What’s behind the spate of arrests?
In a lead story on January 22, 2003, a local daily newspaper quoted an official from Reform Agenda as saying that about 50 of its activists have been arrested by security operatives.
By Ibra Asuman Bisiika
In a lead story on January 22, 2003, a local daily newspaper quoted an official from Reform Agenda as saying that about 50 of its activists have been arrested by security operatives. All those arrested are accused by security organisations of being involved in armed rebellion in one way or the other.
But Reform Agenda, an opposition pressure group founded by Col. (Rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye after his failed bid for the presidency, say they do not have any thing to do with armed rebellion against the state. Security organisations though claim that Reform Agenda is more than just a pressure group. Bushenyi RDC Mr. Barnabas Bamusede Bwambale, saying he was expressing his personal opinion, said there were genuine fears that Reform Agenda offers the political base and network from which the People’s Redemption Army (PRA) would draw support inside Uganda.
The military establishment has also made remarks to the effect that Besigye has links with the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. Matters are not helped by the fact that James Opoka, former Makerere University Guild President and Besigye’s aide during his failed bid for the presidency, is said to be with the LRA. Scanty details have emerged of a girl who recently escaped from rebel bondage after the army overrun the rebels camp near the Sudan Border.
Locals in villages north of Kitgum say a girl calling her self Anna Kisakye, who speaks mostly English has been walking in the bush alone till she saw the first homestead where she was welcomed but reportedly sent away after she revealed ever since she was abducted, she had been living with James Opoka. But she has since vanished and yet she was scheduled to be a resourceful person on Opoka's where abouts.
Although Besigye has publicly denied any links to any armed rebellion against the Government of Uganda, the army is persistent in their accusation of linking him to armed rebellion.
A Reform Agenda activist told this writer that talk linking them to armed rebellion (followed by arrests of their activists) is aimed at intimidating them into submission and is a ploy by the Government to label them as a rebel group and consequently outlaw them.
Of course it is difficult to verify these accusations and counter-accusations without finding oneself trapped in the political complexities of the Movement-versus parties.
I investigated these claims. My investigations focused on the reasons behind the spate of arrests of people linked to Besigye’s failed presidential bid or Reform Agenda. Although I would not call this an exhaustive and comprehensive investigation, it would still give us some insight into Government fears of a rebellion linked to Besigye or Reform Agenda.
The hardening of positions in the Elect Besigye Task Force (now Reform Agenda) began after the Electoral Commission declared President Museveni winner. The Elect Besigye Task Force then held a meeting in which they would decide on what to do next. The meeting is said to have been divided on the issue of forcefully taking Museveni on. Proponents of the use of force to oust President Museveni were James Opoka and another prominent Kampala politician.
In the meeting, the politician is said to have proposed a demonstration involving two million of his supporters who would walk to Nakasero State House and throw President Museveni out of the presidency. He said he would also call for civil disobedience in the city in a manner one would call people power. James Opoka, on his part, suggested a protracted guerrilla struggle to fight President Yoweri Museveni. He even claimed to have contacts in the LRA which would be useful to the protracted struggle.
But Besigye argued against the politician’s proposal. He reasoned that he knew how violent President Museveni could be in such circumstances. He said Museveni would not hesitate to use violence to brutally disperse the demonstration thereby leading to deaths. Besigye said that because the politician had hinted on the two million-man protest match to dislodge Museveni from State House during the campaigns, the military had infiltrated his supporters. These fifth column supporters were armed and would participate in the protest demo. They would shoot at the army men (dressed in police riot gear) who would be deployed to disperse the demo. The Police (actually army men) would then call for reinforcements, which would have the mandate to shoot to kill.
According to someone who attended the meeting, Col. Besigye was silent on James Opoka’s suggestion of a protracted guerrilla war. He only remarked on it lightly by saying it was not the right time for an armed struggle. He then suggested to contest the results of the elections in the courts of law. He, however, said if there was any new development other than the court case, he would communicate it. When the politician later addressed his supporters, he told them that they should not go to the bush until he himself tells them to; he was echoing Dr. Besigye’s remarks.
So, whereas on the face of it Besigye’s recently published paper highlighting the conditions for war in Uganda looked like an innocent academic presentation criticising the NRM Government, the Ugandan military and security establishment read deep into it. The current spate of arrests is connected to what is construed by the military and security establishment as Besigye’s call for war in his “war conditions paper.†But how real is this threat of a war?
In 2001, a man called Mulindwa was arrested in Bushenyi on suspicion of being a rebel collaborator. He was later released on Police bond. He stayed with Winnie Byanyima until he reportedly disappeared. He later reappeared in Kigali, where he was arrested by Rwandan Police for entering the country illegally. Mulindwa told the Rwanda Police that he had come to join rebels preparing to fight the Ugandan Government. As is the wont with Rwandan authorities in such circumstances, the Mulindwa story was given a lot of publicity in Rwanda and Uganda. Rwanda also used it as an opportunity to deny that Ugandan rebels were being trained on Rwandan soil.
Because Mulindwa had entered Rwanda through Tanzania, Rwandan authorities handed him back to the Tanzanian immigrations authorities. However, a few days later, a Rwandan military intelligence official called the Military Attaché at the Tanzanian Embassy in Kigali. The military intelligence man asked the Tanzanian Diplomat to intercede on their behalf to let Mulindwa be brought back to Rwanda. The Military Attaché called his superiors back home who refused to help the Rwandan military.
After the Presidential Elections in March 2001, many former Besigye campaign people fled to Kigali from what they said was a repressive regime out to kill them. I must confess that I bumped into James Opoka and Ali Balunywa in Kigali on separate occasions. Always pensive and rather collected, James Opoka impressed me as a man who was on a mission that would directly affect his life. Ali Balunywa was more relaxed and even got himself a job with The New Times, a newspaper owned by senior Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) officials. James Opoka suddenly stopped taking phone calls and dropped out of circulation in Kigali around August, 2001. Ali Balunywa may have left Kigali in July or August, 2002.
There have been reports of people missing from villages in Kasese and the western region as a whole. Security officials in Kasese told me that they have confirmed six people as disappearing from their villages.
Police in Kasese has recorded statements from the relatives of those who have disappeared.
However, security officials in Kasese say the whereabouts of an MP’s brother are known to them. An official said they even have his phone number. He is said to be shuttling between Nakuru and Nairobi in Kenya. However, the security official added that before his stay in Kenya, he initially travelled to Rwanda and back several times, which puts a question mark on him. His Kigali trips are not explained.
In Bundibugyo, although security officials deny it, some people think that the rebel presence in Ituri Forest (DR Congo) is that of the PRA, or at least a group linked to PRA. However, the RDC Bundibugyo, Dr. Erasto Gubare, said that the rebels in Ituri are remnants of the Allied Democratic Front (ADF).
In a lead story on January 22, 2003, a local daily newspaper quoted an official from Reform Agenda as saying that about 50 of its activists have been arrested by security operatives. All those arrested are accused by security organisations of being involved in armed rebellion in one way or the other.
But Reform Agenda, an opposition pressure group founded by Col. (Rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye after his failed bid for the presidency, say they do not have any thing to do with armed rebellion against the state. Security organisations though claim that Reform Agenda is more than just a pressure group. Bushenyi RDC Mr. Barnabas Bamusede Bwambale, saying he was expressing his personal opinion, said there were genuine fears that Reform Agenda offers the political base and network from which the People’s Redemption Army (PRA) would draw support inside Uganda.
The military establishment has also made remarks to the effect that Besigye has links with the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. Matters are not helped by the fact that James Opoka, former Makerere University Guild President and Besigye’s aide during his failed bid for the presidency, is said to be with the LRA. Scanty details have emerged of a girl who recently escaped from rebel bondage after the army overrun the rebels camp near the Sudan Border.
Locals in villages north of Kitgum say a girl calling her self Anna Kisakye, who speaks mostly English has been walking in the bush alone till she saw the first homestead where she was welcomed but reportedly sent away after she revealed ever since she was abducted, she had been living with James Opoka. But she has since vanished and yet she was scheduled to be a resourceful person on Opoka's where abouts.
Although Besigye has publicly denied any links to any armed rebellion against the Government of Uganda, the army is persistent in their accusation of linking him to armed rebellion.
A Reform Agenda activist told this writer that talk linking them to armed rebellion (followed by arrests of their activists) is aimed at intimidating them into submission and is a ploy by the Government to label them as a rebel group and consequently outlaw them.
Of course it is difficult to verify these accusations and counter-accusations without finding oneself trapped in the political complexities of the Movement-versus parties.
I investigated these claims. My investigations focused on the reasons behind the spate of arrests of people linked to Besigye’s failed presidential bid or Reform Agenda. Although I would not call this an exhaustive and comprehensive investigation, it would still give us some insight into Government fears of a rebellion linked to Besigye or Reform Agenda.
The hardening of positions in the Elect Besigye Task Force (now Reform Agenda) began after the Electoral Commission declared President Museveni winner. The Elect Besigye Task Force then held a meeting in which they would decide on what to do next. The meeting is said to have been divided on the issue of forcefully taking Museveni on. Proponents of the use of force to oust President Museveni were James Opoka and another prominent Kampala politician.
In the meeting, the politician is said to have proposed a demonstration involving two million of his supporters who would walk to Nakasero State House and throw President Museveni out of the presidency. He said he would also call for civil disobedience in the city in a manner one would call people power. James Opoka, on his part, suggested a protracted guerrilla struggle to fight President Yoweri Museveni. He even claimed to have contacts in the LRA which would be useful to the protracted struggle.
But Besigye argued against the politician’s proposal. He reasoned that he knew how violent President Museveni could be in such circumstances. He said Museveni would not hesitate to use violence to brutally disperse the demonstration thereby leading to deaths. Besigye said that because the politician had hinted on the two million-man protest match to dislodge Museveni from State House during the campaigns, the military had infiltrated his supporters. These fifth column supporters were armed and would participate in the protest demo. They would shoot at the army men (dressed in police riot gear) who would be deployed to disperse the demo. The Police (actually army men) would then call for reinforcements, which would have the mandate to shoot to kill.
According to someone who attended the meeting, Col. Besigye was silent on James Opoka’s suggestion of a protracted guerrilla war. He only remarked on it lightly by saying it was not the right time for an armed struggle. He then suggested to contest the results of the elections in the courts of law. He, however, said if there was any new development other than the court case, he would communicate it. When the politician later addressed his supporters, he told them that they should not go to the bush until he himself tells them to; he was echoing Dr. Besigye’s remarks.
So, whereas on the face of it Besigye’s recently published paper highlighting the conditions for war in Uganda looked like an innocent academic presentation criticising the NRM Government, the Ugandan military and security establishment read deep into it. The current spate of arrests is connected to what is construed by the military and security establishment as Besigye’s call for war in his “war conditions paper.†But how real is this threat of a war?
In 2001, a man called Mulindwa was arrested in Bushenyi on suspicion of being a rebel collaborator. He was later released on Police bond. He stayed with Winnie Byanyima until he reportedly disappeared. He later reappeared in Kigali, where he was arrested by Rwandan Police for entering the country illegally. Mulindwa told the Rwanda Police that he had come to join rebels preparing to fight the Ugandan Government. As is the wont with Rwandan authorities in such circumstances, the Mulindwa story was given a lot of publicity in Rwanda and Uganda. Rwanda also used it as an opportunity to deny that Ugandan rebels were being trained on Rwandan soil.
Because Mulindwa had entered Rwanda through Tanzania, Rwandan authorities handed him back to the Tanzanian immigrations authorities. However, a few days later, a Rwandan military intelligence official called the Military Attaché at the Tanzanian Embassy in Kigali. The military intelligence man asked the Tanzanian Diplomat to intercede on their behalf to let Mulindwa be brought back to Rwanda. The Military Attaché called his superiors back home who refused to help the Rwandan military.
After the Presidential Elections in March 2001, many former Besigye campaign people fled to Kigali from what they said was a repressive regime out to kill them. I must confess that I bumped into James Opoka and Ali Balunywa in Kigali on separate occasions. Always pensive and rather collected, James Opoka impressed me as a man who was on a mission that would directly affect his life. Ali Balunywa was more relaxed and even got himself a job with The New Times, a newspaper owned by senior Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) officials. James Opoka suddenly stopped taking phone calls and dropped out of circulation in Kigali around August, 2001. Ali Balunywa may have left Kigali in July or August, 2002.
There have been reports of people missing from villages in Kasese and the western region as a whole. Security officials in Kasese told me that they have confirmed six people as disappearing from their villages.
Police in Kasese has recorded statements from the relatives of those who have disappeared.
However, security officials in Kasese say the whereabouts of an MP’s brother are known to them. An official said they even have his phone number. He is said to be shuttling between Nakuru and Nairobi in Kenya. However, the security official added that before his stay in Kenya, he initially travelled to Rwanda and back several times, which puts a question mark on him. His Kigali trips are not explained.
In Bundibugyo, although security officials deny it, some people think that the rebel presence in Ituri Forest (DR Congo) is that of the PRA, or at least a group linked to PRA. However, the RDC Bundibugyo, Dr. Erasto Gubare, said that the rebels in Ituri are remnants of the Allied Democratic Front (ADF).