Gen Muntu stings Museveni
Gen. Mugisha Muntu the President of the Alliance for National Transformation(ANT) has condemned the manner in which the Uganda People’s Defence forces(UPDF) have been deployed in the neighbouring DRC.
On Tuesday this week, Ugandans woke up to the news that the armed forces had suddenly deployed in Congo to destabilize and destroy Allied Democratic Forces ADF rebel bases in the country.
Now Gen Muntu says the commander- in- chief of the UPDF Gen Yoweri Museveni failed to follow the legal procedures when deploying the army which includes consent from Parliament of Uganda. He says while the had discussions with the government of Congo, the Parliament of Uganda should have been involved.
“The manner in which the forces went is irregular and wrong.It is right for UPDF to intervene in the DRC,Gen Museveni knows that the constitution requires that deployment outside the borders should be discussed and sanctioned by Parliament,he should have carried out measures of how to do it,for instance through a committee in Parliament if with plenary it was impossible.”
While addressing the media on Thursday, the UPDF Spokesperson, Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso said the army could not involve parliament at the time because that would have alerted the people they were targeting.
However Gen Muntu insists that the three arms of government should have devised means for the operations to still go on legally.
“If the fear is compromising a surprise move,the arms of government which are the executive,Judiciary and Legislative should have sought ways of how to resolve the challenge.But to deploy and inform later without putting a mechanism is wrong,but personally am not surprised because that is the nature of Gen Museveni ,he wants to do it all alone and show its only him in charge.”
Section 39 of the UPDF Act provides that the president may deploy troops outside Uganda for purposes of peacekeeping and peace enforcement but that the deployment for purposes of peace keeping shall be done with approval of parliament.
The ADF started as opposition to the Ugandan government in the early 1990s under its then-leader Jamil Mukulu.
Gen Muntu stings Museveni
Routed by the Ugandan army, it fled into Congo and embedded itself in local economic and political networks, venturing into smuggling timber, gold, and agricultural products.
After several quiet years, it carried out a series of massacres in Congo’s Beni territory in 2013. Congo’s army launched an operation against it the following year.
Mukulu fled to Tanzania. He was arrested in 2015 and extradited to Uganda. Seka Musa Baluku, who previously served as the group’s senior Islamic legal official, took control.
Under Baluku, the ADF shifted focus from trying to install an Islamic government in Uganda to promoting itself as an international jihadist movement.
ADF has been linked to the recent bomb attacks in Uganda that have claimed over seven people and injured scores.
