Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni sounded a warning to enemies of Uganda saying they will “perish” if they dare attack his country.
Museveni made the remarks while presiding over the pass-out ceremony of 443 tank crew graduates at the Karama Armoured Warfare Training School in Kabamba, Mubende District on Friday.
Mr Museveni’s remarks follow twin suicide bomb attacks in the capital Kampala, which killed at least 4 lives leaving 37 injured. 3 suicide attackers also perished in bombings attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -an armed extremist group operating in the Congo.
Museveni attributed the attacks to neighboring countries “who can’t control their affairs” but want to disturb the peace in Uganda, but also advised the radicalized youths to desists from criminal activities or perish curtesy of the country’s strong security machine that is ready to protect citizens from any form of threat.
“Nobody will disturb the peace of Uganda. Anybody who tries will perish because the army is strong” Museveni said.
Following the recent bomb attacks in Kampala, Museveni said terrorists had exposed themselves at a time when security infrastructure has improved with introduction of CCTV technology that helps track criminals as well as enhanced intelligence agencies that are ready for urban terrorism.
He said the terror has shifted from the rural areas to towns where there are bigger populations and many buildings yet security in town is intelligence based. He also cited the poor internal intelligence sector in towns, which has lagged behind.
“Internally, we have lagged behind about intelligence in towns to discover who is planning and where it is happening.” He said before adding that so far so good.
“We have moved very well so far. We have got videos of those who had the bombs because of the cameras. Now we need to do more. Cameras are eyes, I have heard that you can also put noses in the cameras (Install sensors) which can smell the bombs and send an alert.” He said.
He referred to the dead terrorists as manipulated victims of confusion but also dared the masterminds of terror to be ready to pay the full cost other than manipulating innocent young people to undertake life-taking missions.
“If blowing oneself up will send one to Jaanaa, let him (Nsubuga) blow himself up as an example instead of manipulating young children.” said Museveni.
“The idea that they can be on the street is a good one. These terrorists, we shall finish them. They are wasting their time, they will be defeated,” he said.
The militant group -ADF, now said to have links with Islamic State, has been blamed for several high profile assassinations in Uganda and recent spates of suicide bombings in the country. This however follows last month’s attacks in which a number of people were wounded during a blast on a long-distance bus in Mpigi District and a woman killed in a bombing at a roadside eatery in Komamboga.
The ADF has been active since 1996, formed initially as a sort of joint operation between disaffected Islamic youth who had fallen into a dispute with the Ugandan government and were pushed out of the country after trying to mobilize support.
The ADF — historically a Ugandan rebel group — became embedded in places such as North Kivu in Congo and engaged with other armed groups. The group came to be treated as one of the perhaps 120 armed groups active in eastern Congo, where several countries in the East African region are involved for diverse interests.
The group has operated alongside fighters from groups supportive of the former regimes from Milton Obote and Idi Amin who felt sidelined by Museveni’s politics. ADF members have also been linked to rebels engaged in a drawn-out fight for greater independence for communities on the borders between Uganda and the DRC.