Emilio Mwai Kibaki was vice-President in Kenya (1977-88) when Yoweri Museveni's "bandits" like Mr Balaki Kirya were either "kidnapped" and shipped back to face death in Uganda; or like Mr Amama Mbabazi, Ndugu Rudunda and the Lango "Hima" clan leader Adoko Nekyon, were expelled and sent to face uncertain future in the Nordic countries.
Today, Mr Museveni's lone support for Kibaki's victory, which the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has called a civilian "coup", carries a lot of latent weight. Mr Museveni, it must be stressed, is also the current chairman of the Commonwealth, headed by the British Head of State and Queen.
With that delegated, powerful backing, Mr Kibaki is sets to legitimise and consolidate his coup in a power-sharing deal with his victim, Mr Raila Odinga who is likely to take a junior position in a coalition government.
The immediate impact of the Kibaki-Odinga deal is that ODM will cease to be a viable opposition, jus as the DP found to its cost, when it joined a "coalition" government under Museveni in 1986.
The immediate impact of the Kibaki-Odinga deal is that ODM will cease to be a viable opposition, jus as the DP found to its cost, when it joined a "coalition" government under Museveni in 1986.
But if the aftermath of Mr Museveni's support for other leaders in the region provides any clue, his backing for Mr Kibaki could cost Kenya dearly. Consider the following:
On 1 October 1990, while Mr Museveni was away on a state visit to the USA, Rwandese exiles in the Uganda "stole" large quantities of small and heavy weapons, army uniforms, communication equipment, vehicles, fuel, food and medical supplies; and invaded their country, without Uganda's knowledge! That invasion marked the beginning of the home-coming by Rwandese refugees who had been forced out of their country in 1958.
Yet, within ten years, Uganda had fought two bloody "Kishangani" wars with Rwanda, the same country he had helped to "liberate". Their sons who had earlier paid with their blood to install Museveni in power in 1986, had become "terrorists".
Mr Museveni's August 2001 letter-for-arms to the then British Secretary of State for International Development, Ms Clare Short, is instructive:
"Right Honourable Minister, we have just defeated the protracted terrorism organised against us by Sudan, both in the West of Uganda and in the North. We can not countenance nor tolerate another round of terrorism this time organised by Mr Kagame whom we sacrificed so much to stand with when the world was either against their cause or indifferent to it."
He went on, "In order to have a strategic capacity to defeat the aggressor, we need a large number of officers and NCOs trained before hand, adequate numbers of technical staff (pilots, tank and Artillery crews, field engineering, etc); and a large militia who are not part of the regular Army".
And he concluded, "Given that Mr Kagame is turning the sister state of Rwanda into an enemy state to Uganda, we have to confront him". The rest is history, though many doubt it is!
Earlier in 1996, Museveni had been instrumental in organising, financing and arming Congolese rebels who toppled Field Marshal Mobutu, before installing Mr Laurent Kabila as president in May 1997.
Yet, four years later in January 2001 "President" Kabila was assassinated after trying to dismiss his Ugandan bodyguards. Curiously, President Museveni did not attend Kabila's
funeral.
Yet, four years later in January 2001 "President" Kabila was assassinated after trying to dismiss his Ugandan bodyguards. Curiously, President Museveni did not attend Kabila's
funeral.
On the contrary, Uganda intensified its occupation of the Congo directly through its own troops, and indirectly by arming and training several militia armies including Mr Thomas Lubanga's L'Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) or Union of Congolese Patriots and Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC).
By the time Uganda was forced to leave the DRC in 2003, over 4 million Congolese had lost their lives, according the reports by the UN, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group.
And, in a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Uganda to pay D.R Congo $6-10 billion in compensation for illegal occupation and war crimes including the looting of gold, diamonds, silver and timber; mass killings, torture, rape and the training of child soldiers, committed between 1998 and 2002.
Given these incontrovertible records of atrocities, committed by Uganda against countries that had initially enjoyed Museveni's support, Mr Kibaki and all Kenyans would be very foolish not to ask themselves these obvious questions: Why did President Museveni risk international condemnation by supporting Congolese rebels to topple Marshall Mobuto only to occupy the same country, looting and committing war crimes to the extent that the ICJ found it necessary to impose an "exemplarily" $6-10 billion fine in compensation?
If Mr Museveni's army could turn against the Rwandese they helped to power, what could he do to Kenya, a country which allegedly abducted and returned to Mr Obote some of Museveni's guerrillas in the 1980?
Is this the same Museveni who provoked skirmishes along the Uganda- Kenya border in 1987
before turning his attention to the Congo, Rwanda and the Sudan?
Is this the same Museveni who provoked skirmishes along the Uganda- Kenya border in 1987
before turning his attention to the Congo, Rwanda and the Sudan?
Could Museveni be the human equivalent of the Upas tree, so poisonous that it destroys all animal and vegetable life for miles round it?
And Isn't Mr Mwai Kibaki, like Laurent Kabila (RIP) and Gen. Kagame, accepting a ride from a Chinese Tiger from which he will not climb down, safely?
And Isn't Mr Mwai Kibaki, like Laurent Kabila (RIP) and Gen. Kagame, accepting a ride from a Chinese Tiger from which he will not climb down, safely?
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