The latest release of the leaked United States secret briefs by wikileaks indicate the Invisible Children Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), most famous for its Kony 2012 online video, helped the Ugandan government arrest a former child soldier and backed an operation that killed more civilians than militants, cables published by Wikileaks reveal.

A memo written by a public affairs officer at the US embassy in Uganda documents Invisible Children’s collaboration with Ugandan intelligence services. It notes that the US-based NGO tipped the Ugandan government on the whereabouts of Patrick Komakech, a former child soldier for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who was wanted by security officials for extorting money from the government officials, NGO’s and local tribal leaders. Ugandan security organizations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested Komakech.

As a result of the tip, the Ugandan military claimed it obtained the names of other suspects from Komakech. The military then conducted a sweep and arrested a number of people, many of whom declared their innocence, the Ugandan media reported. Human rights groups say torture of arrested suspects by Ugandan security forces is routine.

Invisible Children also actively supported Operation Lightning Thunder (OLT), a joint attack by Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the then-autonomous South Sudan against the LRA. The operation, which was also received US intelligence and logistical backing, killed more civilians than LRA militants.

In a confidential memo dating back to 2009, US ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning noted that the US-based NGO planned pro-OLT events under the theme “Kony Must Be Stopped. Rescue Our Children”.

Browning says local Invisible Children activists led the events. These events included visiting Washington to meet with lawmakers and conducting awareness campaigns in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and Mexico.

But Norbert Mao, a Ugandan opposition politician who, Browning claimed, “honchoed” the 2009 events, disputes the veracity of the ambassador’s assessment.

“I did not support OLT,” Mao told The Black Star News “It was an operation to rain bombs in the areas where Kony was believed to be participating and would lead to indiscriminate killing of those the operation was intended to rescue. But even so, I believe there is no purely military solution to the LRA issue. Even after the release of Kony 2012 I stated clearly that the doors to peaceful solutions must never be closed”.

Kony 2012 has been viewed over 100 million times and Invisible Children is now planning to release a sequel to the video. It has been criticized for oversimplifying  the issue, in which religious fundamentalism and century-long intertribal conflicts intertwine. It has also been accused of providing financial aid for the Ugandan government and Sudan People’s Liberation Army, both of which have regularly been charged with human rights violations. Invisible Children denied this claim, however. It has also been blamed for being heavy on advocacy and weak on aid, with most of the money spent for staff salaries, travel and transport and film production.

The release of the video followed a decision by US President Barack Obama to deploy 100 US soldiers to the region to help “remove” Joseph Kony from the picture.

The conflict between the Ugandan government, led by Yoweri Musevini, and the Lord Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony, has lasted for over two decades.

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rwanambwa@eagle.co.ug

Kampala- The National Resistance Movement Secretary General Justine Kasule Lumumba has issued a statement distancing the party from Mr Amama Mbabazi’s planned public meetings.

Mbabazi had written to police and Electoral Commission indicating that he intends to meet his supporters countrywide ahead of the national electoral calendar. Mr Mbabazi intends to contest against President Museveni in their party NRM for the post of party chairman who automatically becomes the flag bearer of the party in the national elections.

“Amama Mbabazi is not an aspirant sponsored by the NRM Political Organisation within the meaning of the NRM Constitution and the Law.  Amama Mbabazi’s notice to the National Electoral Commission that he intends to contest for President as an NRM flag bearer is not only speculative but also illegal.” Ms Lumumba wrote in her letter to the Inspector General of Police.

Adding “Amama Mbabazi’s aspirations as an aspiring candidate for President for the 2016 General Elections have not been endorsed by NRM and are, therefore, illegal. Amama Mbabazi has no Locus Stand to hold public meetings as a prospective presidential flag bearer of the NRM Political Organisation and/or presidential aspirant under the PEA.”

Lumumba said Mbabazi had not been endorsed by NRM and is therefore not an aspirant sponsored by the party within the meaning of its Constitution and Law.

According to Article 48(1) of the NRM Constitution “all members of NRM who meet National Legal requirements shall be eligible to become candidates for NRM at various levels.”

Article 48(2)a further states that “the presidential candidate for NRM shall be selected by the National Conference from a candidate or candidates recommended to the National Conference by the National Executive Council pursuant to Article12(3)(6) of this Constitution.”

Section 9 of the PEA provides that under the Multi Party Political System, nomination of candidates may be made by: A registered Political Organisation or Political Party sponsoring a candidate or by a candidate standing for elections as an independent candidate without being sponsored by a Political Organisation or political party.

The NRM Constitution mandates the NRM Electoral Commission to organize and conduct elections within the organs of NRM.

“The NRM Electoral Commission can only nominate aspirants who have been recommended to the National Conference by the National Executive Council. Amama Mbabazi has not been recommended by either the Central Executive Committee or the National Executive Council as a presidential aspirant.”

According to Section 10(7) of the Presidential Elections Act states that “where under the Multi-Party Political System a person is sponsored by a political organization or Political Party, the nomination paper shall indicate that he/she is so sponsored stating the name and address of the political organization or political party.”

According to the June 20, 2015 letter, Lumumba says under no circumstances, therefore can a candidate or aspirant who purports to seek to be flag bearer of a political organization or political party introduce himself as such to the National Electoral Commission.

“Amama Mbabazi’s self introduction to the National Electoral Commission purporting to be an aspirant for office of President on NRM ticket is irregular and illegal as his aspirations have not been endorsed by the NRM in accordance with the Presidential Elections Act and NRM Constitution.”

Eagle Online failed to get a comment from Mr Benjamin Alipanga the Spokesperson of Mbabazi taskforce as his phone was switched by press time.

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The Rwandan government has branded the arrest of its intelligence chief Karenzi Karake as “an outrage”.

Gen Karake, 54, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, accused of ordering massacres in the wake of the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

He was arrested by Met police officers under the European Arrest Warrant on behalf of the Spanish authorities.

Williams Nkurunziza, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to the UK, said it was “an insult to our collective conscience”.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokeswoman said it was an “operational matter” for the police who were legally obliged to act on valid European Arrest Warrants.

Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda’s foreign minister, outrage “adding: “Western solidarity in demeaning Africans is unacceptable”.

Andrew Mitchell, former international development secretary, said he believed the arrest was a “reprehensible abuse” of the l

In 2008, Spanish investigative judge Andreu Merelles indicted Gen Karake for alleged war crimes along with 39 other current or former high-ranking Rwandan military officials.

He is also accused of ordering the killing in 1997 of three Spanish nationals working for Medicos del Mundo.

But the Rwandan government is said to be puzzled by the timing of Gen Karake’s arrest, as he has travelled to the UK several times since the indictment was issued.

Mr Nkurunziza told the BBC World Service: “We take strong exception to the suggestion that he’s being arrested on war crimes.

“Any suggestion that any of our 40 leaders are guilty of crimes against humanity is an insult to our collective conscience.”

Gen Karake was remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster magistrate’s court and he will reappear on Thursday.

A spokesman for Spain’s National Court said it was now up to the British authorities to decide whether or not to extradite him.

Rwanda’s furious reaction to the arrest is typical.

Whenever it is criticised, especially in relation to reprisal killings of Hutus, it lashes out, accusing its critics of “genocide denial”.

In some ways, it seeks to exploit the collective international guilt arising from the world’s failure to stop the genocide of 1994.

Britain finds itself in a difficult position. It has been a close friend of Rwanda, praising the government of Paul Kagame for turning the country around and becoming one of Africa’s economic “success stories”.

However, the Kagame government comes down hard on dissent, stifles media freedom, and has been accused of meddling in conflicts across its borders.

“It’s being used by supporters of the genocidal regime against those who stopped the genocide.

“I think it is reprehensible that the European Arrest Warrant is being abused in this way by a junior Spanish judge,” he said. “It’s being used for political reasons and not judicial ones.”

He added that he agreed with American officials who have described the indictments as “un-researched, politically motivated and lacking in facts”.

Phil Clark, lecturer on Africa’s Great Lakes Region at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said there were concerns about the evidence in the Spanish indictment.

“There’s a sloppiness I think in much of the investigation that underpins this and even very critical human rights groups, that have tended not to be very friendly to Rwanda in the past, have raised questions about the quality of the Spanish arrest warrants.”

Gen Karake is director general of Rwanda’s National Intelligence and Security Services and a member of Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

Nick named KK, the Rwandan government hail him as one of the people who stopped the genocide. He went on to be deputy commander of the country’s first UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur before returning to his role as spy chief.

During the genocide an estimated 800,000 people were killed between April and June 1994 by ethnic Hutu extremists.

Most of the dead were members of the minority Tutsi community and politically moderate Hutus.

The killings ended when the RPF, a Tutsi-led rebel movement that entered Rwanda from Uganda, seized control of the country.

But Human Rights Watch reported that in their drive for military victory and to control the population, the RPF killed thousands, including government troops, members of the militia and some civilians in numerous executions and massacres.

Ignacio Jovtis, of Amnesty International in Madrid, said he hoped Gen Karake would be sent to face trial in Spain: “We think that Spain has started the investigation in 2008 and nothing happened until today. It is good news”.

Gen Karake is the first major RPF figure to be arrested under charges brought abroad.

Phillip Gourevitch, a leading writer on Rwanda, told News night that Gen Karake’s arrest was the equivalent of the head of the UK’s MI6 or the US’s CIA being arrested.

In a statement the British High Commission in Rwanda said the arrest was a “legal obligation” carried out on behalf of the Spanish authorities but stressed the UK had a “close relationship” with the Rwandan government.

“We co-operate closely on a growing range of regional and international issues,” the statement said.

It is understood that on Thursday Westminster magistrates will fix a date for an extradition hearing within three weeks. There, a district judge will decide whether to proceed with the extradition. The whole process should take no more than 90 days.

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Rwanda has confirmed that its intelligence chief, General Karenzi Karake, who is wanted in Spain for alleged war crimes, has been arrested in London.

Karake is accused of ordering a number of massacres while head of military intelligence during the 1994 genocide. The BBC reports that Karake was arrested Saturday at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said the government is seeking clarification from British authorities on the reasons for Karake’s arrest.

“Our intelligence chief was in London for seven days, from the previous Saturday to this gone Saturday.  And, on his way back, he was prevented from boarding his flight and was not allowed to proceed home.  He was detained at the airport and then transferred to another place,” he said.

Busingye said Karake is due in court Thursday and Kigali wants more information on the case.

“We are expecting more information and clarification from the United Kingdom government.  We are working with the relevant institutions to find out exactly what is going on.  Until now, I think, we are treating it as a case which is going to court on Thursday,” Busingye said.

Busingye declined any comment on whether Karake was arrested because of his alleged involvement in massacres while head of military intelligence.

“I expect that anybody who is arrested must have done something one minute ago or two minutes ago.  So, I wouldn’t want to speculate at this point.  I want to wait and see what happens either from the United Kingdom government between now and Thursday or from the courtroom on Thursday,” Busingye said.

He said Rwanda enjoys good relations with the United Kingdom and the Rwandan Foreign Affairs office has had some discussions with the British Foreign Office about the arrest.  Busingye declined to say what was discussed.

Karake, a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), is one of 40 current or former high-ranking Rwandan military officials named in a 2008 Spanish indictment for alleged war crimes.

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