What went wrong at Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa?

Gaps in securing Uganda’s embassy in Kinshasa are to blame for the attacks that forced the diplomats into hiding on January 28, Daily Monitor has learnt. 

Despite the embassy officials making frantic distress calls for rescue to the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the late response, this newspaper has established, accorded the angry protesters time to breach, attack and vandalise the embassy. 

A section of angry Congolese nationals on Tuesday marched onto and broke into several diplomatic offices in Kinshasa, a day after M23 rebel fighters captured Goma, the largest city in the east of DRC. 

The diplomatic embassies breached included those of Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and other offices. 

The siege of Goma raised the stakes in a long-running political and armed dispute between M23 rebels, which DRC accuses of working in coalition with Kigali, which Rwanda has pointedly dismissed. 

In an exclusive interview yesterday, a source within the embassy, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, told this newspaper that they called for help from the Kinshasa authorities but it didn’t come in time. 

“The embassy is being guarded by Group 4 Security. On that day, there were two guards as usual but they were overpowered [by the angry protesters] and that is how the embassy was looted,” the source said. 

“The issue is that the Congolese authorities failed to respond to our pleas for a rescue,” the source added. The source also blamed the attack on the lack of a defence attaché at the Uganda embassy. 

“Uganda has so far submitted three different officers for consideration but the DRC has failed to approve them…. Imagine, since the time of Maj Gen Dick Olum, no other defence attaché has been accredited,” the source lamented. 

None of the Foreign Affairs ministers, neither the ministry’s permanent secretary, nor the official government spokesperson, picked up our repeated calls to respond to some of these allegations on January 29. 

But Mr John Mulimba, the Foreign Affairs State minister in-charge of Regional Affairs, told Members of Parliament that Uganda is not to blame for not having an ambassador in Congo because the government did its part. 

“It is true that I didn’t mention this because I have mentioned this several times on this floor. Under Chapter 7 of the Constitution, and precisely Article 122(1), the President, with the approval of Parliament, may appoint heads of missions and ambassadors; that rests the case of blaming the ministers. The ministers are aware and have transmitted to the appropriate authority who, under Article 122(1), have that responsibility. We have done our part,” he submitted. 

Mr Mulimba was moved to comment after Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), wondered why the minister had skipped that critical issue. 

Mr Ssenyonyi questioned whether the government was in touch with the minister since the ambassador who was appointed there, had not been accredited for the last four years. 

“Unfortunately, there are elements that haven’t been covered, one of which is that Uganda’s ambassador to DRC for over four years hasn’t been accredited. We need to know what the ministry is doing about this. Because the link we have with DRC is an ambassador, not even you the minister, you may supervise these ambassadors, but they are our links,” he asserted. 

Minister Mulimba said the DRC government, which the source accused of delayed response and rescue, had assured them that appropriate security measures have been taken and the situation in Kinshasa is under control. 

The minister also said the government was deeply concerned with the developments in DRC which have forced some 560,000 refugees into Uganda. He rejected claims that the government was supporting the militants. 

The debate in Parliament comes hot on the heels of claims by Uganda’s East African Affairs minister Rebecca Kadaga that the capture of Gome City by the M23 militants should be blamed on President Tshisekedi, who ejected the East African Community Regional Forces that had stabilised eastern DRC. 

“Last year, we had the army of Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya in eastern DRC and there was peace, Goma was secure, people returned to their homes and started working. Everything was moving on well but they were kicked out and now we have this new development,” Ms Kadaga said during an engagement with students of Kampala International University on Tuesday. 

The joint EAC forces that had been deployed to DRC in November 2022 withdrew in December 2023 after the Congolese government declined to renew its mandate that had expired. 

The decline to renew the mandate followed numerous complaints by President Tshisekedi, who accused the forces of doing nothing to decisively rout the rebel outfit that had introduced conflict in the region since 1996. 

Mr Mulimba said: “This is a protracted conflict with a long history of misjudgments and external interference. A multiplicity of factors, including ethnicity, citizenship, mineral and economic exploitation, and youth unemployment, continue to fuel the conflict.” 

“We, therefore, take this opportunity to categorically state that the Republic of Uganda disassociates itself from the activities of armed belligerent groups in DRC. It is also important to restate the context of the Government of Uganda participation in the resolution of this conflict since 2013 in order to provide clarity,” he added. 

Kenyan President William Ruto was, by press time last night, chairing an emergency meeting of the EAC Heads of State Summit to discuss the conflict in the region. 

Mr Muwada Nkunyingi, the Shadow minister for Foreign Affairs, tasked the “Uganda government through the Foreign Affairs ministry to urgently explore all available diplomatic measures to negotiate for safe passage and security for all Ugandans, including diplomats trapped within DRC borders amid the ongoing armed conflict.” 

Compiled by Busein Samilu, Arthur Arnold Wadero & Damali Mukhaye