Kampala — JAILED former army commander James Kazini told investigators that he used the Sh61 million he is accused of having stolen, to fly troops to the eastern DR Congo town of Bunia in Ituri province to rescue Maj Gen Kale Kayihura who had been held hostage by rebels there.

According to sources who attended Gen. Kazini's camera trial before the General Court Martial, while the former army commander admitted that the money in question was "oeorganised and sent to the 507 brigade as salary", it was later withdrawn to fund operations in Bunia in March 2003.

"They had to fly troops day and night and at one time before the D-day, we had no money. So I asked the DF (director of finance), can we organise? Because these things" because of Kisangani experience how can we raise money quickly to pay pilots around so that they fly these troops to Bunia," Kazini reportedly explained.

"Then the DF said it is possible on the wage but you have to account for it. Where can it pass? It is easy since there is money going to 507 brigade, second division. It can be accessed from there. And that money was brought. And it was used operationally," Gen Kazini was quoted in a transcript of tape No. 37 of the Ghost Committee proceedings conducted in 2003.

The transcript was reportedly brought before the General Court Martial by the prosecution team, as partial evidence adduced by the High Command committee on ghost soldiers, used to pin the former army commander.

Gen Kazini was on March 27 sentenced to three years in jail by the General Court Martial for causing loss of Shs61 million through creation of ghost soldiers on the military's payroll.

The ghosts had apparently been found on the 507 brigade payroll, based in Rwenzori mountains, in western Uganda.

He is serving his term at Luzira Prison in Kampala, together with former 507 brigade commander, Lt Col Dura Mawa Muhindo and Capt Michael Baryaguma, also convicted on the same charges.

But Gen Kazini told the ghost investigators that he used the money because troops had to be urgently airlifted because Maj Gen Kayihura's base in Bunia, under the watch of only UPDF 53 battalion, was under siege from the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) rebels of Thomas Lubanga.

Gen Kayihura was between February and April 2003, in charge of the UPDF operations in eastern DR Congo province of Ituri where he had been assigned by President Yoweri Museveni to oversee the then Ituri Pacification Process.

Gen. Kayihura, then a military assistant to the President, later oversaw the final and total withdrawal of UPDF troops in eastern DR Congo, on April 25, 2003.

Gen Kayihura was on March 2, 2003 held hostage for more than six hours by the angry Congolese rebels, who demanded that the UPDF withdraws from the eastern DR Congo town. Gen. Kayihura would later be saved in an operation commanded by then UPDF Congo sector commander, Col. David Muhoozi - who was then commanding officer 53 battalion and sector commander in Bunia and Beni.

Gen Kayihura confirmed yesterday that troops were sent to reinforce his mission in Bunia, but said to ask him to comment on allegations of how the money was raised "was unfair".

"Yes, troops were sent, that's true, but I absolutely do not know how the money was raised," Gen Kayihura told Daily Monitor by telephone.

After the incident, between March 2 and 10, 2003, the UPDF sent at least eight more battalions in eastern DR Congo, after field intelligence reports, indicated that the UPC rebels were planning to offer operational bases in Ituri to the rebel People's Redemption Army.

Two of the battalions, re-deployed from the 1st division based in Kakiri were flown directly to Bunia from Entebbe by Antonov planes. The others were re-deployed from the 2nd division based in western Uganda and the 4th division based in northern Uganda.

On March 8, 2003, Daily Monitor quoted then army spokesman " Shaban Bantariza as saying the heavy deployment was "an inevitable consequence".

On March 6, 2003, after heavy reinforcement, the UPDF forced Thomas Lubanga's UPC rebels out of Bunia after a night of fighting and captured an assortment of weapons, which the rebels had allegedly got from Rwanda.

In March, 2003, the UPDF troops in Ituri also captured alleged PRA rebels after heavy fighting in the vast eastern DR Congo province.

Gen Kazini, who was appointed army commander on November 4, 2001 and fired on June 5, 2003 which was on Friday, again arraigned before the General Court Martial under Lt Gen Ivan Koreta, and in a camera trial, was told he had a case to answer on charges of "disobeying the Commander-in-Chief" in relation to deployment of troops.

Gen Kazini was together with several other senior UPDF officers implicated by a three-man committee that between June and September 2003, investigated the existence of ghost soldiers on the UPDF payroll.

Mr Amama Mbabazi, then the defence minister, chaired the investigation team. The other members were Gen Salim Saleh and Gen David Tinyefuza, the coordinator of intelligence services.