Opposition parties in Uganda threaten to use army against Museveni
Sudan Tribune - 15 hours ago
June 25, 2014 (KAMPALA) – The main opposition leaders in Uganda have
warned president Yoweri Museveni not to continue to rely on the army
to intimidate his political opponents and entrench his rule in the run
up to the next presidential elections, saying they are now capable of
using the same army against him.

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni (Photo: Carl Court/AP)
The president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, General
Mugisha Muntu, who is a retired general in the Ugandan army, issued
the stern warning on Sunday while addressing a public rally in Mukuno,
Ugandan media outlets reported.
"Museveni must stop thinking that the army will help him in 2016
because we can as well use this army he calls his to get help," he
said, adding that "time was running out for the head of state."
Uganda opposition factions have in the past accused president Museveni
of allegedly deploying security forces during elections to intimidate
their supporters and also participate in electoral malpractices,
resulting to rigged elections.
General Muntu, however, vowed that this time would be different,
saying the opponents have the ability to use similar drastic measures
to remove the president should situation dictate it.
"We have the potential of using gunfire but we are not going to do
it," he told thousands of his supporters who cheered the remarks.
"We want to beat Museveni psychologically and turn him into a 'second
phase NRA'. We are going to send him away through the same route that
brought him," Chimpreports quoted him as saying.
The 'free and fair elections' rally was also addressed by Kizza
Besigye, another leading opposition rival who in the past lost heated
presidential contests against president Museveni.
In his statements in the rally, Besigye vowed that the opposition
would possibly use military language against Museveni.
"Generals will deal with General Museveni," he told the crowd.
"We want to first show Museveni that we can do away with his corrupt
electoral commission psychologically before we deal with him as
Generals," he warned, saying Museveni understands only two languages -
"the gun and people's power."
Majority of the leaders who addressed the public event portrayed
Museveni as a leader in crisis who was losing control of his centre of
power – the army.
However, army spokesperson, Lt. Col Paddy Ankunda said "the army will
stand with a President who is elected by the people."
He further warned the opposition forces against attempts to grab power
by force, saying the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) would crush
such schemes.
Also, the presidency minister, Frank Tumwebaze, further warned the
opposition parties not to imitate the recent uprising in the Egyptian
Tahrir Square.
"They fail to understand that by spending so much time only dreaming
of a Tahrir Square uprising in Kampala and struggling to lure youth to
engage in street protests, only serves them to capture short lived
media headlines," he said, downplaying the opposition threats.
Another former presidential aspirant and leader of the Uganda Federal
Alliance (UFA), Olive Betty Kamya, criticised the opposition for
putting their efforts towards removing president Yoweri Museveni,
saying "he is not Uganda's problem".
"Our colleagues in the opposition are focusing so much on removing
President Museveni, yet he is not the problem," Uganda's
Daily Monitor, quoted Kamya as saying on Tuesday.
"If you single out Museveni as the problem, he will go away but
Uganda's problems will not," she further stressed while addressing a
media briefing at UFA's headquarters in Rubaga, Kampala.
The opposition leader also cautioned that targeting electoral reforms
will not do much as it will leave Museveni with over 200 institutions
to do whatever he wishes with the country.
"For me the most important institution is Bank of Uganda because that
is where the President gets the money he splashes around, and
therefore fighting the EC [Electoral Commission] is [like] trying to
hit a tiny end of the snake and leaving out the larger part," Kamya
said.
The tough warnings by the opposition parties come days after a
commander of the presidential unit in charge of protecting president
Museveni defected along with 16 other officers, allegedly to join a
new rebellion to overthrow the president.
Ugandan senior defence officials confirmed what they said was
"serious" growing indiscipline and discontent among the army as
"countless" soldiers are believed to have died in South Sudan's
mission against anti-Salva Kiir rebels as well as in other places,
coupled with low pay in salaries and poor systems for promotions.
Many Ugandan MPs have also been agitating for withdrawal of the
Ugandan army from South Sudan.
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