{UAH} The Bush war from inside the theater by Kiiza Besigye

So I set up a field sickbay at what could be known as the tactical headquarters where the High Command was and trained these young people on how to handle common medical problems mainly surgical trauma from war related causes or common ailments like malaria, intestinal warms or diarrhoeal diseases. So I set up classes on these issues, a theatre at my headquarters and soon enough we had some major cases. There was a sergeant called Kiggundu who was hit by an anti-personnel mine, one of the legs was completely shattered. When I saw him, he knew definitely he was going to die because whoever had suffered a similar thing previously had simply died. When Kiggundu- from Masaka - was hit by an anti-personnel mine and brought to my sickbay he was completely desperate. I told him you don't have to die. It was a nasty injury with shattered bones mingled with muscles but I told him we have to take this part of the leg and throw it away. You will be okay. Fortunately he had not lost a lot of blood. The most trying thing was the use of anesthesia because again, one of the handicaps my colleagues had had previously was how to administer anesthesia in order to undertake major operations. Among the things that had been looted from Nakaseke was a big stock of a type of anesthetic called thiopental. It's injectable. In hospitals it is used in combination with others to sustain its effect and also to smoothen its operation. Used alone as we had to use it in the bush can lead to serious complications including to cardiac arrest. The heart can stop and somebody dies. But those were risks were not up for debate. They were certainly far better than an outright death sentence. So I pulled out this anesthetic, mixed it and administered it on Kiggundu. It worked. The following day he he was ok. I have not seen him for years but he lived to see through the war with his one leg. When he recovered, it gave a lot of morale to everybody wherever they were they heard that it was possible to undergo surgery and be alright. I must say that I was extremely lucky that all those cases we were able to operate them and have them successfully treated. For a theatre bed, we had used poles and constructed some kind of a flat bed where we could put a plastic sheet and put patients on and we would boil our instruments, the knives and so on to use on fire, like you are boiling matooke. I was lucky indeed that I had trained these young men because they started treating ordinary cases and spare me for the more technically involving cases. Sometimes I would have to be woken up in the night if there was a serious emergency and for those cases we would then have to work on them using the lantern as the only source of light. Fortunately I didn't lose a patient at all in spite of all these terrible conditions. Those first months, there was a lot of interaction with ordinary people in the villages because there was what was referred to as the liberated area, an area where government forces were not expected at all and it was a fairly large area, extending from almost all the way towards Matugga. People would even come to Kampala, shop goods and then pass them through panyas. It was basically an area surrounded by rivers Mayanja, Lugogo and other smaller ones, which would form natural boundaries for the areas, which would protect us from the enemy forces. Where there was a path crossing that river, there would be a defence force where our frontline soldiers would be and the enemy forces would be across the river. There were daily skirmishes with government forces trying to dislodge our forces and enter our liberated area. Quite often they would enter but our people would make it very difficult to stay by ambushing and sniping them until they would retreat. What operated as the liberated zone really operated like any other normal village without war and it had its own negative effect. Our soldiers were engaging in drinking alcohol with those wananchi, fighting for women with them, there were even cases of rape. During that time, as I said earlier, what concerned me internally was the serious disparity between the kind of life that was led by commanders vis-à-vis that of the rank and file. The commanders generally led very, very highly comfortable life in terms of amenities that were available to them. You found that a commander would have so many uniforms, would have civilian clothes and would have proper beddings. We had camped there for a long time. People were all the time improving their houses or huts, building more permanent ones and in these they would construct a sitting room and a bedroom and a conference room. They would be decorated; you would find goats skin and so on laid on the ground like carpets. Beds were constructed inside these huts, comfortable beds using reeds. They would even have mattresses, bed sheets, blankets and very luxurious outfits. They would have a full breakfast, eating food whether it was matooke, meat, tea, eggs, and all kind of things in the morning. They would have normal lunch. They would have tea in the evenings, dinner at night and all these were elaborately prepared. On the other side of their soldiers were literally naked with a majority of them walking with their buttocks just having a semblance of a cloth around them. But with bare buttocks. None of them had the luxury of having any. They had no soap. Lice was all over their bodies, their rags. Whenever it was warm outside the forest, you would find them lined up under the sun to lay out their rags and fight the lice, on their bodies. It would be a session of fighting lice. But I must say it was amazing how high a morale they maintained despite those harsh conditions. This maintained a constant pressure on me to complain about this kind of disparity we had created within the force, which didn't attract empathy at all, but wrath. Shortly after my arrival the chairman of the High Command shifted from where I had found him and went deeper into the forest where he set up his own command post, leaving Mucunguzi's place where we also were within Mondlane camp. No reasons were advanced. We just saw him moving, but he must have been trying to improve his own security and felt maybe that this situation where we were altogether was not secure enough. The High Command guard now made a defence around his residence, rather than defending the whole of the headquarters as it were. He also set up a conference hall there, which was surrounded by heavy logs built to about 10ft so that if we were in what was like a conference hall, nobody could shoot through the wall of blocks. I think that marked the onset of a detachment from the other people within the struggle. Whereas previously there would be discussion around there, which would benefit him, now you would have to talk to him on invitation. Subsequently, Salim Saleh and (Fred) Rwigyema (deceased) also built their huts near him. That widened the gap between what was ordinary discussions of people and what was available to him. I am not sure now but I think the commander of the High Command was called Kagina. He died in battle in the bush. Then there was Kasasira, who died I think after coming to Kampala, but he had long left the High Command. Subsequently there was Akanga Byaruhanga. He died after the war. After those defences to now erect these physical barriers around the conference, I thought it was going a bit too far. It was also then that I started learning of the intrigue which had been there before. Museveni was away for about six months in 1981. The war had started in February and in June he left and went out of the country. He left the army under a fellow called Sseguya who died. While he was away, some divisions arose within the NRA and it was said one of the divisions was intent on making sure that Museveni did not come back to take over the command. There were the loyal elements who were passing the information of the dangers of this emerging group to Museveni and getting instructions from him. Clearly, there was a power struggle which eventually prompted Museveni to cut shot his trip abroad and come back because there was going to be a disaster. These two groups were going to literally slog it out. They were going to fight. Before he came back, there was one of the loyalists who was called Shaban who was killed in mysterious circumstances; believed to have been killed by these plotters. Sseguya died also in circumstances that were questionable. When Museveni came back not only did the law worry him, but also he was worried about the backstabbing by enemies from within. And I think that partly explained the kind of security arrangements at his residence. The fellow who was in charge as army commander was called Sam Magara (deceased), who and now subsequently from what I was gathering was supposed to be among the plotters who did not want Museveni to come back. Then sometime we heard that Magara had gone to Kampala. A few days later we heard that Magara had been killed in Kampala. The story was brought by Katenta Apuuli and his cousin called Dr Kamanyire who escaped narrowly from Kampala and ran to the bush. The story was that Magara was killed at Katenta Apuuli's house in Mengo. He had come to Kampala apparently for medical check up or treatment or whatever. It was clear that he had been betrayed. I don't know up to now by whom or under what circumstances, but what was clear was that the government was tipped about his presence at Katenta Apuuli's house. Government soldiers came and surrounded the house and without knowing, I think, that the whole place had been surrounded, Magara tried to jump over the fence. He was shot dead. When Apuuli who had gone out of the house learnt of the siege, he just fled. We learnt that Magara had been killed. Museveni called a meeting and informed us. He was rather angry at the meeting because it would appear from what he was saying that Magara had not followed his advice. It seems either he had not wanted him to go or wanted him to approach the visit differently. I recall at that meeting he was expressing anger at Magara not having listened to him. But given the background, which I have just talked about, some rumours started that Musevemi also maybe betrayed Magara deliberately because of what was suspected of his activities while Museveni was away. But these were simply gossips that I have never had the opportunity to ascertain. However, shortly after that, a strange incident happened. It was in the afternoon around 3pm. We had had lunch and two commanders who were very friendly to each other: Mucunguzi and Hannington Mugabi were playing cards outside Mucunguzi's hut at our small High Command base. It was now Mucunguzi's command post. I had been in my hut reading a book and I came out and joined them. They were seated on like a bench. They were facing each other while playing. I came and stood behind them, Mucunguzi was facing the hut and Mugabi was facing where I was, away from the hut. He was at the door of the hut. Then for some reason I don't know, Mucunguzi asked Mugabi to give him his pistol which was inside the hut. Mugabi reached out into the hut, got his pistol and tossed it to him. Mucunguzi held it. The next thing I heard was a blast and Mugabi falling down. So I rushed and then Mucunguzi threw the gun away and shouted 'I've killed him, I must also kill myself...'  Because of the blast, some people came and held Mucunguzi and I rushed to Mugabi, knelt down and found that the bullet had hit him in the face and come out through the scalp. But he was breathing and his heart was ok, though he was not conscious. So I lifted him immediately, got to my theatre, about 20 metres. I put him on a drip. We had erected a stand there and I shaved him. I realised that some brain material was pouring from the exit wound, significant amount of white matter was gushing out, but the bleeding was not much. At least what was visible was not much. So we tried to put him on anti-biotics and try to see what happens. He remained normal for quite sometime but later in the night his respiration failed and he died towards morning. In the meantime Mucunguzi had been put under arrest and that investigation and case lasted for about two years while Mucunguzi was under detention. But the trial was kept under wraps in terms of what kind of evidence was gathered. I was never invited to the High Command as a witness. I think I was asked by the intelligence people as the only witness who was there because they were just the two of them and I was there. I gave the story of what I saw and heard at the material time. I would be very interested to know what kind of evidence was adduced against Mucunguzi. But what we again continued to hear unofficially is that the killing of Mugabi was also linked to the plot of the Magaras and that it was part of the process of silencing or erasing evidence or whatever. There was that talk, but we never got to know the evidence that was adduced in that regard. At any rate, Mucunguzi's death sentence was not executed. Subsequently we were told the chairman of the High Command had suspended it, reduced it. Mucunguzi was accordingly removed from the army with disgrace and sent to Nairobi where he stayed until the end of the war. All that happened in Mondlane camp and it increasingly became routine and a very busy schedule for me until the end of 1982 when the offensive operations by the government forces intensified and we had to withdraw for the first time from that location. We actually made a major withdrawal from the whole area of Bulemezi into Singo area.

--

*A positive mind is a courageous mind, without doubts and fears, using the experience and wisdom to give the best of him/herself.

 

 We must dare invent the future!
The only way of limiting the usurpation of power by
 individuals, the military or otherwise, is to put the people in charge  - Capt. Thomas. Sankara {RIP} '1949-1987

 *"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable"**…  *J.F Kennedy