Besigye Man Rebel Link, Says Mayombo

By Richard MutumbaCOLONEL Kizza Besigye’s cousin Denis Mulindwa is a link man to rebel camps, the chief of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Lt. Col. Noble Mayombo, said yesterday.Mayombo told MPs that CMI has evidence that Mulindwa housed and provided cell-phones to army officers he was allegedly recruiting into the rebel ranks.Appearing before the committee on defence and internal affairs, Mayombo said Mulindwa was to be produced in court either yesterday or on tomorrow.Reform Agenda spokesperson Beti Kamya said Mulindwa was arrested by the army at 10:00pm on Sunday for alleged subversion. Mulindwa’s wife Doreen was quoted as saying four soldiers drove her husband to his home in Ntinda at about 6:00pm and told her they wanted to search the house.Mayombo said the Government will adduce evidence that Mulindwa hosted in his house and also rented a house for Lt. Fred Biryomumaiso, Lt. Ali Faraje, Sgt. Hassan Muhindura and Pte. Moses Byamukama. He also provided the officers and men with cell-phones and transport to meet a contact that was to take them to the rebel camps.“We are still looking for that person (contact) whose name we know. We also have recordings of the conversations between Mulindwa and the army officers and men,” Mayombo said.Asked by Aggrey Awori (Samia Bugwe North) whether the army officers belonged to UPDF, Mayombo said the officers and men in question will also appear and explain who they are. On April 19, security people arrested another member of Besigye’s Reform Agenda, Kafureeka Mugisha, on similar allegations of subversion. Kafureeka was subsequently charged with treason last Friday and remanded in Luzira Prisons.The Reform Agenda yesterday protested the manner in which Mulindwa was arrested. It also protested the arrest of any person outside the law.In a letter to the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Kamya said night arrests are reminiscent of the dark days of Obote and Amin, adding that these are acts of intimidation which are intended to send terror into the minds of Ugandans.Kamya said Reform Agenda, a loose political group founded by Col Kizza Besigye, the runner-up in the presidential elections in 2001, does not approve of or support any criminal activities. “While we do not wish to politicise the issue in any way, we have sought the intervention of the Human Rights Commission so that Mulindwa is treated as provided for by the Constitution, and be produced before the court within the stipulated time,” she said.Besigye, who fled into exile last year, has been linked to Lord’s Resistance Army rebels of Joseph Kony. Besigye has denied the allegations, saying they are malicious.Ends