VZCZCXRO4928
RR RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1411/01 3580809
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240809Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0047
INFO IGAD COLLECTIVE
RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 001411 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/24 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: OPPOSITION CANDIDATE OTUNNU ESCAPES UNHURT FROM 
UNUSUAL AUTO ACCIDENT 
 
REF: KAMPALA 01024 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Aaron Sampson, Pol/Econ Chief, State, Pol/Econ; 
REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1. (C)  Summary: Former UN diplomat and presidential hopeful Olara 
Otunnu escaped unhurt from a road accident with vehicles belonging 
to the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB) on December 21.  Police and 
the PGB declared the incident an accident and blamed Otunnu's 
driver.  Otunnu said the "sequence and circumstances" of the 
accident were "highly unusual" and that two PGB vehicles 
deliberately ran him off the road.  An AmCit riding with Otunnu 
told EmbOffs that the accident appeared to be a setup as PGB 
officers involved in the incident were driving vehicles without 
license plates, wore uniforms without name patches, and knew the 
identities of the five people in Otunnu's car.  End Summary 
 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
Otunnu Escapes Unscathed 
 
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¶2. (SBU) Olara Otunnu, who returned to Uganda in early December 
after several months abroad (ref. A), escaped unharmed from a road 
accident with a convoy of six to seven PGB military vehicles about 
30KM south of Gulu on December 21.  Approximately 3,800 soldiers 
belong to the PGB.  On December 20, Otunnu, President Museveni, and 
other senior political leaders attended the consecration of 
northern Uganda's new Anglican Bishop in Gulu.  Museveni 
subsequently returned to Kampala by air.  Otunnu and the PGB 
detachment were both returning to Kampala when the accident 
occurred.  Police and the PGB blamed the accident on Otunnu's 
driver, claiming he lost control while trying to pass the military 
vehicles.  "As he was overtaking a lorry in our convoy," said PGB 
spokesman Capt. Edison Kwesiga, "he somehow got off the road and 
hit an anthill and then a jeep, the fourth car in our motorcade, 
and went off the road into the bush."  Two soldiers were reportedly 
lightly injured. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Otunnu offered a somewhat different account, stating that 
the PGB convoy was "either still, not  moving, or moving at a 
snail's pace," and that one of the military cars swerved to force 
Otunnu off the road as he was attempting to pass.  Otunnu said that 
immediately after the accident, the PGB surrounded his vehicle with 
guns drawn,  wearing uniforms without name tags and calling 
Otunnu's name.   He also noted that none of the PGB vehicles had 
license plates.  Otunnu described  "the sequence and circumstances" 
of the incident as "highly unusual".  Speaking to the Daily Monitor 
newspaper, Otunnu said the accident was a "very close shave with 
death" and that he "cannot believe we are alive." 
 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
Other Unusual Details 
 
---------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) On December 22, an AmCit who is making a documentary film 
about the Ugandan presidential campaign and was in Otunnu's car at 
the time of the accident, told EmbOffs that the accident appeared 
to be a deliberate attempt to either injure or intimidate Otunnu. 
The filmmaker said the PGB vehicles were moving very slowly or 
stopped at an isolated point outside of Gulu when they signaled for 
Otunnu to pass.  As Otunnu overtook the convoy, one of the PGB 
vehicles swerved, forcing Otunnu's vehicle onto the shoulder.  The 
filmmaker said Otunnu's car hit something on the shoulder but the 
driver managed to retain control.  A second PGB vehicle then 
swerved, colliding with Otunnu and sending his car caroming off the 
road and into the bush. The filmmaker said he and his fellow 
passengers were lucky the car did not roll or run into nearby 
structures or trees. 
 
 
 
¶5. (C)  The filmmaker also said the PGB vehicles sported no license 
plates and the soldiers who surrounded Otunnu's car wore uniforms 
 
KAMPALA 00001411  002 OF 002 
 
 
with blank velcro strips where their name patches should have been. 
The soldiers also knew the names of everyone in Otunnu's vehicle, 
including the filmmaker's.   He recognized nearly all of the 
soldiers as the same men who prevented him from filming the 
Bishop's coronation the day before.  He said that when he asked 
individual PGB officers for their names following the accident, 
they either refused or provided false names.  One PGB soldier 
identified himself as Maj. John Mugisha, but the filmmaker recalled 
that the patch on this soldier's uniform the day before bore a 
different name.  The soldiers prevented the AmCit from filming the 
accident's aftermath and attempted unsuccessfully to confiscate his 
camera equipment. 
 
 
 
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Comment: Something Sinister or an Accident? 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
 
 
¶6. (C)  Roads in Uganda are notoriously dangerous and hardly a week 
goes by without news of at least one horrific accident involving 
the death of a well known Ugandan citizen.  The absence of name 
patches on the PGB uniforms, the apparent erratic PGB maneuvers 
that forced Otunnu from the road after he was apparently waved 
past, and advance knowledge of the names of those in Otunnu's 
vehicle raise suspicion.  Ugandan authorities normally use spurious 
charges of sedition and treason to hobble political opponents and 
hamper their movements.  A staged road accident, if true, would 
raise the stakes considerably.  The incident does not appear to 
have been an accident, nor have we heard a reasonable explanation 
for the PGB's actions and appearance. 
LANIER