Police to monitor former rebels, ex-convicts

Apr 20, 2015

IN the heightened efforts to combat terrorism, Police are planning to monitor the former rebels and ex-convicts

By Simon Masaba  

 

IN the heightened efforts to combat terrorism, Police are planning to monitor the former rebels and ex-convicts.

 

Police are linking former rebels and ex- convicts to upsurge in high profile crimes.

 

The plan to monitor the former rebels was revealed by the Police chief, General Kale Kayihura during a media briefing at the closure of the conference attended by East African police chiefs at Serena hotel in Kampala. The conference was held under the theme, "Fighting Terrorism and Organised Crime.”

 

"We need to track the amnesty beneficiaries down. Where are they?" asked Kayihura.  He added that security agencies need to establish or revive a system to monitor former convicts.

 

"The prison authorities and police initiated a programme to monitor the ex-convicts on what they do when they get back home. To some it has worked," the Prisons spokesperson, Fred Baine told New Vision in an interview.

 

The chairman Uganda Amnesty Commission Justice Peter Onega could not be reached for comment, however, according to the its website, Amnesty Commission between 2003 and the end of 2008,  granted amnesty to 22,930 ex-combatants. By July 2010, the number of applicants was about 25,000, with former Lord's Resistance Army members representing the largest group.

 

The conference held under the theme, "Fighting Terrorism and Organised Crime”, was attended by police bosses from the region. Photo by Tony Rujuta

The conference was attended by police chiefs or representatives from the republic of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

 

 The IGP, South Sudan, Pieng Deng Kuol, condemned the recent terror attack on Garissa University College and expressed condolences to government and people of Kenya.

 

"The fight against terrorism requires a holistic approach and underscored the need to analyse criminal syndicates in the region," Kuol said.

 

The International Police (Interpol) chief, Asan Kasingye said the meeting held in the spirit of friendship, cooperation and solidarity adopted a number of resolutions.

 

It was resolved to develop a watch list of terror suspects and organised crimes that should be regularly shared among member countries, to revive supervision orders to monitor former convicts, to enhance deployment of security personnel at vulnerable and vital installations by engaging and empowering local communities with self-defence tools.

 

Kasingye said the meeting resolved that the chiefs of police will meet on quarterly basis to review the implementation of the resolutions.

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