Uganda reviews security organ after uncovering Sudanese spying ring

Presidents Yoweri Museveni (left) of Uganda and Sudan's Omar Al-Bashir. Uganda and Sudan have had a cat-and-mouse relationship over the past two decades. Photos/FILE 

By DANIEL K. KALINAKI The EastAfrican

In Summary

• Ugandan intelligence sources say Jad el-Seed Mohammed Elhag, a liaison officer at the Sudan embassy in Kampala, was the mastermind of a spying operation that had infiltrated Uganda’s external intelligence.
• A review is underway to find out how extensive the Sudanese spy network is and how far its tentacles spread within Uganda’s military intelligence.
• presence in Kampala of representatives of political and armed groups with an avowed aim of toppling the Khartoum regime could potentially complicate relations between Uganda and Sudan.

A review of Uganda’s External Security Organisation is underway following the uncovering of a Sudanese espionage operation with access to highly classified briefs, according to well placed sources in the region.

The review follows the expulsion, earlier this month, of a Sudanese diplomat from Kampala over allegations of espionage.

Ugandan intelligence sources say Jad el-Seed Mohammed Elhag, a liaison officer at the Sudan embassy in Kampala, was the mastermind of a spying operation that had infiltrated Uganda’s external intelligence.

The diplomat left the country within 24 hours of being caught in a sting operation by Ugandan counter-intelligence officials while trying to buy classified intelligence documents.

A clerk in Uganda’s External Security Organisation, Stephen Kisembo, was last week charged in a Kampala court with stealing and selling classified documents.

Ugandan intelligence believes that Mr Kisembo sold classified intelligence documents, including weekly briefs sent to President Yoweri Museveni, to his Sudanese intelligence handlers between 2009 and 2010.

A review is underway to find out how extensive the Sudanese spy network is and how far its tentacles spread within Uganda’s military intelligence. A source told The EastAfrican the Sudanese spying operation was “potentially one of the largest intelligence leaks” in many years.

In August, President Museveni ordered the Office of the Auditor General to conduct a special audit into the classified expenditures of the External Security Organisation following allegations of misuse of funds and disgruntled operatives.

Uganda and Sudan have had a cat-and-mouse relationship over the past two decades, with Khartoum supporting Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in retaliation for Kampala’s support for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and its continuing military and political support to Salva Kiir’s Government of South Sudan.

The animosity between the two countries died down after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and the SPLA, and relations warmed after South Sudan broke away from Sudan.

READ: From an altar boy to the ultimate diabolical genius: The Kony nightmare

However, Khartoum has increased its intelligence interest in Uganda after dissidents and rebel groups under the Sudan Revolutionary Front signed a charter in Kampala in January pledging to overthrow Bashir’s regime.

The Front is a coalition of Sudanese rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

At its inception in November 2011, it vowed to overthrow Bashir’s regime “using all available means.” The rebel groups represented included the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdel Wahid, and Sudan Liberation Army -Minni Minnawi.

Sudan responded by filing three complaints against Uganda with the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.