[Ugnet] Police Arrest Ugandan Intelligence Officer

The Rwandan Police is holding an officer of the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) No. R0452 Captain David Kibirango Mugambe, 41, who had been sent by to Rwanda by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).

On arrival at Kagitumba border post, he was arrested by the army and handed over to the Police and when further interrogated, Kibirango claimed he was fleeing persecution, but it was later established that he had been sent as a CMI agent.

The Police Spokesman Tony Kuramba, when contacted on phone over the matter, confirmed the development.

"I can confirm that he is under arrest and investigations are still underway, however, I cannot say much before they (investigations) are over," Kuramba said.

When contacted for comment, the Army Spokesman Colonel Patrick Karegeya said: "this is not an isolated case, it is a pattern emerging from the Ugandan government strategy of sending intelligence operatives to Rwanda who present themselves as persecuted Ugandans, but as it turns out they end up going back to Uganda and being paraded by Ugandan government authorities, CMI in particular, as alleged PRA fighters trained in Rwanda."

He hastened to add that a case in point is Lieutenant Aziz Kashillingi, brother to Hassan Kashillingi, who is a legal assistant to the Ugandan president, whose case is being processed by UNHCR for relocation.

The PRA is an alleged Ugandan rebel group which, Chris Mullin, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs recently described as a 'figment' of Uganda (government's) imagination.

Some time back, former Ugandan rebel Taban Amin dismissed the PRA existence claim by the Ugandan government after it picked up traders from his home area of Koboko, North West Uganda, claiming they were PRA rebels. Taban, who is a son to late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, was later forced to retract his statement.

Meanwhile, Capt. Kibirango, who is under Police custody, said that he had been sent to Rwanda by the Chieftancy of Military Intelligence, CMI's Captain Buturo, who heads the desk, charged with sending CMI operatives to pose as PRA agents.

Efforts to contact the Ugandan Ambassador to Rwanda Adonia Ayebare and, the Chief of Military Intelligence Lt. Col.James Mugira, who is also Uganda's representative to the Joint Verification Team, were fruitless by press time.

The Captain also said that the Uganda government, through the CMI, was sending operatives to Rwanda, after which they claim to be alleged members of the PRA, on return.

"On many occasions I have refused government plans to send me on such missions,"Kibirango recounted.

When contacted on phone over the issue the UPDF Spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said he was not aware of Kibirango's fleeing.

"I am just hearing it from you now. I have to find out from which battalion he belonged," is all Bantariza could say before he hung up and promised to call back.

Captain David Kibirango is a son to a former Ugandan Minister of Public Service David Kasera Kibirango

[Ugnet] Police Arrest Ugandan Intelligence Officer

Reply via email to