PHOTO 1: Col. Fenekansi Mugyeni, then Commander of Uganda Battle Group (UGABAG) 11, flanked by relatives outside military court on March 27 after pleading not guilty to kidnapping renegade Congolese Lt. Col. Zackaria "Eric" Ndamira Ndozi, warlord & leader of M18.
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PHOTO 2: Before his going rogue, Congolese Lt. Col. Zackaria "Eric" Ndamira Ndozi at Goli border crossing city in Uganda in 2010.
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PHOTO 3: Gone rogue, M18 leader and FARDC Renegade Lt. Col. Ndamira Ngozi in the custody of Ugandan authorities after being freed from his abductors in March 2013.
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There's no other way to look at the new insurgency erupting in the Ituri district in the Orientale Province that has sent thousands of Congolese refugees streaming into Uganda in the last two days:
Uganda may be fueling the so-called M18 insurgency.
This notion isn't as tenuous as it would appear at first blush.
For one, just as along the border with Rwanda with the Congo, there are ethnic groups straddling Uganda and the DRC. And Uganda has played a damning role in the history of armed groups in the Ituri district of the DRC. Besides, Uganda, whose recent relations with the Congo have been swinging from contentious to outright open hostilities and back, has repeatedly been mentioned as another backer of M23.
Secondly, the timing.
Just when the M23 are in disarray and Prez Yoweri Museveni was in Kigali attending--alongside his Kenyan, South Sudanese and Rwandan counterparts (respectively Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta, Salva Kir Mayardit, and Paul Kagame)--the Integration Projects Summit, another Congolese ragtag rebel band, whose leader was not that long ago in the custody of Ugandan authorities, comes out of the woodwork to ignite a new insurgency on the borderlands, sending yet again thousands of Congolese refugees into Uganda.
Were these two traditional nemeses of the DRC concocting an Ituri contraption called M18 as a stopgap for the M23 debacle in North-Kivu Province?
Looking at the eerie saga of M18 warlord and former FARDC Lt. Col. Zackaria "Eric" Ndamira Ndozi--erstwhile military commander of the Mahagi border region--one is tempted to respond in the affirmative to the above question.
The saga starts in Kampala on March 16 of this year at around 9:00 (GMT + 3)) when, with some of his men, Ugandan Col. Fenekansi Mugyenyi--apparently and oddly extending a favor to Congolese military intelligence operators--"kidnapped" M18 warlord Zackaria "Eric" Ndamira Ndozi "from his home" in the neighborhood of Bunga (Makindye Division) in Kampala.
Col. Fenekansi Mugyenyi and his men then threw Lt. Col. Zackaria "Eric" Ndamira Ndozi into the trunk of their car and drove to the Ugandan border town of Arua with the intent of crossing into the Congo to hand the warlord to Congolese spooks.
By the way, Col. Fenekansi Mugyeni isn't just any other UPDF senior officer. At the time of this incident, Col. Fenekansi Mugyeni, 58, was the commander of the Uganda Battle Group (UGABAG) 11 about to be deployed to Somalia.
At any rate, that a well-known Congolese warlord would be allowed to own a house in Kampala and to roam freely on Ugandan territory is in itself a major pointer of direct collaboration between Ugandan authorities with seedy and seditious Congolese elements for the sole purpose of destabilizing the DRC.
According to the Kampala daily New Vision which was reporting on the court-martial of Col. Fenekansi Mugyeni held on March 27, "The media reported that Ndamira banged on the doors of the car in which he was being driven towards the border post between Uganda and Congo in Arua town, leading to the arrest of his alleged kidnappers."
(http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/641102-updf-officer-charged-with-kidnapping-congo-rebel.html)
Since then, Col. Fenekansi Mugyeni, though still free on bail awaiting the resumption of his trial before the General Court of Martial of the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF), has been stripped of his command.
As for his abductee, M18 warlord and renegade FARDCVLt. Col. Zackaria Ndamira Ndozi, Prez Yoweri Museveni has decided to loose that mad dog upon the Congo to kill and maim more expendable Congolese denizens.
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PHOTO CREDITS: Photos by newvision.co.ug