Obote vows to go back to Uganda

Press, 9 May 1980, Page 6

Obote vows to go back to Uganda

i NZPA-Reuter I Dar-es-Salaam The former Ugandan President, Milton Obate, who was overthrown by Idi Amin, has said he will return to his country on May 27 and he and his followers will defy a ban on political parties contesting parliamentary and presidential elections next December. President Godfrey Binaisa has said that the ruling Uganda National Liberation Front would arrest anyone who defied its decision to bar' individual parties. “I don’t see the Uganda police arresting people because they are advocating a platform for stability,” Dr Obote told a news conference in the Tanzanian capital, Dar-es-Salaam. “I think it is an empty threat. The ban is empty — we will go ahead. It is our right of association. It is bur right to exercise our free-’ dom of speech.” The former President,; speaking in the living room of his heavily-guarded beachside villa, said the U.N.L.F. decision to bar parties and make candidates stand under a U.N.L.F. umbrella was unconstitutional. Asked if he would run for the presidency, Dr Obote said that was a decision for his party, the Uganda People’s Congress. “But I am prepared to play any role . . . even the role of a resident. My concern is the stability of Uganda. I am not hungry for power.” Dr Obote has been living in Tanzania since he was; ousted by Idi Amin ninej years ago. He said he had; not been invited back by thej Government but “the Ideal; people everywhere in i Uganda have sent delega-| tions from time to time ask-i ing me to return home.” The former leader efnpha-! sised that he would work

for the emergence of a ' broad-based national govern- , ment. “I will speak in sup- * port of clean government “ and I will advocate moder- . ation in political speeches > and activities.” ■{ Even if the socialist U.P.C. won the elections by * a clear margin, it would still , follow moderate policies, » welcome foreign investment, j and there would be no % nationalisation, he said. !' It was Dr Obote’s drift.! towards doctrinaire social- j ism and intolerance of critics that led Western coun« ? tries, particularly Britain, at - first, to welcome his re- » placement by Amin. »