Muntu pins Obote over massacres
By Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi & Hussein Bogere
Monitor 19, 2005
KAMPALA - One of President Yoweri Museveni’s harshest critics has defended the National Resistance Army’s conduct during the Luweero war while blaming Milton Obote’s Uganda National Liberation Army for killing civilians.
Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Mugisha Muntu, the former army commander, who is now a leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, said the UNLA had “committed a lot of atrocities” during the 1981-1985 war that was based mainly in the Luweero Triangle.
But he also criticised Mr Museveni for betraying the cause of the war.
Muntu said Museveni’s government veered so much from its original ideals that people can no longer distinguish between the NRA “liberators” and the Uganda National Liberation Army who massacred people.
Addressing journalists at the FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi yesterday, Muntu gave a chronological account of the war and pinned the UNLA for the kil
lings.
He said he would testify in court if the matter ever came to that.
His remarks came in the wake of the recent exchange between former president Obote and Museveni over who is responsible for the Luweero massacres.
The war of words was triggered off by Obote’s claims in The Monitor’s series, “Obote: My Story,” in which he accuses Museveni and his NRA of masterminding the Luweero killings.
While Obote insists that it was NRA that was responsible, Museveni and government officials on the other hand say the UNLA committed the atrocities.
They add that Obote should account for them and the atrocities committed during his rule. The president has threatened to sue The Monitor and Obote for “telling lies” about him.
Said Muntu: “Doubt has come into the population that we were not liberators, that we were a bunch of self-seekers. It is very painful.”
He said if the Movement and Museveni had stuck to the ideals that led to the war, the current deb
ate
would not have emerged.
“This debate would be totally seen differently if it arose in the late eighties or early nineties because NRM had taken a moral high ground,” Muntu said. “That should be an eye opener to Museveni and NRMO.”
However, Muntu dismissed Obote’s claims as absolute lies in an interview with The Monitor. “Those people (civilians in Luweero) were killed in broad-day light inside the camps. There is no way we could have penetrated the camps,” he said. “Besides the population would not have supported us if we were killing their own. Don’t forget also that the majority of our soldiers were from that area.”
Muntu, who was the rebel NRA’s chief of intelligence, also dismissed Obote’s claims that the NRA killed parents in order to recruit their children as child-soldiers. “That’s absolutely impossible,” he said.
But he remained critical of Museveni for not sticking to the ideals that took the NRA to war and appealed to him to make amends.
“It’s not yet too late to rectify the situation,” Muntu said. “What betrayal that can be to the thousands of people and soldiers that died. That a whole sacrifice now stands a danger of being erased because of one, two, or three people! President Museveni we would like to request you to rethink. Don’t get a whole part of our history which was gained through sacrifice and subject it to oblivion because of a selfish interest of a few individuals.”
Muntu said the Movement had lost the high moral ground that helped the then guerrilla group to win over hearts of the people and liberate the country.
“It’s painful; because of a few selfish individuals we lost that ground,” he said. “People no longer know whether we are liberators, fighters or crooks like many others.”
An emotional Muntu said, “All those people who died are now being seen as a mere statistic.” He said there was need for an independent inquiry to establish who was responsible for the
killings.
“When this debate comes up as to who was responsible for killing and who was not, we need to hear from a third party,” he said.
But he added: “I have no doubt that UNLA committed a lot of atrocities. Many people were killed in camps in Kapeeka, Bombo, Katikamu and other areas.”
Muntu said it was because of these atrocities that the people would run to the NRA camps. He said like in Luweero in the 80s people ran to those they felt could guarantee them protection.
“Yes there is collateral damage. Anybody who has been in the army cannot deny that, but we should not forget the principle,” Muntu said. “If people feel they want to be liberated even if some die but if they achieve the objective to liberate themselves...”
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