Museveni defends attack on Rwenzururu palace

PARLIAMENT. President Museveni on Monday is reported to have defended the military assault on the Rwenzori Kingdom’s Buhikira Palace that left 116 people dead.
Sources who attended a high level military meeting on Monday reveal that the country’s Commander-in-Chief maintained that the Rwenzururu King, Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere, rejected repeated calls to disband his royal guards.

Mr Museveni is quoted as having told UPDF High Command members who sat for the better part of the day at State House Entebbe that King Mumbere rejected orders to disarm, disband and surrender the royal guards, thus justifying the assault on the palace last Sunday, November 27.

Yesterday, army spokesman, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda confirmed that the High Command meeting convened on Monday but declined to say what was discussed.

“I am not a member of the High Command and I am afraid I will not discuss what they discussed. Yes, the High Command sat but I am not privy to the discussions they had,” Lt Col Ankunda said.

Mr Don Wanyama, the senior Presidential press secretary, told Daily Monitor: “The High Command is a military meeting and if they think there is anything the media needs to know, they will let you know.”
The manner in which the army and police are believed to have carried out the attack continues to inspire demands for an inquiry into what is now being labelled a massacre.

Kasese District representatives in Parliament, regime opponents, local and international human rights agencies, and civil society are also pushing for the officer(s) who commanded the onslaught in which the palace was set on fire to face the law.

Even in security circles suggestions of disquiet at the Kasese killings have been seen. Senior presidential advisor on security in Buganda, Brig. Kasirye Ggwanga, last week observed that Brig. Peter Elwelu, the highest-ranking officer visible on the ground during the palace raid will not escape justice.
“He committed murder against unarmed civilians. What they did was dehumanising! That man is in trouble, he cannot escape this. He will be tried one day. The evidence is overwhelming. He will be tried for this criminally reckless conduct,” Brig. Ggwanga told Sunday Monitor.

Saying that the army institution has been embarrassed, the brigadier also agreed with retired army commander, Maj. Gen Mugisha Muntu (now Opposition leader), and others who have said that the overwhelming force and disproportionate firepower deployed in the attack, resulting in the bloodbath, was not necessary.
Other tactical options, including laying siege on the palace, would have achieved the desired effect of neutralising the situation at a much lower cost to human life, Brig Ggwanga observed.

With Kasese still reeling from the carnage amid calls for an inquiry, even as a parliamentary committee has been asked to report on the killings, the search for closure has also begun at the highest levels of government.
Mr Museveni is reported to have promised to call a meeting with elders of the Abasiita clan of Rwenzururu Kingdom, saying he shares ethnic linkages with them and will embrace dialogue to find a lasting solution to the long-running crisis in the Rwenzori sub-region.

In the meantime, Mr Museveni maintained that Rwenzururu King Mumbere must be tried in court.
The king, who is facing murder charges in connection with the unrelated death of a policeman, is currently jailed in Kirinya Prison, Jinja. He will be returned to court for mention of his case on December 13. Charges preferred relate to the death of police constable Godfrey Kasimba on March 24, 2016.

Last evening, Rwenzururu Kingdom Spokesman Clarence Bwambale said the President only called King Mumbere to issue an ultimatum of “hours”, insisting that there was no attempt at “convincing” him to disband the royal guards.
“What I can only tell you is that the President called the king giving him hours to have handed in the royal guards, not convincing him per se. He called giving him instructions of one hour, two hours. There was no element of convincing, “Mr Bwambale said.

Rwenzururu Kingdom officials are expected to convene a press briefing today to respond to what the government has been saying in relation to the palace attack, according to Mr Bwambale.
Separately, at the Monday meeting, Mr Museveni warned of what he is reported to have said was “corruption and infiltration” in the army, referencing the multi-billion arms procurement scandal which has rocked the UPDF with a top general named.

Lt Col Ankunda declined commenting on the President’s warning about corruption in the UPDF, only saying that “joint investigation” by the UPDF and police into the procurement scandal are ongoing.
Army Chief of Staff (Land Forces), Brig Leopold Kyanda, has been named as a person of interest in this scandal in which a Polish company is believed to have been conned of more than Shs2 billion by army officers who promised to help the company secure a deal to supply arms to UPDF.

Brig Kyanda and the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, who is part of the cross-sector security team investigating the scandal, are said to also have attended Monday’s High Command meeting.

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