Muzoora returned UPDF escorts, car
By Alex B. Atuhaire
The family of Col. Edison Muzoora has said he handed back his official car and military escort before fleeing the country.Col. Muzoora, a former UPDF sector commander in DR Congo, is reported to have escaped from his home village in Kyeigombe, Kyabugimbi sub-county in Bushenyi, on 7 February.
Initial reports suggested he had fled to Rwanda.
However, the Rwanda government spokesman, Joseph Bideri, yesterday denied that Col. Muzoora was in Kigali.
��Col. Muzoora has not fled to Rwanda. If he is missing, the UPDF should be looking elsewhere because he has never been to Rwanda,�� Bideri told The Monitor by telephone from Kigali.
Interestingly, another senior Rwanda government official had told The Monitor on Sunday evening that Muzoora had since left Rwanda and relocated to an unnamed "third country".
Family sources yesterday said Col. Muzoora��s brother, Elias Rwambi, drove the UPDF's Nissan pick-up truck to the Army General Headquarters in Bombo last Wednesday.
The colonel reportedly also returned three sub-machine guns, his uniform and other army equipment.
Rwambi drove the vehicle to Bombo with one of the colonel's official escorts.
The colonel had reportedly told the family that he would meet his brother in Bombo after visiting another relative in Mubende.
Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza yesterday said if the colonel had indeed fled, then the escort and army property had to be returned.
��Ordinarily they (escorts) have to return because what would they be doing there?�� Maj. Bantariza said.
UPDF Director of Transport Maj. Philip Mugarura, was not readily available to confirm he had received the vehicle back.
Col. Muzoora��s wife, Vasta Muzoora, last week told The Monitor that she last talked to her husband on 8 February.
The colonel reportedly fled in fear of possible arrest following growing suspicion that he is linked to other dissident officers.
Col. Muzoora is one of about 50 officers initially listed for further mi! litary t raining in China. He was reportedly later struck off the list.
Another UPDF colonel from Bombo reportedly tipped Col. Muzoora of his impending arrest days before he fled.
Col. Muzoora was one of the UPDF sector commanders in the DR Congo until November 2001 when Col. Freddy Segamwenge replaced him.
The colonel was not deployed thereafter, and had largely retreated to his home in Bushenyi.
A close friend, who also is a senior military officer, yesterday said Col. Muzoora has made a big mistake.
"There is nothing he can achieve in exile. They [exiled dissident officers] can't fight Mzee [President Yoweri Museveni] because he is still very popular. The only danger is that it may divide the army �m Each time a senior army officer flees, he leaves behind three or four sympathisers who remain part of the army," the officer said, but asked not to be named.
He said Col. Muzoora is a poor man and his family may suffer financial hardships.
"In Bushenyi he has only a small farm and a small house. In Kampala he lived in a rented house. So his family has very little to live on," Col. Muzoora's friend said.
February 17, 2003 12:25:07
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