Uganda: PGB, CMI Raid Danish Envoys Home, Grab Rwanda Spy
The Monitor (Kampala)
KAMPALA: A joint hit squad from the Presidential Guard Brigade and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence last month raided the home of Danish ambassador Stig Barlyng in Kampala in search of a man accused of spying for neighbouring Rwanda, Ugandan daily “The Monitor” reports Wednesday.
The armed operatives recaptured Mr Ronald Kasekende, a Makerere University student, who had escaped from an illegal CMI detention facility next to the ambassadors residence after being subjected to torture for several months.
Impeccable intelligence sources told Daily Monitor that two operatives from CMI and three soldiers from the PGB raided the Danish ambassadors residence on the morning of February 19.
The group, which was armed with automatic weapons, overpowered the police officers deployed to guard the diplomats residence, entered his compound forcibly and recaptured Kasekende.
According to diplomatic rules, the residence of an ambassador is treated as his countrys sovereign territory.
The forcible entry into the Danish ambassadors residence by Ugandan security operatives is therefore considered a serious diplomatic incident as it means a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark.
Sources told Daily Monitor that Ambassador Barlyng contacted the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, over the matter. The diplomat declined to comment yesterday, but Rugunda confirmed they had talked.
He said: – I had discussions with Ambassador Barlyng over the matter. I would not therefore like to see undue fire generated by Mwenda into a matter that is already being handled amicably between the two friendly nations.
At the centre of the controversy is Ronald Kasekende, a student of Urban Planning at Makerere University, who was arrested early last October for allegedly passing on intelligence information to Rwanda.
Reliable sources said he was arrested from the Constitutional Square by Lt. Keith Katungi, the Counter Intelligence Officer for the PGB.
Kasekende was then detained in a room at the President’s Office in Parliament Buildings where he was severely beaten and subjected to other forms of torture.
In mid October, Kasekende was transferred to another illegal detention facility run by CMI. The detention facility, next to Barlyngs residence in Kololo, is housed at the headquarters of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskform (JATT).
Early in the morning of February 19, Kasekende escaped by jumping over a wall fence into Barlyngs compound, prompting the raid on the ambassadors residence.
Sources told Daily Monitor that at the time of the raid, Barlyng had gone to office but his wife was at home.
She heard a scuffle outside and when she came out to establish what was going on, she almost found herself a hostage to the Ugandan security operatives who had taken control of the residence. Ignoring her protests, the soldiers grabbed Kasekende and carried him back to the detention facility.
Sources told Daily Monitor that Barlyngs wife had called her husband who returned home immediately.
The ambassador found the soldiers carrying a struggling Kasekende away. He followed them only to discover that the house next to his was a torture chamber.
Barlyng reportedly asked to see the person they had captured from his residence, but the soldiers refused.
Sources said the ambassador then asked why the government was still using “safe houses” when it had told diplomats that it had abolished them.
Safe houses is a reference to illegal detention and torture chambers. The soldiers reportedly told him the house was the headquarters of the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU).
The organisation has been accused of arresting, detaining, torturing and extorting money from people. But sources inside CMI told Daily Monitor the detention facility in Kololo is the JATT headquarters, the joint security organisation that runs the Black Mambas Urban Hit Squad.
The Black Mambas first came to light when they lay siege to the High Court last November after the arrest of opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye.
PGB sources told Daily Monitor that Kasekende was found in possession of confidential Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) documents. PGB claims he was passing on secrets to Rwandan intelligence services.
Kasekende has neither been charged with any offence nor produced in any court.
Minister Rugunda said he will soon be charged in court. He said Kasekende was in detention for spying and selling information to another country.
