By Our Reporter
The Ugandan Police have demanded the army to hand over hundreds of abductees in military detention before the list of their names is released to the public.
Sources said the police are reluctant to release the list unless the army hands over the physical suspects to enable police to establish whether the list they received from the army matches with the people in detention.
On February 13, while addressing the nation on security issues, President Museveni admitted that the people who had been reported “kidnapped” were actually arrested by security agencies for violations and were in detention. He said the captives were planning to riot in the country during or after the elections.
He said they were arrested by either Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) or the army commando unit.
“Their names should be made public so that this talk of disappearance is answered,” Mr. Museveni ordered.
“We are demanding the army to hand over the suspects to us such that we are able to account for what we have. There is no way you can release the list of people who were allegedly tortured without having access to them,” the police source noted.
The source added that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Martin Okoth Ochola, instructed the CID director, Ms Grace Akullo, and the Police director for Crime Intelligence Brig Christopher Damulira to set up a team to visit all the army detention centres to verify whether the captives named on the army list are in detention and to assess their health condition.
The sources said without seeing the suspects, police cannot account for their existence or location. Efforts to reach police spokesperson Fred Enanga for the comment on the matter were futile as he did not pick our repeated calls.
When contacted last evening for a comment on why the military had not released the list of abductees to police, the army spokesperson, Brig Flavia Byekwaso, declined to comment on the issue.
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