Why are army exiles returning home? What explains Museveni's change in heart?

Lt Col Anthony Kyakabale returned from exile two weeks ago, ending 12-year banishment in Sweden where some of his colleagues continue to live.
His return, which seemed to be negotiated, is seen as a good political gesture by President Museveni to extend an olive branch to many political and military officers living in exile across Europe and North America.

In Sweden alone, there are about 12 exiles, including Col Samson Mande who fled Uganda to Rwanda in 2001 before relocating to Sweden in 2003. This followed accusations that they had started a rebellion against the government of President Museveni.

The army said at the time Lt Col Kyakabale and Col Mande were indisciplined and were to face disciplinary action, but the same institution now says they are free to come back. And indeed, Kyakabale has been forgiven unconditionally, according to the army spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda.

“Our policy is to have all exiles return as along as they are not violent,” Col Ankunda says.

Why flee to exile?
Former Forum for Democratic Change president, Dr Kizza Besigye, who was also in exile for almost five years between 2001 and 2005, says Ugandans fled to exile because of fear for their security.

Uganda being a country that has never witnessed a peaceful transition of power, many, mostly soldiers and politicians flee during violent regime changes.

A number of senior ministers in the NRM regime, including President Museveni, at one time lived in exile between 1971 and 1986.
Below are army officers who fled Uganda, including those who have since returned.

Col Samson Mande

Col Samson Mande began his military career at the time a group of Ugandan exiles backed by Tanzanian forces were about to launch a final assault on Kampala to topple Idi Amin in 1979.
He was under intelligence until 1980 during general elections when he joined President Museveni’s Uganda Patriotic Movement.

When NRA started the rebellion against the Obote government, he joined Mr Museveni and participated in the five-year guerrilla war that brought President Museveni to power in 1986.

Later, Col Mande was recalled from Tanzania where he was a military attaché and detained at Makindye Barracks before he fled to exile in 2001, first to Rwanda and later to Sweden where he still lives today.

Uganda’s security accused him of plotting to overthrow President Museveni’s government using the People’s Redemption Army (PRA) rebel group.
The 63-year-old told Daily Monitor in 2013 that removing President Museveni by force will become inevitable if he stands in the way of democratic succession.

Capt Dan Byakutaaga

It’s not clear where the former army paymaster is living, but some reports suggest he lives in Canada. Others say he sometimes comes and visits his family in Uganda and goes back. He is said to have fled in 2001 with Shs1.6b. The money was said to be salaries for soldiers who were at that time in the DR Congo under Operation Safe Haven commanded by the late Maj Gen James Kazini.

Lt Alfred Ntare

He fled the country in 2013 and is said to be living in Europe. The commander under artillery unit of Special Forces fled the country under unclear circumstances.\

Maj Sabiti Mutengesa

He is the former UPDF director of records, now living in exile in London. He joined the army in 1985 months after leaving Makerere University where he had been retained as teaching assistant at the Faculty of Veterinary medicine.

He did basic training in Mubende and later joined the British Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and did a cadet course where he emerged among the best students.

He also did Infantry Company Commander’s course at Monduli in Tanzania and emerged the best. He held different portfolios in the UPDF, including director of records, a position held until he fled to exile in 2003 after he was accused of creating ghosts on the army nominal roll.
However, reports say it was intrigue within UPDF that led to his fleeing to exile.

Gen David Sejusa

Gen David Sejusa returned from exile in December last year after two years in exile in London. He had authored a letter calling for investigations into reports that there was a plan to assassinate senior government and military officials perceived to be against the alleged scheme to have President Museveni’s son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, succeed his father as President.

After his return, the four-star General said he had come to continue with the “struggle for freedom” within the country.

He has also applied to retire from the army and at the end of this month, the army is expected to decide whether he will be retired or not.

Gen Sejusa, who has previously been barred from retirement, says his request to retire is a legal matter and should not be subjected to political expedience and conjectures.

Lt Col Ahmed Kashillingi

He went to exile in 1989 after military police surrounded his house in Kololo on the orders of his bosses. There were allegations that he had connections with the scandalous burning of army records at Lubiri barracks.

He fled to DR Congo until he was arrested and brought back to Uganda. He was incarcerated at Makindye Military Barracks and later sent to Luzira prisons. He was released in 1996.

He now works under President’s Office. Kashillingi was one of the commanders that fought fierce battles in the bush and later captured Kampala in 1986.

Lt Col Kyakabale

Lt Col Anthony Kyakabale was in the first group of NRA fighters who attacked Kabamba barracks on February 6, 1981. President Museveni said in his memoirs, Sowing the Mustard Seed, that Kyakabale was chosen to fire the only Rocket Propelled Grenade they had captured on the day of the attack.

“Kyakabale fired the rocket and hit the vehicle which overturned and caught fire, killing several soldiers,” Museveni says.

Those who have died

Col Edison Muzoora: He died in 2011 under mysterious circumstances. A mysterious car dropped his body at his home in Bushenyi. He was an exile in Rwanda and later South Africa. It’s not clear which country he was before he died.

Col John Ogole: The former UNLA commander died in London last year. He fled to exile after the NRA defeated UNLA of Obote in 1986. In 1984, Col John Ogole commanded the UNLA special mobile brigade that fought the NRA rebels during the Bush War. In his last days, he was seen in a picture with Gen Seujsa.

Maj Herbert Itongwa: The former commander of the National Democratic Alliance, a rebel group against the government of President Museveni, died in exile in German. Itongwa led a rebel movement that operated in central Uganda comprising army deserters mostly from Buganda.

What leaders say
David Pulkol, former director general External Security Organisation: “Given the interconnectivity of wars in the region, President Museveni could be doing this to forestall a conflict that is likely to breakout.
He has been keen to forgive Gen Sejusa. He has been trying to win back the UPDF veterans. This is uncharacteristic of Museveni,”
Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, Ubongi MP and shadow minister for defence: “I’m not sure whether the conditions that took those people to exile have changed.

It’s not a matter of returning home. It’s also about improving governance, fight corruption and defend human rights.”

Col Felix Kulayigye, UPDF Chief Political Commissar. “Those in exile are there on their own volition. Our policy is that all those in exile should return home.”

Dr Kizza Besigye, former FDC president: “It’s not self-imposed exile like some people say. People go to exile because of fear for their lives. What the Ugandan junta should do is to end this fear whether it’s perceived or real. President Museveni has no powers to stop Ugandans from coming back home. He only has powers to arrest them.”