[Global]
A source who has worked with newly-found Freedom and Unity Front (FUF) has confirmed that acclaimed University of Connecticut professor Amii Omara-Otunnu was elected chairman of the new organization.
This source wouldn’t provide additional information and Omara-Otunnu himself couldn’t be reached for comment or to confirm the report.
However, FUF’s official spokesman, Vincent Magombe, could not confirm the report about Omara-Otunnu being elected FUF’s leader.
Sources cited by some media outlets also say the acclaimed University of Connecticut professor was elected FUF chairman.
Separately, three people familiar with the matter confirm that Gen. David Sejusa, is a founding member of FUF. “All the people of Uganda must reconcile, work together and heal the country if Uganda is ever to have sustainable peace and development,” says one of the persons familiar with the matter.
“An executive council is being formed with people from the South, North, East, West, all parts of Uganda,” he says, adding that a major conference will be held in December.
Gen. Sejusa, a four-star general and coordinator of Uganda’s intelligence services fled to London earlier this year after he’d asked in a letter, for an investigation of an alleged plot to assassinate him and other top military and political leaders in order to pave the way for Brig. Muhozi Kainerugaba to succeed his father, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, as president.
Professor Otunnu comes from a prominent Uganda family of academics and nationalists. His elder brother is Dr. Olara Otunnu, the UPC President and former UN Under-Secretary General.
Professor Amii Omara-Otunnu, who teaches at the University of Connecticut was educated at Makerere University, Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and Oxford.
AMII OMARA-OTUNNU’s PROFILE: Dr. Amii Omara-Otunnu, the first UNESCO Chair in Human Rights in the USA, is a professor of history and international human rights. He is a practical idealist and visionary who has devoted his adult life to promoting democracy, human rights, sustainable development, social justice and the ideal and practice of a common humanity around the globe. He engages these causes as a scholar advocate and a practitioner, by shaping policy and building structures and alliances through which to effect positive change in society. For his achievements, Professor Omara-Otunnu has received international recognition, including the luminary award given by the international affairs council to individuals who have made significant contributions that have profoundly impacted the world.
Dr. Amii Omara-Otunnu was born in Uganda and educated at Makerere University, Uganda, and earned a B.A. (Cum Laude) degree in Social Studies from Harvard University; an M.Sc. in Political Science from the London School of Economics; and a B.A. (Honors) in Jurisprudence (Law) and a Doctor of Philosophy in History from the University of Oxford.
Since his student days in Uganda and in the United States of America (USA), Dr. Omara-Otunnu has been involved in movements for democracy, human rights, and social justice in pre- and post-apartheid South Africa and other countries around the world. He held a wide range of key leadership positions as both an undergraduate and a graduate student.
At Harvard University, Professor Omara-Otunnu founded the Harvard African Students Association (HASA); and was elected as student representative on Harvard University’s Shareholders’ Responsibility Committee and to Harvard University Student Assembly as House representative. In these roles, he helped mobilize students against apartheid in South Africa and prevailed upon Harvard University to divest from South Africa as long as the country was under apartheid.
At the London School of Economics, Dr. Omara-Otunnu was among students who advocated for the nomination of Nelson Mandela, then in prison, to be elected Chancellor of London University.
At the University of Oxford, Professor Omara-Otunnu served as President of Oxford Africa Society and was elected President of Student Government at St. Antony’s College. During his tenure as President of St. Antony’s College JCR, he helped organize, among other things, high-level policy debates on the Falklands (Malvinas) war, and the Middle East Crisis.
Professor Omara-Otunnu was a founder of Uganda People’s Democratic Movement (UPDM) and Ugandans for Peace and Democratic Pluralism (UPDP).
Dr. Omara-Otunnu’s academic interests span the areas of jurisprudence and constitutional and administrative law, civil-military relations, Pan Africanism, and leadership in Africa. He places a special focus on the interplay of politics, the military, and human rights in Sub-Saharan Africa, and has received research support from the Ford Foundation, Harvard University, and the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning.
Professor Omara-Otunnu is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Comparative Human Rights at the University of Connecticut. He also serves as Executive Director of the UConn-African National Congress (ANC of South Africa) Partnership; and he leads the University of Connecticut-University of Fort Hare (South Africa) international linkage, as its director.
