Ugandan Opposition riot plan leaks..............................

The opposition intends to mobilise at least three million Ugandans in a series of peaceful demonstrations across the country as it tries to put pressure on the government to concede to its demands, including holding fresh general elections, multiple sources within the opposition told our reporter last week.
According to the sources, the opposition will not announce when the demonstrations will kick off and how long they will last, but the protests “will definitely take place” and the opposition is confident that many people will heed their call.
“Our informal survey shows that more than five million people are willing to join our cause, but even if we get three million, we shall make the impact,” said one of our sources, who is involved in the planning of the protests.
I have been informed that the final decision to stage the demonstration was arrived at during a tense 14-hour meeting held at the FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi on Monday, February 21. This meeting was attended by mainly leaders of major opposition political parties or presidential candidates.
These included FDC’s Kizza Besigye, UPC’s Olara Otunnu, CP’s Ken Lukyamuzi, Matthias Nsubuga who represented DP, Asuman Basalirwa of JEEMA, and independent presidential candidate, Samuel Lubega.....

Organisation

I have obtained information detailing how the protests are to be executed. I have been told that the Najjanankumbi meeting tasked the IPC bureau to calculate what it would take to sustain three million people on the streets in terms of funds and other logistics.
These include food and drinking water. A legal department headed by Wandera Ogalo was reportedly instituted to handle any legal matters that might arise as a result of the protests.
The protests are to be coordinated from village level upwards. Opposition leaders from the grassroots to the top shall all be involved in the mobilisation of protesters.
In one of the meetings, Lubega expressed fear that “some opposition leaders might vanish” and leave the people without direction, but it was made clear that any leader who disappears would face sanctions from his or her party, or from the IPC.
As I expected, I have been told that the main target is Kampala, and IPC leaders hope that an uprising in the city centre will have a snowball effect in other parts of the country, like it happened with the September 2009 riots.
“The most important thing is that we mobilize as many people as possible,” Besigye reportedly said, when some members started arguing over where in Kampala the protests should start.
Fears were raised about the possibility that intelligence agencies might infiltrate them, cause chaos and blame the opposition. The meeting resolved that this shall be handled by their security team, headed by Maj Rubaramira Ruranga, and Salim Angoliga, the secretary for defence in FDC.
A team was put in place to offer protection to the IPC leaders, other senior opposition leaders and journalists, should the protests turn rowdy.

Will they succeed?

Analysts like Assoc Prof Yasin Olum of the department of political science at Makerere University believe that protests are likely not to succeed because many people, even those who do not view the NRM in favourable light, might not be willing to risk their lives.
“Ugandans are not used to this kind of thing [going on the street]. They are the kind that suffer silently wishing that God does something. They are not like Egyptian or Tunisians,” Olum said.
Olum added, however, that President Museveni’s over the top reaction to the planned protests was unwarranted since they made it clear that the demonstrations will be peaceful.
Museveni, while speaking at the NRM victory celebrations at Kololo Airstrip on Friday, warned that he will crush anybody who attempts to disrupt peace.
“There will be no violence. We taught Besigye manners in 2006. If he did not learn anything, let him try again… If anybody jokes with this victory of Ugandans, I will hold him like a samosa or a cake and swallow them up,” Museveni said.
In the same vein, the Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Kale Kayihura, cautioned against the protests.
“I… caution any person organizing, or intending to hold or participate in such unlawful demonstration, which has potential to degenerate into a riotous situation, that such action constitutes a criminal offence, and the Police shall take firm and resolute action against such persons,” Kayihura said in a statement released on Saturday.
This is clear indication that the government is not taking the threat of protests lightly. In addition to policemen, hundreds of armed soldiers have been stationed in several parts of Kampala just in case.
But John Ken Lukyamuzi, chairman of the IPC, told The Observer on Saturday, that no one can intimidate them.
“The people are fed up and Museveni, if he does not know by now, will know it very soon,” Lukyamuzi said.