Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has refuted claims that he sent his soldiers to Kenya at the height of the 2008 post-election violence. Museveni said that he never deployed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces soldiers to Kenya and that President Kibaki had not made such a request. “That is absolutely rubbish, there was no reason to send our troops here unless they were asked for by the government and they didn’t ask,” Museveni said during the Mindspeak forum at the Intercontinental Hotel at the weekend. 
There were reports in January 2008 after the disputed presidential elections in Kenya that some Ugandan troops were sighted in Busia town and in Port Victoria.
The soldiers were ostensibly in the country to quell riots and assist President Kibaki to stabilise the country. Some ODM MPs at the time argued that the soldiers were in the country to crush party supporters who were protesting over alleged election rigging by President Kibaki’s PNU. Uganda’s imports and exports en route to and from the coast of Kenya were under threat as a result of the riots.
At the height of the violence in January 2008, Museveni visited Kibaki for two days in a bid to resolve the crisis. It is not clear what Kibaki and Museveni agreed on but State House then said Kibaki explained steps the government was taking to normalise the situation. A State House spokesperson said Kibaki had explained measures taken to resume operations along the Northern Corridor transit route.
Museveni said he discussed the matter of Ugandan soldiers with Prime Minister Raila Odinga when he visited Uganda in April last year. Museveni said he explained to Raila that claims of sending soldiers to Kenya was “romours” spread by his detractors. “Prime Minister Raila visited me and I explained those were lies, we are in good terms,” said the Ugandan President.
Meanwhile, Uganda's opposition leader Kissa Besigye is recovering well at the Nairobi Hospital after being attacked by police in Kampala last week.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment