National Political Commissar Crispus Kiyonga yesterday maintained that the terrorist attack on Kasese in 2001 was not by ADF rebels but by local politicians who were opposed to President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election bid.
Kiyonga was at the High Court defending himself in a civil case in which Busongora MP Christopher Kibazanga sued him for defamation.
Kibazanga claims that he was defamed when Kiyonga announced at a press conference after attack that local MPs who campaigned for Kizza Besigye, a former candidate of the 2001 presidential elections, were behind the attack.
Kibazanga, who is seeking unspecified damages from Kiyonga, said he and another MP from Kasese are the only ones who campaigned for Besigye.
Kiyonga, who is also the Bukonzo West MP, told the court that some local politicians had threatened violence if Museveni had won the elections.
He also noted the attack came a week after Museveni’s victory.
Kiyonga said it was his opinion that inflammatory statements made by the politicians during campaign influenced the attack in which 11 people died and 52 vehicles were burnt.
He also argued that by the time of the attack, the ADF had been defeated and that the pattern of the attack on Kasese town was “fundamentally†different from those by the ADF.
Ends
THE National Political Commissar Crispus Kiyonga yesterday maintained that the terrorist attack on Kasese in 2001 was not by ADF rebels but by local politicians who were opposed to President Yoweri Museveni’s re-election bid.
Kiyonga was at the High Court defending himself in a civil case in which Busongora MP Christopher Kibazanga sued him for defamation.
Kibazanga claims that he was defamed when Kiyonga announced at a press conference after attack that local MPs who campaigned for Kizza Besigye, a former candidate of the 2001 presidential elections, were behind the attack.
Kibazanga, who is seeking unspecified damages from Kiyonga, said he and another MP from Kasese are the only ones who campaigned for Besigye.
Kiyonga, who is also the Bukonzo West MP, told the court that some local politicians had threatened violence if Museveni had won the elections.
He also noted the attack came a week after Museveni’s victory.
Kiyonga said it was his opinion that inflammatory statements made by the politicians during campaign influenced the attack in which 11 people died and 52 vehicles were burnt.
He also argued that by the time of the attack, the ADF had been defeated and that the pattern of the attack on Kasese town was “fundamentally†different from those by the ADF.
Ends