------------------VERY VERY IMPORTANT------------- A plot to arrest Uganda’s most known opposition figures on trumped-up charges of treason and using a fictitious terrorist threat against the opposition has today been revealed here in London. Those on the list include, among others, top opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye and the use of a terror threat to cause mayhem in Kampala during which many more opposition figures would be rounded up and detained while Kampala is closed down. These revelations were made by Gen David Sejusa who leads the opposition Free Uganda while in exile in London. In a message he has sent to the Ugandan opposition, Gen Sejusa who knows all about government intelligence reports and who clearly still has informers within the Ugandan government to tell him what is going on, said the plan to arrest Dr Besigye and other opposition figures is part of a plan by the Museveni government to disrupt and possibly stop a three-day opposition National Consultation on Free and Fair Elections conference set to take place at Hotel Africana in Kampala from Monday 24 November 2014. He said he had received information that the Museveni government was ‘frantically’ making efforts to try and disrupt this conference in order to stop it from taking place. He said: “There are therefore THREE divided opinions in government. The first one is of the group that thinks that the conference should be permitted to proceed but with no participation from government so as to deny the conference any legitimacy and political capital. They argue that the president and Speaker should ignore the invitations and government should wait for the outcome before it takes a position on the outcome. This is led by two veteran movement leaders and a few lightweights in government. This is the weakest lobby and is considered naive at best or corroborative at most. I will not mention their names. “The second group is that [of] pushing the line that government allows the conference to take place but infiltrate it with government activists who will come in legitimately from the regions as representatives. This will be done through bribery and threats. They are also targeting some party leaders to help them advance [a] divisive agenda during the conference. This group too discourages any direct participation by any government official. But they are willing to compromise on junior representation from government. The intention is to sabotage the process and neutralise any radical views that may be proposed. “The third group is one bent on stopping the conference outright. They reason that allowing it to take place would be to give a platform to opposition groups and a head start in their 2016 efforts and would legitimise the subsequent leadership that may be chosen during the conference. They reason that it will refocus the opposition efforts and give them a unified national appeal. This is the line favoured by the fringe lobby who control things in Uganda these days and it is therefore likely to carry the day.” In order to carry out their plan, Gen Sejusa said the government had set up three committees to come up with contingent plans to stop the opposition conference, to see how this should be done, when it should be done and how to manage the outcome. He then revealed: “We understand government has been looking at the possibility of arresting some key leaders, especially Dr Besigye and a few other vocal ones on trumped up charges for treason immediately before the conference.” He added that the ‘Mugumya saga’ (see a report from Kampala in this article) was ‘closely linked to this’. A former coordinator of intelligence services in the Ugandan military and a former presidential adviser, Gen Sejusa went on to reveal that before the opposition conference takes place, the Uganda police chief, Gen Kalekyezi Kayihura is set in the next few days to use ‘the excuse of terrorism and cause mayhem for two days’ a plan that would lead him to ask the conference organisers to postpone it. Were this to fail, Gen Sejjusa goes on to say, that at the opening of the conference, Kayihura would ‘stage terror acts, cause general scare as the so called perpetrators are arrested and divert peoples’ attention from the conference and cause mayhem’. He warned: “…the opposition groups organising this conference must take this warning seriously. You need to work out contingency plans (Plan B) for each scenario and the appropriate course of action in each event. Meanwhile, the Ugandan opposition has demanded both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ugandan governments to explain the whereabouts of former Forum for Democratic Leader (FDC) retired Colonel Kiiza Besigye’s aide Sam Mugumya, who was arrested a fortnight ago under unclear circumstance. Addressing a press conference in Kampala this week together with a popularly known pressure group, For God and My Country (4GC) led by its coordinator who is also Member of Parliament for Masaka Municipality, Matthias Mpuga and the embattled Kampala Lord Mayor Elias Lukwago, Dr Besigye said the DRC should be so careful while handling issues of his aide. “This issue must be handled with care. It is an international issue and must be handled using the UN systems” said Besigye. Besigye and youth from the opposition threatened they would storm the Congolese embassy in Uganda to demand for Mugumya’s release. A team of lawyers and human rights activists are set to travel to the Congolese capital Kinshasa, to demand for Mugumya’s release as well as four other youth who are claimed to have been arrested by the Congolese army just kilometers along the Uganda-DRC boarder. Besigye, a two time presidential contestant, had previously asked the DRC not to hand Mugumya over to Uganda due to the cloud surrounding his arrest. According to the Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Paddy Akunda, Mugumya was arrested for having a lot of cash in US dollars on him. Other reports say he was arrested for alleged involvement in rebel activities, contrally to immediate reports of his disappearance that circulated in his home district of Rukungiri where he had gone to address family issues. The story became more confusing when the spokesman of the army in Bukavu said they arrested him on grounds that he crossed to the DRC without the relevant travel documents, another contradictory statement. Besigye told the journalists that his aide has had a lot of “harsh” treatment and “torture” from government officials in the past and feared that if handed over to the Ugandan government he is most likely to face harsher treatments. Mathias Mpuuga, the coordinator of 4GC said the opposition will never shy away from finding legal means of liberating the country. He demanded that the youthful men who were arrested be taken to courts of laws. He called on both countries to be civil and act accordingly as the arrested have rights too. “Just putting them ‘incommunicado’ is not the solution. Let them be produced in the courts of laws so as they face off with justice”, he emphasized. Mugumya’s whereabouts have not yet been put to public since his ‘arrest’. However, a source who requested not to be named confirmed that Mugumya and some of his friends were arrested in Rukungiri and were driven to an unknown destination but not in the DRC. This comes amidst continued claims by the Ugandan Defense Minister Dr Crispus Kiyonga that Mugumya was arrested in the DRC by authorities there and was transferred to Kinshasa. It is now two weeks since he promised parliament an update on Mugumya’s transfer to Kinshasa. Mugumya is remembered during his university days at Makerere University in 2005, vigorously advocating for change through the FDC youth wing especially during the “Anti third term” protests geared at preventing President Museveni to stand for presidency for the third time. He has been arrested, detained and imprisoned several times on account of holding illegal rallies. thelondoneveningpost/sejusa-exposes-plan-to-arrest-opposition-leaders-this-weekend/5/
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 03:53:50 +0000
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