Democracy promised

Press, 31 January 1986, Page 8

Democracy promised

NZPA-Reuter Kampala Yoweri Museveni, the former guerrilla leader who was sworn in yesterday as Uganda’s new President, has promised a General Election but gave no date.

He made the promise before about 100,000 Ugandans who packed the square in front of the Parliament building in Kampala for the ceremony. Mr Museveni’s National Resistance Army Guerrillas seized Kampala from the military Government of Lieutenant-General Tito Okello on Sunday. The 40-year-old com-

mander promised to restore democracy, uphold the Constitution, create unity, and fight a lack of education among Ugandans.

“Nobody should think that what has happened in the last few days is a mere change of guards... this is a fundamental change in the politics of our country,” he said.

He urged Government soldiers still holding out in the eastern and northern parts of Uganda to surrender.

Mr Museveni said a new national army would be created and its recruits

screened by village committees to ensure that “rogues” were kept out of the Armed Forces. The committees, similar to those that functioned in south-western areas under N.R.A. control before the guerrillas’ final drive into Kampala would be the main watch-dogs for security and would replace national Intelligence agencies, he said. He described the peace agreement, which he signed with General Okello in Nairobi in December, after three months of negotiations, as a farce.

He said he had been pressured into signing it