Rtd Major Hajj Abdul Nadduli, the former minister without portfolio has cautioned President Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni that it will be difficult to win his war on terrorism unless he dines and negotiate with terrorists.
Nadduli made his statement via a local YouTube channel ‘TMO’ over the weekend following last Tuesday’s twin bombings in Kampala. He told Museveni that war on terror is very difficult to win because enemies are within the common people.
However, the former bush war hero asserted that Gen Museveni knows very well who is behind the bomb attacks and if he can call them for peaceful negotiations, both sides can agree without more shedding of innocent blood.
“War on terrorism is a very sophisticated one that can lead to the death of many innocent people because the attackers are within the people you are trying to protect. Terrorism groups have no frontlines, they can attack you from any where. Surprisingly such kinds of attacks don’t aim at overthrowing the government but they can lead to the loss of many lives for many years. Therefore, there is a need for negotiations to find out why such attacks are happening instead of reacting in anger.”
Giving an example of Beirut and Baghdad, Nadduli said the war on terrorism has never been won by aggressiveness from other sides but the dialogues have always brought peace thus saving the lives of the ordinary people.
“I think the government must formulate ways of peace than threatening its invisible attackers. Such attacks don’t require threatening like how we are reacting if America and other powers fear such war, then it’s such a very difficult war. If Gen Museveni wants to negotiate with them nothing is impossible. Dialogue is much needed in this region to settle such attacks, not only in Uganda, it’s needed in Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Rwanda.”
He added: “if Gen Museveni says he is coming for terrorists, they too are coming for us! The difficult thing is, those coming for us are permanent settlers here, are within us. Terrorism war is very amorphous you can not just come out and threaten attackers. The negotiation platforms are there. I understand that Gen Museveni knows who are bombing Ugandans, even he knows where to find them and negotiate if any deliberations have been set up. Instead of threatening them, let him negotiate with them in order to save the lives of innocent people.”
Last Tuesday, two suicide bombs went off in Kampala. The first bomber blew himself near the Central Police Station (CPS) just opposite Kooki Towers building along Buganda Road, killing two people and injuring several others, including police officers. The explosion shattered glass windows of the CPS building and Kooki Tower building.
Two other suicide bombers then detonated a the second bomb at Jubilee House along Parliamentary Avenue about 100 meters from the entrance of the Parliament.The two separate bombs claimed lives of four innocent Ugandans.
Although the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, Police insisted that the attackers were from the rebel group of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and in the move to crack down on the suspected group, so far the security forces have killed seven suspects and arrested 106 more in connection to the attack. In the same way, Gen Museveni has warned the terrorist groups that his forces are coming for them.
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