{UAH} WHY MUSEVENI HAS DELAYED LINKING RWANDA TO DR. BESIGYE'S PEOPLE'S GOVT

BY FULL BRIEFING

WHY MUSEVENI HAS DELAYED LINKING RWANDA TO DR. BESIGYE'S PEOPLE'S GOVT.
In 1998, Rwanda and Uganda troops had A cordial relationship in their joint operations in the eastern DRC. However in 1999 -2000, they had three rounds of bloody clashes against each other in the the city of Kisangani. Museveni's troops were thoroughly beaten hands down. As the misunderstanding was shifted to their respective capitals, Rwanda's Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Sebarenzi, Maj. Alphonse Fuluma and some other army officers, and some students fled to Uganda where they were accorded the means for hostile activities against Rwanda.

In 2001, Col. (Rtd) Dr. Besigye contested against Museveni in presidential elections. Rwanda was accused of morally and financially supporting Dr. Besigye. Consequently, Rwanda was declared a hostile state alongside Sudan and DRC. The grading was based on the said earlier bloody clashes in Kisangani.

Rwanda vehemently protested through its Minister of Foreign Affairs thus;
"If the authorities in Kampala now claim not to know who is responsible for the fighting in Kisangani, Uganda is either doing this deliberately or it wants to hoodwink the international community. All those who followed events in the Great Lakes region were aware that the three rounds of fighting in Kisangani were planned and provoked by the Ugandan army. It is indeed ironic that Uganda should classify Rwanda as a hostile nation, particularly in view of Ugandan actions of not only harbouring elements hostile to Rwanda but also mobilising and actively training them to destabilise Rwanda. The government of Uganda is clearly aware of its responsibility and guilty in events in Kisangani. To turn around and use these events to categorise Rwanda as an enemy is cynicism at its worst.
No amount of hostile statements and provocation will draw it [Rwanda] into unnecessary conflict with Uganda".

Immediately after the 2001 elections, Museveni launched a systematic campaign of terror against Dr. Besigye supporters. A number of them were harassed, detained,
intimidated, tortured in Safe Houses with only the lucky ones fleeing the country. Around April 2001, Col. Mande and Kyakabale fled to Rwanda and a number of other junior officers and retired army personnel followed suit. Around July 2001, Col. Kyakabale issued a declaration of war against the Museveni regime. Rwanda disassociated itself from Kyakabale's statement. Both Col. Mande and Maj. Fuluma issued media statements criticising their respective governments.

In Kampala, Museveni challenged Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye to denounce the two army officers and other renegades who were involved in his presidential election campaigns. But Besigye said it was wrong to associate him with Kyakabale merely because he campaigned for him. "Kyakabale was with Museveni in 1980. Museveni has definitely known him longer and better than myself. Definitely he has campaigned for Museveni before. Does that mean that Museveni is a terrorist? I would like to categorically state that I have absolutely no knowledge of any person or groups of persons involved in rebellion or breach of peace in this country,"

In July 2001 Dr. Besigye was arrested and interrogated by security operatives over treasonous allegations linked to the Rwanda based dissidents. He was thereafter released and placed under house arrest on a 24 hour security watch. In August 2001, Dr. Besigye beat the security surveillance by escaping and fleeing to South Africa. By August 2001 tensions were high with each country keeping a close eye on its national frontiers. On August 28, 2001, Museveni wrote the infamous latter to the UK Foreign Secretary appealing for help against anticipated invasion by Rwanda. In part he wrote;
"We have no doubt that Rwanda is planning aggression against us either using proxies or, even, directly. There are some Ugandan army officers who ran from here, jumping bail or fleeing potential prosecution for a number of crimes, to Rwanda.........Furthermore, they have been recruiting Ugandan youth and taking them to Kigali for military training. We are now sure that they have opened three training centres around Kigali with the full support of the Rwanda government. We hear that they have also opened another centre for the same purpose in Rutshuru, a part of Eastern Congo they control.
Meanwhile, their intelligence is very aggressively inquiring about the strength of various army units of ours and so on."

In November 2001 Museveni and Kagame met in London under the mediation of the UK government. Tensions were eased a bit when it was agreed that respective countries were to relocate the dissidents. That's how the likes of Col. Mande, Col. Kyakabale and others ended up in Sweden while Rwanda's Maj. Fuluma, Maj. Mupende and others ended in the USA. However, this was a temporary relief as Uganda continued to allege that Rwanda was still harboring Ugandan dissidents under the People's Redemption Army (PRA). In 2002, the now exiled Dr. Besigye founded the Reform Agenda (RA) as a political pressure group. However, Museveni viewed RA as a political base and network from which PRA would recruit people to its ranks.

In February 2003, a military strategist, Col. Edson Muzoora deserted the army and fled to Rwanda. In March 2003, Museveni claimed that his army had raided the PRA hideout in DRC's Ituri Province and captured its 22 fighters. The regime went further to allege that the PRA was being aided by Rwanda and that Dr. Besigye was its political head. In an April 12, 2004 statement by Dr. Besigye issued from exile he denied any links with the so-called PRA thus;
"PRA is illusionary and a concoction of the Uganda intelligence services........"

The so-called PRA rebel captives were simply detained without trial for years. Meanwhile the bickering between Uganda and Rwanda continued. The Museveni regime continued to allege that Rwanda was still bent on aiding the DRC based PRA. Meanwhile the Reform Agenda had transformed into a political party, the FDC. It had elected Dr. Besigye as its flag bearer for the 2006 first multiparty general elections. Dr. Besigye defiantly declared intentions of returning to Uganda. Museveni panicked and tried to scare him from not returning as contained in his letter addressed to the First Deputy Prime Minister, Lt Gen (Rtd) Moses Ali, in his capacity as chairman of a Cabinet meeting that sat on October 19 and discussed Col Besigye. Without specifying the charges he wrote;
"I have received information from the Cabinet regarding Dr Besigye. I have, of course, nothing against his returning to Uganda. However, I am reliably informed that he may have long-standing criminal charges that would be brought against him. The Cabinet needs to be aware of that,"

Dr. Besigye returned to Uganda in October 2005. In November 2005 he was arrested and charged with treason linked to the PRA and LRA rebel groups and rape that had allegedly been committed in 1996. He was arraigned in court and the extracts of the charge sheet went as follows;
"Col. (Rtd) Dr Kiiza Besigye and others still at large between 2001 and 2004 in various places in Kampala and Rwanda, contrived a plot to overturn the government of Uganda as by law established by force of arms." "As leader of the PRA, he co-ordinated recruitment, funding and supply of weapons to the rebels undergoing training in Rwanda."
The charge sheet, signed by Joan Kagezi, Principal State Attorney, further stated; "Prosecutions will adduce evidence to show that all the accused persons were living in or transiting through Rwanda."

Dr. Besigye was freed on bail by the High Court on November 25, 2005 but was violently rearrested by the infamous Black Mambas and arraigned before the military court on the same charges. He was eventually freed by the High Court on January 6, 2006, a few days to the polls. His arrest and trial had stirred violent riots that prompted Museveni to issue decrees banning rallies, assemblies, demonstrations, protests and media coverage of the trial.

In March 2006 Dr. Besigye was acquitted by the High Court of rape charges. The trial Judge said that;
" Prosecution had been crude and amateurish."
However, the treason trial remained pending until in October 2010 when the Constitutional Court ordered the state to drop the trial in both the military and civilian courts. In the meantime, though bad blood between Uganda and Rwanda had subsided, there was still signs of mistrust and suspicion. However, with the fleeing into exile of a new wave of Tutsi army officers from Rwanda like Gen. Katumba, Col. Karegeya and others from Rwanda, Museveni saw himself as having an upper hand to revive his earlier plan to avenge the Kisangani humiliation. By 2010 Kampala was alleging that Rwanda was plotting to assassinate Museveni and some of his top officials. The Kampala regime alleged that Dr. Besigye's 2011 Walk to Work campaign was a cover for Kagame's covert activities. Top regime functionaries alleged that the opposition newed activism was aimed at overthrowing the regime.

Since then, though Dr. Besigye has been active, he was never again been linked to Rwanda's alleged destablisation agenda. Though his 2016 self swearing in and declaration of formation of a separate government was slammed with treason, it was not linked to Rwanda. Early last month, he announced a countrywide establishment of his so-called Peoples Government grassroot structures dubbed Peoples Assembly. By design or by coincidence, tension between Uganda and Rwanda is once again flaring up. Museveni must be contemplating linking Dr. Besigye's renewed activism to Rwanda. However, Museveni fears that if he deals a blow to Besigye at this juncture, Bobi Wine will grow in strength and vice versa. So, he is buying time as they weaken each other but eventually, one of them or both will be linked to Rwanda.

INFORMATION IS POWER

source: UAH FACEBOOK GROUP

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H.OGWAPITI
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that  we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic  and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

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