Ugandan airliner hijacked

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 10

Ugandan airliner hijacked

NZPA-Reuter Kampala

A Uganda Airlines Fokker Friendship aircraft on an internal flight had been hijacked and unconfirmed reports said that it had landed at Kasese, in the rebel-held south-west, official Radio Uganda said.

“Details of the circumstances under which the aircraft was hijacked are not yet known,” it said. The 36seater plane was on a scheduled flight from Uganda’s main airport at Entebbe, near the capital, Kampala, to the north-west-ern town of Arua.

Paramilitary sources said that the aircraft was seized yesterday by a Lieutenant Mugisa, who was believed to have escaped from prison last week.

Lieutenant Mugisa, who was armed with a pistol, had forced the plane to land at Kasese, one of the main towns held by National Resistance Army rebels, said the sources, members of the Former Uganda National Army (F.U.N.A.) faction, based around Arua. The sources did not know how many people were aboard the hijacked plane or their identities. Airline sources said that no fuel was available at Kasese, and that if the hijacked aircraft did not have enough spare fuel it would not be able to take off again even if permitted to do so.