Minister of State for Karamoja, Office of the Prime Minister Tom Butime of Uganda

Previously, Butime was the Minister of Internal Affairs from July 6, 1996 to July 2001, and he also served as Minister of State for Refugees and Disaster Preparedness during that time.

turn negotiate as a group with Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Butime said Uganda had wanted its troops withdrawn by 15 December 2002, but that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked that the Uganda People's Defence Forces remain until there was another force to take over the security of the country.

We hope that a lot of work would have been covered by September when we shall meet, because after October 31, we would have lost the documents that are guiding the process," Butime said at a news conference.

Butime said the December conference would also look at the political, economic and social objectives of the armed opposition groups in the region and how dialogue could be initiated while also establishing a mechanism that would ensure sustained collaboration in the quest for peace and the promotion of a harmonised regional approach to development.

But unlike the rest who said the President had hurtled away from the ideals such as openness that propelled him to power in 1986 at the head of a band of guerrillas following a five-year bush war, Mr Butime says the President is as authoritarian as he always has been.

Mr Butime said there was “a lot of disquiet” in the NRM partly informed by the uncertainty of when President Museveni, the founding chairman of the party and all precursor groups such as Fronasa, will finally retire.

The President had a difficult task when selecting ministers and Butime has paid him back in a different currency.

Asked for a comment, Butime said that if a security brief linking him to FDC existed, “it must be a stupid and dangerous one done by salary earners.

Butime said he had come along way with Mushega, Muntu and Muhwezi, having fought together in the jungles of Luwero.

Acting Ugandan Foreign Minister Tom Butime said Tuesday he hoped Burundi's election process would move ahead quickly with the enactment of electoral laws and voter registration, to enable election of at least the president and parliament by an October 31 deadline.

Butime is still bitter about the way he was dismissed.