Ugandan opposition says Sudan SPLA frightens supporters
Feb 16, 2006 (KAMPALA) — The opposition Uganda Peoples Congress has accused soldiers of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army, of interfering in Uganda’s electoral process by intimidating candidates and supporters of opposition political parties.
The party’s national chairman, Patrick Rubaihayo, told journalists in Kampala yesterday that the fighters are present in several parts of Koboko, Adjumani and Moyo districts.
He said they are allegedly intimidating residents into supporting NRM flag bearer and President Yoweri Museveni.
“We are concerned. Why are these soldiers moving all over these districts campaigning for Museveni? To make matters worse, they are wearing SPLA uniform and heavily armed,” Rubaihayo said.
He added; “The other time Rebecca Garang was here campaigning for Museveni and that was legal. But when a country like Rwanda is merely suspected of supporting Besigye, it is illegal, this is double standards on the part of the government.”
Museveni has supported the SPLA since he took over power in 1986.
Rubaihayo, who is the chairman of the national campaign team for the party’s presidential candidate, Ms Miria Obote, said the party’s candidate for West Moyo parliamentary seat Dr Moses Apiliga, has gone into hiding because of intimidation from SPLA .
“These men are hunting our candidate. He is apparently being protected by the locals. It has forced him to suspend his campaigns,” he said.
Rubaihayo said Apiliga, who once served as a minister in the Obote II government has been going around the area explaining that it is not UPC but Fronasa fighters that masterminded the Ombachi massacre in 1979.
Hundreds of people were massacred in Ombachi, Arua district by armed gangs after the 1979 war.
He claimed that Apiliga’s approach has perplexed several politicians in NRM who have turned a blind eye to the illegal activities of the SPLA.
President Museveni and many senior politicians and UPDF officers once served in Fronasa, one of the groups that ousted former president Idi Amin (RIP) in 1979.
The force was later integrated with other armed groups to form the Uganda National Liberation Army.
The Spokesperson for the Uganda Peoples Defence forces, Maj Felix Kulayigye, said there are no armed SPLA fighters in the three districts.
“We have outlawed the SPLA moving with guns because there is no war across southern Sudan. In any case, the UPDF cannot allow any body to harass another, more so foreigners like the SPLA,” Kulayigye said.
He said the National Elections Security Committee that comprises the Police, the UPDF and other security agencies is on alert and not aware that SPLA is intimidating voters in West Nile.
He, however, said the army is ready to take action if political parties or individual politicians reported to police incidents of intimidation and harassment but fail to get help.
Rubaihayo alleged that NRM supporters in the newly formed district of Kiruhura in western Uganda were denying supporters of opposition a chance to campaign in the area.
(The Monitor)