Besigye, Mande Called For War Against Museveni

Special Reports — 19 November 2011

Opposition leader Col. Kizza Besigye on Saturday met renegade UPDF officer Col. Samson Mande during a conference in London, United Kingdom.

The public debate, held under the theme “Uganda at Cross-Roads: Which Way Forward?” was organised by FDC-UK Chapter.

The debate was held at Durning Hall Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, London, E7 9AB from 2pm until 9pm.

The source, who was among the organisers of the function, says Besigye held a brief discussion with Mande, who has lived in exile since 2001.

The deliberations of the two high-profile 1986 bush war heroes are still scanty since there was no third party.

“The two Colonels had an exclusive talk that lasted nearly an hour. I do not know what they discussed,” a source said in an email sent to us a few minutes ago.

However, during the debate, Mande warned of a possibility of using arms to capture state power from President Yoweri Museveni.

Mande reportedly said: “Museveni is a tyrant that needs removing. The use of force is a viable option.”

Below we bring you the UK FDC PUBLIC Debate- Paper delivered by UUPF on the day;

UGANDA AT CROSS-ROADS: WHICH WAY FORWARD

Uganda United Pro-democracy Forum (UUPF) is of the view that Ugandan citizens and its well- wishers cannot effectively discuss what is good for the country today and have it implemented under the current regime because of the following reasons;

1. Criticising government policy is becoming illegal in Uganda.

2. Peaceful demonstrations are interpreted as treason

3. Gov’t is trying to enact a law where political discussions have to be authorised by the police

4. An effective discussion for the country would include all stakeholders i.e. the ruled and the ruler. But today we have a rogue regime with whom we cannot hold such discussions

5. Resources are so highly misappropriated and unequally distributed such that some of our people have totally lost hope and meaning to life. One cannot engage such a people for meaningful discussions, little wonder many are accepting bribes from the regime as a way of survival.

6. Potential gov’t sabotage, harassment and intimidation cannot provide a conducive atmosphere for open free discussions on the way forward.

7. Lack of national independence. We need to regain our country from these foreign rulers before embarking on a conclusive discussion on the way forward for Uganda.

Although the list above is not exhaustive, one can conclude that the only option Ugandans have today is to strive and achieve a levelled ground through regime change in order to facilitate meaningful plans and discussions for the way forward for our Nation. The question is how?

By getting rid of not only Museveni but the whole rotten regime.

How are we to achieve this?

By recognising the following?

1. The regime is extensively weakened today and it is only thriving on intimidation, bribing the people, coercion and a divided army/force.

2. Any divisions within the opposition strengthen the incumbent

3. Foreign perception of Uganda has changed Museveni is no longer that golden boy in the eyes of the international community.

4. Today the whole country at large apart from those linked to the regime is feeling the hitch. People are fed up to such an extent that damage or pain inflicted on the public by gov’t agents be it accidental or otherwise will spark off a people riot. We heard what happened in Tororo where a police car knocked a boda boda man dead and the whole town erupted into riots.

How can we capitalise on the current situation

UUPF- Still believes that Uganda can be liberated from the current regime through a non-violent Revolution. We commend the efforts done by the opposition including A4C in trying to achieve the above.

In our view in order for progress to be made on this front certain changes need to be embraced.

1. We need to recognise that this is no time for political party, tribal, religious or regional politics. We need a national cause for all citizens to rally behind it. This cause must be inciting, of substance, burning and imminent in nature.

2. There should be no identifiable leader of the revolution in the initial stages otherwise the gov’t will easily curtail the revolution by capturing the leader. A few examples are available from the recent incidents.

3. The organisers must be a fluid group without an office or proper identity i.e. tasks should be allocated to individuals/groups without permanence but on merit.

4. Top mobilisers and role prayers should be individuals/groups without high political offices e.g. MPs and other political party leaders should be followers other than visible organisers because their movements can easily be monitored by the government and thereby restrained.

5. The revolution can be started by mobilising through other non-political but social-economic groups for example boda bodas Assoc, teacher’s assoc, Traders assoc, tax operators etc. However the number of groups should be kept to a minimal for easy of execution and dialogue simplicity.

In light of the above we believe that A4C may be part of the revolution but refrain from leading the mobilisation for reasons mentioned above. An ideal situation would be a day when a demonstration starts but Dr Besigye stays at home because by coming out to physically participate in the initial days will stifle the revolution when he ends up being out rightly arrested yet by staying home and mobilise his followers to participate could achieve the required persistence. For progress to be made we need the demonstration to persist for some time which in effect will help to overcome the fear factor within the potential participants hence more people physically joining the cause.

Dealing with hindrances to potential revolution participants

1. On several occasions we have heard people talking about not being able to work or transact business whenever demonstrations are held.

Although it is true that everyone must chip in or be ready to sacrifice, we must come up with a universal rule to help this cause. One of the ways this can be achieved is by declaring that during the period of demonstrations all commercial or residential landlords will have to forego their rental income hence no one will be expected to pay rent. Organisations like umeme must be treated likewise.

2. Medical facilities: Some element of communal service to this effect needs to be set up in various regions.

3. Provision of water is paramount not only for drinking but also to be used to minimise the tear gas effects.

4. Channels of communication both locally and internationally need to be addressed.

5. Diaspora operation branch for logistical and other purposes would be crucial given the chaotic nature of the demonstration environment which may hinder execution of certain tasks locally.

In summary we suggest that a non-violent revolution is the way forward. In our view a focal, nationalistic rallying point today is the struggle for Uganda’s independence.

Why: Although previous regimes have been corrupt but the current regime’s corruption is unimaginable and we attribute the extent to lack of national interest by the regime, which is not surprising anyway from a foreigner. Uganda has been torn to pieces and evidence can be seen through degradation of schools, hospitals, abolition of cooperatives, our coffee export is now history.

Little wonder recently when Ugandan schools/teachers where craving for funding, they were told that the government had no money yet just in a few days thereafter , the Rwandan National who also doubles to be the Ugandan President donated millions to a school in Rwanda.

Ron Paul in his book The Revolution a Manifesto said “Dictatorial governments encourage racial thinking and undermines individualism because its very existence encourages people to organize along racial lines in order to lobby for benefits for their group. That lobbying, in turn creates animosity and suspicion among all groups, each of which believes that it is getting less of its fair share than the others. When this happens society gets divided hence empowering the regime in power due to lack of a united opposition”.

Fellow Ugandans let us join together to liberate and regain Uganda’s independence until then will we be able to seat as Ugandans and effectively discuss the best way forward of this project Uganda.

Moses Kiwanuka

Chairman

UUPF, UK

Additional reporting by chimpreports.com