Besigye under 24hr watch from security agencies
By George Murumba
28th Feb 2011
Is Besigye under seige from security agents?
The government has put Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] party President Dr. Kizza Besigye under 24hr security surveillance; FDC’s Director of Security has said.
In a letter 23rd February to the Inspector General of Police Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, which was also copied to the Ambassadors of the European Union, USA, Ireland, the Chairman Electoral Commission, and all the IPC Cooperation Parties, FDC’s Director of Security Angoliga Salim demanded to know why the FDC President was being trailed.
Angoliga revealed that Dr. Besigye is being trailed by two vehicles carrying registration plates UAK O53K [a white Premio] and dark grey Carina Kibina registration number UAK 526P. The said vehicles, Angoliga said, “…have three plain clothed armed security men” in each of them.
He revealed that the said vehicles have been trailing Dr. Besigye from his residence in Kasangati to wherever he goes and back to his residence from 19TH February, a day after the elections, up to now. FDC has now demanded an urgent explanation from the IGP Kale Kayihura as to why Dr. Besigye was being trailed by government security operatives.
In his letter, Angoliga also pointed out that such acts by the State amount to “grave harassment” and a “…violation of Dr. Besigye’s constitutional right to privacy”. Uganda Correspondent was unable to establish whether IGP Kayihura had responded to Angoliga’s letter of complaint.
A source within the security services however told Uganda Correspondent that the State is very much interested in knowing what Dr. Besigye’s next steps would be. “…He has already called on Ugandans to go to the streets to protest. The State definitely wants to stop him from organising such protests and to do that, we need intelligence information. It’s really as simple as that”, our source said.
When asked why a government that claims to be democratic would want to stop legitimate political protests guaranteed by the constitution, he said, “…in our government, the security of the State comes before any human rights. Those who don’t like it can migrate to other countries. We don’t care. Uganda will not cease to exist because some people don’t like our revolutionary methods of work”, he said.
When Uganda Correspondent put the response from the security source to Dr. Besigye himself, he said that was the type of arrogance and impunity that FDC and other opposition parties have been warning about and are fighting against.
“…Well, that sort of arrogance and impunity is exactly what we have been warning our people and the world about. We cannot continue to live like slaves in our own land any longer. We are determined to put an end to it and we are not going to be deterred by such intimidation. Every Ugandan has a legitimate and in fact inherent right to peacefully protest against any form of injustice. The time to do that has come and we must put aside our fears in order to liberate ourselves from tyranny. No one is going to do it for us”, Besigye warned.
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