Kampala — MYSTERY surrounds the cancellation of a trip for MPs to meet with Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi earlier this month.While some MPs said the trip was cancelled by Gadaffi, others said the Government objected to it.

Sixty MPs, mainly Muslims, were slated to meet Gadaffi just before the 40th anniversary of his rise to power on September 1.

Kaddunabbi Lubega Ibrahim, the head of the Muslim community in Parliament, confirmed the visit.

"It was suspended at the last minute. Our host had some urgent issues to attend to," Kaddunabbi said. "The purpose of the visit was to interact with the Parliament of Libya and share the experiences of their system, which is not like ours."

He added that Libya had promised to set a new date.

MPs who were set to travel, however, said they were never told why the trip was cancelled. "I did not get any reason why it was cancelled. We are just relying on rumours," said Sekyanzi Ndawula Ali (NRM).

The Imam of MPs, Latif Sebaggala, confirmed the trip but declined to discuss the reasons for its cancellation.

Kawuma Muhamed, another MP invited for the meeting, said informally the trip was cancelled by Kampala.

The Government was reportedly concerned about a large number of MPs travelling to Libya at a time when the relationship between the two leaders was at its lowest.

"Government officials told us they were concerned that Gadaffi was trying to create direct contacts with power centres in Uganda in a bid to bypass the official government linkage," another added.

Government Chief Whip Daudi Migereko said the trip had only been suspended, not cancelled.

Two weeks ago, President Yoweri Museveni told Buganda MPs he had received intelligence information indicating that Gadaffi was funding the Buganda Kingdom.

The President was quoted as saying that Gadaffi was fighting him because of their fall-out at the 2007 African Union summit in Accra, Ghana, when Museveni refused to support his bid to become the first president of a United States of Africa.

While some African countries supported Gadaffi in his ambition, such as Senegal, Mali and Gabon, the rest of the AU member states, led by Uganda, Ethiopia and South Africa, opted for the creation of regional blocks first.