Congolese cultural leader detained at Nalufenya
What you need to know:
- Mr Jean-Charles Okot Lolakombe, DRC envoy in Uganda had earlier said they are willing to engage authorities in Uganda so that the suspect’s relatives could visit him but officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not responding.
Kampala.
A Congolese cultural leader who was arrested in Uganda last week , is being imprisoned at Nalufenya Police Detention Centre in Jinja District, police have confirmed.
Mr Abdulrazak Kalemire , the cultural leader of the Nande territory of Beni in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was arrested by police at Mpondwe border post in Kasese District as he travelled from Kampala where he was conducting private business.
Ms Polly Namaye, the deputy police spokesperson who on Tuesday declined to reveal Mr Kalemire's fate, confirmed on Thursday that the cultural leader is detained at Nalufenya as investigations continue.
Ms Namaye said that the suspect is being jointly investigated by police and other security agencies over suspected cross-border subversive activities.
“There are many issues involved in cross- border security. So, investigations will seek to find out what exactly he has been involving himself in,” Ms Namaye said.
Ms Namaye said no specific case has been preferred against the culture leader and the force is yet to contact Directorate of Public Prosecution to advise them on the way forward.
Mr Robert Lubangu, the brother of the cultural leader told Daily Monitor on Thursday that family members both in Uganda and DRC worried thate their relative could be tortured given the fact that several suspects who have been detained at Nalufenya Detention Centre have complained of torture inside the facility.
He said that the family has sought services of lawyers in Kampala to engage the DRC Embassy in Kampala to enable them visit the suspect.
“The family is interested in knowing his condition,” Mr Lubangu said.
Ms Namaye said police are willing to cooperate with the family and the DRC Embassy to enable family members visit the suspect.
Mr Jean-Charles Okot Lolakombe, DRC envoy in Uganda had earlier said they are willing to engage authorities in Uganda so that the suspect’s relatives could visit him but officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not responding.
It is not clear whether the arrest is related to activities of the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan rebel group that has been wreaking havoc around Beni, in DRC.
