Uganda: Panic as rebels ‘go’ to Sembabule
Security chiefs in Sembabule are worried that DR Congo-based rebel groups M23 and ADF are recruiting in the district.
Officials base their fears on a reportedly marked influx of Rwandan and Congolese nationals in Sembabule, and the rescue last month of one Francis Tumusiime from rebel captivity in eastern DR Congo.
Security chiefs used an October 14 meeting to issue a security alert warning to locals of a suspected on-going rebel recruitment.
The recruitment drive is being linked to groups such as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) or the Congolese M23. These fears gained currency when Francis Tumusiime, in his mid-20s, was rescued from the M23 bases in eastern DRC.
Tumusiime, according to the Sembabule district internal security officer (DISO), Capt Muwanga Lutaaya, was recruited from Lugusuulu sub-county.
His recruiters lied to him that he was destined for Afghanistan for employment but ended up flown from Entebbe to Goma in DRC, and finally into the M23 bases.
“There are some leads we are following… there is a woman who leads this recruitment but right now, we cannot tell you so much about her,” Lutaaya told The Observer on Thursday.
Last week, the police said it had arrested a Ugandan national who was trafficking people into the DRC for recruitment into an unnamed rebel group. The suspect was detained at the Uganda–DRC border post of Bunagana with about 12 youths whom he had promised better-paying jobs in DRC
Rebel camps
Sembabule has, in recent months, received an influx of suspected Rwandan and Congolese nationals, offering cheap labour on ranches in Ntusi, Lwemiyaga and Lugusuulu sub-counties. Others are reported to be into charcoal burning, especially in forest reserves along the banks of River Katonga. In Lugusuulu, they are reported to have cleared a portion of the Katonga river swamp where they have cultivated food crops.
Their activities have, however, become suspicious. The district security committee received reports that some of the settlers were establishing rebel training camps.
“We are receiving so many people of suspicious character, and none of them have proper identification papers,” Ntusi sub-county security officer John Mary Mugambe told us last week. “Because the people here want cheap labour, they have been quick to employ them but the reports we are getting indicate that some could be having some connection to rebel activity,”
Against this background, and with the increasing cases of murder over the last month, the district security committee has resolved to screen the settlers. Last year, the district security committee closed a Muslim school (madrasa) at Lwabana, suspected to be a training camp for ADF rebels.
This followed the arrest of three brothers linked to the ADF rebel recruitment drive. The trio was later released without any charges.
“We are also looking at the possibility that the M23 rebels are recruiting and establishing their training camps here,” he added.
We have also learnt that some of the settlers are coming from districts like Ibanda, Bushenyi, Kiruhura, Kyegegwa, Kyenjojo, Lyantonde, Mubende and Lwengo districts. The Masaka region police spokesman, Noah Sserunjogi, in a separate interview, said police was not aware of the settlements and the rebel security threat in the district.
Imaginary
The area Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo, however, dismissed the reports as imaginary and intended to scare the local population.
“What I know is that they tried to put it as a scare, to justify the eviction of people and presence of policemen… to deploy around here with a view that there are rebel activities around here which is not the case,” Ssekikubo said.
“The question of saying that there are rebels inside here is not true…. My concern is why they want to use it as an excuse for the excesses which shouldn’t be allowed. They want to use it as an excuse to round up people, to arrest people recklessly,” he adds.
