WAS MUSEVENIS BUSH WAR A MASS UPRISING? Not at all. It was just a one man show driven by his desperate attempt to realise his childhood ambition of becoming president. Ugandans were just recovering from eight years of Iddi Amins rule. All they wanted was peace and economic recovery. The UPC government was set to to settle down and run the government. It had initiated very brilliant programmes in its manifesto many of which years later the Museveni government attempted to implement but was bogged down by corruption. The DP party despite civilised protests that it had been cheated in elections, had accepted to form the opposition. Generally, the country was to move forward. However, there were already other groups that had resorted to taking up arms. Before the elections, the Gang of Four under the umbrella of UNLF-AD had already set up bases in the Rwenzori mountains to fight against the Military Commission that had overthrown the UNLF arrangement. Musevenis former FRONASA field Commander, Cheif Ali was the overall commander. At that time they had not gone to fight UPC and Obote. Former President under the UNLF arrangement, Prof. Yusuf Lule had resorted to war after being toppled and bared from returning to contest for the Presidency. He too had no grudge against UPC and Obote. He founded the UFF. After the elections, Andrew Kayiira had also founded an armed group called UFM with bases in and around Kampala city. It has never been clear if UFM was affliated to the DP. Iddi Amins former FINANCE Minister Moses Ali had also resorted to taking up arms much earlier with bases in Sudan. All these groups viewed Museveni as having been a key architect of the post Amin political chaose. Museveni moved very fast to suffocate Prof. Lules efforts by merging with his organisation to form NRM with its military wing the NRA. To hoodwink the Baganda, he made Prof. Lule a figurehead Chairman of NRM and Museveni became the Vice Chairman. Museveni retained the strategic and influential Chairmanship of the NRA High Command. A year earlier as Minister of Defence, he had brutaly suppressed a pro-Lule mass uprising. Prof. Lules Chairmanship would have meant that he becomes the President upon the NRMs assumption of power. Prof. Lule died a few months before NRM came to power and Museveni assumed the Chairmanship of NRM. Ugandans have never debated if Museveni would have allowed Lule to become President! After dealing a blow to Prof. Lule, he moved against Andrew Kayiras UFM. In one incident he agreed with UEM to join hands and carry out a joint operation to attack Lubiri barracks. Musevenis NRA did not show up but the UFM went ahead and attacked. When withdrawing, the UFM was ambushed by the NRA and all the arms taken. Also UFMs Sonko Lutaaya drove and delivered a lory full of arms to NRA before he also defected. Later, he lured Chef Ali to abandon his bases in the Rwenzori mountain and join him in Luwero. Under the mediation of Libyas Gadafi, he sought to join hands with Moses Alis group. That is how James Kaziini came to be the Liaison man between the two groups. With time, he lured and incorporated Vumbula, the Kakooza Mutale group. Another group of David Matovu based in Galilaya Kayunga refused to join him throughout. Here, he was applying the earlier methods he had used in Tanzania during the 1970s; undermining other groups to give shape to his own leadership position. He chose to fight from Buganda region so that he could resurrect, forment and exploit the historical differences between Obote and the Baganda. Also, he wanted the justification that he was fighting for the alleged rigged elections which was a DP grievance whose stronghold was Buganda. Above all, the shrewd methods of fighting culminated into the following categories of people who joined hands with him:- 1. The few ambitious individuals who sought a way of landing into positions of power. 2. Rwandese Tutsi refugees looking for an opportunity to invade their country. 3. Unsuspecting Ugandans who were genuinely motivated by the insecurity that Museveni had orchestrated and wanted change. 4. The criminals who were escaping justice. 5. The civilian hostages turned into fighters. Even so, the NRA remained at less than 5000 between 1981-85 and about 20000 at the time of taking power in 1986. Uganda at the time had a population of about 17 million. God Bless Uganda
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 19:25:50 +0000
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