Sunday, December 19, 2010

Museveni wary of Raila: Wikileaks


Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) joins Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on the campaign trail in Uganda, December 15, 2010. Photo/DAILY MONITOR
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) joins Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on the campaign trail in Uganda, December 15, 2010. Photo/DAILY MONITOR 
By PATRICK MAYOYO pmayoyo@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Sunday, December 19 2010 at 22:30

Ugandan President Museveni fears that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has thrown his weight behind his opponents.
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A leaked cable from the US embassy in Kampala says the Museveni government suspected Mr Odinga was working with the opposition because Mr Museveni supported President Kibaki during the election dispute in 2007/8.
The Orange Democratic Movement party, which Mr Odinga leads, accused Uganda of sending soldiers to help quell anti-government protests in parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces in January 2008.
The claims were denied by both the Uganda and Kenya governments. However, President Museveni was the first Head of State from the region to congratulate President Kibaki immediately after the results of the disputed 2007 General Election were announced.
“President Museveni telephoned President Kibaki to congratulate him on his re-election as president,” a statement from the Ugandan leader indicated. This was received with outrage by Mr Odinga’s ODM supporters.
Mr Odinga, a more ambitious and restless politician, might be seen by Mr Museveni as a rival for his own regional ambitions for an East African federation. Relations between the two men, however, seem to be on the mend.
Last Wednesday, Mr Odinga joined Mr Museveni on the campaign trail at Nawaninji sub county, Iganga District. Mr Odinga’s spokesman, Mr Dennis Onyango, said the PM was not going to respond to “every line that rolls out of WikiLeaks.
That is the essence of freedom of expression.” He said the leaked US diplomatic cables had said many things about various leaders. “So many claims of this leader fearing that leader,” he said.
Mr Odinga told the campaign rally that he was in Uganda as a friend, having lived there for a while. Mr Odinga fled to Uganda in 1991 following a crackdown on perceived dissidents by the retired President Moi’s Kanu regime.
President Museveni, who is seeking a record fourth term, repeated claims that opposition leaders Dr Kizza Besigye and Olara Otunnu were liars and could not be trusted with power.
He said Mr Otunnu left the country when it was in a shambles and returned in peacetime to demand power. The cable, sent by Ms Kathleen FitzGibbon on June 29, 2009, relates the proceedings of a meeting with Ugandan military spokesman Felix Kulayigye on June 25.
Mr Kulayigye is reported to have said that Mr Odinga was also working on a plan to unite the Luo-speaking communities of western Kenya, southern Sudan, and northern Uganda.
The cable claims that the Acholi in northern Uganda are Luo speakers and majority of elected parliamentarians in the sub-region are in the opposition.
It also claims that Mr Odinga “was making a common cause with the Acholi opposition in Uganda and diaspora elements in Nairobi to advocate on behalf of LRA leader Joseph Kony” and that the Kenyan leader “reportedly has written a letter to US President Barack Obama requesting that the US stop its operations against the LRA”.
“Ugandan Government sources allege that Odinga met with Government of Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar with a similar request,” the cable claims, but notes that it was not clear how Mr Kiir responded.

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