…But he wont  be repatriated to Uganda, news agency quotes police source as saying. He will be turned over to Congo DRC.

By TZ Business News Staff.

Tanzania is finally certain the high profile terror suspect in police custody is indeed Ugandan Al Qaida trained  Jamil Mukulu. This confirmation comes in the wake of collaboration between  Tanzanian and Ugandan police forces, where the former asked for  pictures of various facial features of the suspect as the later asked for Tanzania to agree the suspect  be repatriated to Uganda for trial.

The Website Starafrica.com has quoted the news agency APA as saying a high placed police source has said Tanzania is now certain the suspect, who was found in possession of Tanzanian and Ugandan passports, is indeed Jamil Mukulu. However, the APA report adds, the Uganda police force has hit a deadlock in its negotiations with the Tanzanian authorities for the possible repatriation of the high profile terror suspect to Uganda.

Tanzania has told Uganda that Jamil Mukulu, leader of the rebel group Allied Democratic Front (ADF), which has terrorized both Uganda and Congo DRC for years, will be repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the news agency  has reported.

The Ugandan police force dispatched to Tanzania a team of officers led by the Director of Counter Terrorism, John Ndugutse, to help identify the suspect following a telephone communication between the Ugandan Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura, and his Tanzanian counterpart.

A highly placed Ugandan police source told the news agency both  Uganda’s  IGP and the Chief of Defense Forces, General Katumba Wamala, were briefed on the findings made by the team Monday, adding that the Tanzania police force had refused the Ugandan request for repatriation of  the suspect.

But the Ugandan police spokesperson Fred Enanga says the team is still negotiating and once they gain access and permission they will be repatriating the suspect.

Earlier reports had indicated Tanzania was uncertain about whom they had arrested.

”Yes we have made an arrest, but we are waiting for Uganda to confirm that the person we have is indeed Jamil Mukulu,” a senior official  in the Tanzania security system had told TZ Business News. “It is only after this confirmation from our Ugandan counterparts that we will tell you and other media institutions for certain that we have Jamil Mukulu.”  But the source did not tell what position Tanzania would take on the question of repatriation after the identification process had been completed.

Earlier Saturday, May 2, 2015,  Uganda said it had sent a team of top police officers to Tanzania to negotiate the extradition of rebel leader Jamil Mukulu, Anadolu News Agency reported.

“We have sent a team of officers to Tanzania to see how the government can help extradite the ADF leader,” Uganda police spokesman Fred Enanga told AA.

He said Ugandan police had, through Interpol, contacted Tanzanian authorities requesting proof as to whether Mukulu had been arrested. “In return, they asked us to send them Mukulu’s different photos under different facial expressions which we did,” said Enanga.

According to police, Mukulu is wanted on several counts of terrorism; murder; child and women trafficking; and forceful recruitment of both women and children into rebel ranks.  Uganda and Tanzania do not have an extradition treaty.

Mukulu, a convert to Islam, has been on the run since the 1990s. He is wanted for attacks such as the 1998 Kicwamba massacre in which scores of sleeping students were burned to death in their dormitories in a town near the Congo border.

Athman, meanwhile, declined to provide further information about the man in Tanzanian custody. He said Ugandan authorities were still investigating the issue.

“[Interpol] has its own ways of dealing with this kind of matters, one being the identification of suspects,” the Interpol chief said.

The ADF, which originally said it opposed what it called the marginalization of Ugandan Muslims, is also accused of launching deadly bomb blasts in capital Kampala in the late 1990s before a military operation forced the rebels to set up camp in eastern Congo.

The rebels have since largely been quiet, though they would stage sporadic attacks on towns in eastern Congo and against Congolese military units. This year, Uganda authorities linked ADF to several murders in the country. A number of Islamic religious schools were also closed down on allegations that they recruited children to join the ADF.