Endless Uganda-Rwanda war dance, and some dirty truths
Uganda and Rwanda are feuding again, this time after the latter closed the border at Gatuna, to complete construction of its one-stop border point (OSBP).
Things went south quickly, and soon we were hearing war drums. We shall always have this ritual war dance, which eventually peters out. We have not had a significant direct inter-state war in Africa since Ethiopia and Eritrea’s bloody fight over a dusty and barren few acres in Badme at their common border.
Anyhow, in the aftermath, Uganda has repeated an old accusation against Rwanda; that it has infiltrated our security, and so on. Yes, spying on other countries is a serious business, but it is one of those things that are like pre-marital sex. Even those who frown on it, almost all do it.
A few years ago, we all remember when Wikileaks embarrassed the US (and indeed many governments in the world) when it revealed it was spying on its enemies as much as it was on its NATO allies. There was a lot of outrage all round.
On a discussion on CNN, I remember a dry-eyed analyst who said the biggest surprise should not be when countries are caught spying on others. It should be when they are not. He said if your country is not spying on others, even friendly ones, you should be very worried.
One of the things most senior and well-connected journalists in Uganda, and the region know is how the spy networks work in East Africa. By the time I left the Monitor in 2003, some of us were of the view that the best external intelligence network in Uganda was, wait for it, Tanzanian.
At that time, I knew that journalists in Nairobi working on East African issues were also of the same view. So, how come? The difference between the Tanzanians and the rest was that they were deeply ideological. They had a profound view of the region, Africa and the world, not just where their country’s interests.
Secondly, Tanzanian spies had mastered Nyerere-style modesty. A Ugandan, Rwandan, or Kenyan spy chief in Kampala wouldn’t live in a shack in Kisenyi. A Tanzanian one would.
With time, we figured out which people had links to them, and sometimes even who they were. When a real big story with wide ramifications both in Uganda, or the region, we would sometimes check through those network of sources to see if they had the same read.
The classic, and very public example of Ugandan spying in the region perhaps goes back to 1967 in Kenya, in what became famously known as the “Athi River murders”.
The story was dramatically told in a 1994 compilation of DRUM magazine Uganda stories that you can still find in Kampala bookshops. The foreword is by Kabaka Mutebi and one of the prefaces by John Nagenda. In 1966, after Milton Obote ordered Amin to storm the Lubiri, and Kabaka Freddie Mutesa escaped into exile, many pro-Mengo people also fled the country. Quite a number of them congregated in Nairobi, where they started plotting against the Obote regime.
They established clandestine routes and networks that were active in Obote I, became useful in the war against Amin, and in Yoweri Museveni NRA’s war against Obote II. The Obote government, naturally, sent several spies to Kenya. In March, Superintendent Eric Stephenson, is reported to have sent Lillian Millie, described in various Daily Nation reports as a pretty 21-year-old “bar hostess”, and Sara Massa, 23, a policewoman, to infiltrate the Kabaka Yekka group. In Nairobi, they visited several bars frequented by pro-Mutesa group in Nairobi.
It is a long gripping story still waiting to be made into a riveting TV drama, but the two women eventually caught with the Kabaka Yekka activists, hanging out with them in restaurants and club. They included at least five men: Krenima Mawanda, Abraham Senkoma, Daniel Kiwanuka, Andrew Kyeyune, and John William Obbo (as far as I know, not a relative). Senkoma had been an officer in Mutesa’s guard and helped him to escape.
Around April 3, 1967 Millie and Massa disappeared. On April 8, their bodies, tied in sacks, were found floating on Athi River.
After a trial that was a big story and “sold copy” in the region, to use the language of the trade, on January 29, 1968, Kiwanuka, Kyeyune and Obbo were sentenced to death. They were hanged at Kamiti Prison about a year later. It was at the trial that the scope of Obote I’s spy operation involving the two women was revealed. Mawanda and Senkoma were released, but re-arrested and handed to Uganda.
It would be surprising if Rwanda didn’t have spies working in Uganda. But I would lose sleep if Uganda didn’t have its own doing the same in Rwanda. While necessary, it is a dangerous business if you get caught. There’s no honour among spies.
Mr Onyango-Obbo is the publisher of Africa data.
visualiser Africapedia.com and explainer site. Roguechiefs.com. Twitter@cobbo3
