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It Was Incumbent On Us to Deploy in Somalia-Mbabazi

The Monitor (Kampala)
INTERVIEW
November 15, 2006
Posted to the web November 15, 2006

Uganda's Security Minister-Amama Mbabazi says Ugandan troops are in Somalia. In
his first interview since he took the job, he talks about Uganda's intelligence
services and the challenges they face.
" I am a yellow man," laughs Amama Mbabazi when we commented about the multiple
yellow files on his desk just before he sat down to grant us an interview on
his new job as Uganda's Security Minister. We note that even his hot water
flask is yellow but he denies that particular item is deliberate. His phone is
constantly ringing and we had been made to wait at least one hour on a rainy
Thursday afternoon. Once dubbed as the " Super Minister" for balancing his
former job as Minister of Defence with a short stint as Attorney General,
Mbabazi has of late been off the public radar.
This is his first newspaper interview at his new offices, a converted bungalow
on Aki Bua Road in Nakasero. This location like his job is very discreet. Only
after one enters the gates of the building can one tell that an important man
occupies this space. Several military guards meet one at the gates, and access
to the Minister is through a series of aides.
There has been talk that his appointment in a recently up-graded Ministry for
Security (from State to full Cabinet Ministry) was a step down from his
previous "super" status but not everyone thinks so. In his lobby, a young man
who has also been waiting for several hours to meet the Minister, boasts to us
how the big man is now bigger than before.
"Are you from Monitor? Did you hear them saying that Mbabazi has been demoted?
That is lies. Look at his office, which Minister has this much space", the man
asks. He continues to reel off evidence of Mbabazi's improved status; an
increased military escort by five men, a bigger convoy and even an armored
official Toyota Land Cruiser. We didn't ask the Minister about the perks of his
new job, however, we started by asking him, how many security agencies he
oversees.
" Oh, that's a matter of public record. When we took over power the security
agencies were shrouded in mystery but one of the things we did was to legalize
their operations, so that everyone knows who they were, what they did and who
they reported to" he explains. He says the legal reforms were necessary because
security organisations " in the past" had been discredited because they were
part of the state machinery to commit crimes like torture and murder. " We had
to come out to win the public confidence," he said reaching out for a refill of
tea. However, Mbabazi who once run Uganda's external security operations admits
not all agencies are open.
" By the nature of their calling there are some organs whose activities are
kept covert. They need to operate clandestinely for them to be effective"
According to the Minister, Uganda's intelligence services operate broadly under
the Internal Security Organisation and External Security Organisation, both of
who report independently to the Executive in what he describes as an "
intelligence circle".
In this cyclical flow, intelligence organs collect and process information and
pass it on to the Executive which then takes action. That action forms the
basis for the direction of further information gathering. The circle is
repeated everyday. " I am part of that Executive," he answers when we ask where
his new Ministry sits in the rotation. When we inquire about the several semi-
autonomous agencies that are known like the Police Special Branch, the
Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, the Special Bureau of Investigations of
the military police, Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force, Violent Crime Crack Unit
or even the reputedly omnipresent Presidential Guard Brigade, he says they are
creatures created to respond to specific challenges.
" There is a difference however between agencies that are preventative and
those who respond. For example, Criminal Investigations Department comes in to
investigate the commission of a crime. There are agencies which only gather
information and do not act" Mbabazi explains.
He says the most important innovation of his government is that all the
agencies are known, and can therefore be made accountable. At the end of the
day , he says, the multiple layers of organisations are folded into defensive
organs (internal security) and offensive ones (external security). We intervene
and ask how large his Ministry is, considering too, that the security chief
also doubles as the Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement, the
ruling party.
" My ministry has a small staff, enough to protect the integrity of
information" he says and closes the subject. We learn from him however that
executive action on security matters is dependant on a National Security
Council chaired by the President, which in turn is informed by a cabinet level,
National Security Committee to which all Ministers and managers of security
belong. At a lower but operational level, the multiple agencies work under a
Joint Intelligence Committee.
The genius of the system perhaps is that the Executive being the "final
consumer" of information receives information independently from each of the
organs. Thus Gen David Tinyefuza, the Co-coordinator of Intelligence Services,
reports to President Yoweri Museveni. So does, Ssezi Cheeye, the Director of
Economic Affairs at ISO. The structure aside, and two cups of coffee later, we
ask, " so what are the Security challenges faced by Uganda?
" Well, broadly you could say terrorism, local and globalised. You could say
fundamentalism too, however after an argument I once had with President Jimmy
Carter, I am hesitant to use this term. There is nothing wrong with
fundamentalism, what is wrong is for someone to use fundamental beliefs to
achieve political objectives, to kill and impose their views on others" he
says.
He clearly sees internal security challenges that wander beyond common crime as
potential acts of terrorism. So we ask about Uganda's rumored involvement in
Somalia where fundamentalist Islamist forces are battling a transitional
government for control of the country. He admits that Ugandan troops are in
Somalia but only in execution of tasks assigned to Kampala by the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
" We are doing a job for IGAD- we face the same challenges. When IGAD took a
decision to act we were given the job of protecting the Transitional Government
and ensuring the training of their security forces. Commonsense commanded that
we cooperate," he says. He is the first senior government official to admit the
presence of advance Ugandan troops in Somalia. What about the Democratic
Republic of Congo long a source of security headaches for the NRM?
" The threat from Congo is real. There are remnants of Allied Democratic
Forces, National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, Peoples Redemption Army and
now the Lords Resistance Army. We have now built a better internal capacity,
our diplomacy too has been quite effective," he says.
Congo, which held its first democratic elections in decades, has pitted two
Ugandan allies, President Joseph Kabila and his rival Jean Pierre Bemba against
each other. Kampala is looking for a friendly power in Kinshasa to engage in
its carrot and stick approach to ending the northern Uganda conflict.
On one hand, the government is talking peace in Juba but has kept open the
option of a military campaign against the LRA possibly inside Congo where
presence of the rebels has been reported.
" We remain effectively engaged with regional governments but most importantly
with the Congolese government. Uganda will be happy to deal with the choice of
the Congolese people".
He looks at his watch and the phone, which has been ringing constantly. We
realize our time is running out, so we ask one last question; What is the
relationship between his security job and his post as chief of operations of
the National Resistance Movement by virtue of being Secretary General of the
party?
" That's a story for another day" he replies.


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