If exiled former president Apollo Milton Obote returns to Uganda, he will have to account for about 300,000 people killed in Luweero Triangle between 1981 and 1985, aUgandan senior official has said.

Minister of State for Information Nsaba Buturo was quoted by state-owned The New Vision on Friday as saying that Obote's role in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in Luweero was to be examined before his return.

Buturo made the remarks following an announcement by the opposition party, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) that 81-year-old Obote will come back to Uganda on May 27, 2005 from Lusaka, Zambia where he has been in exile since July 1985.

Addressing the government's weekly press briefing in Kampala onThursday, Buturo said Obote was free to return but he would be held accountable for the crimes committed under his regime between1980-1985.

"If Obote wants to return to Uganda, nobody will stop him but the outstanding issues such as the Luweero massacres have to be handled before his return is resolved," the minister said.

He said "according to the 1995 Constitution, all prosecution isin the hands of the Director of Public Prosecution. The Amnesty Law that was under discussion covered only terrorists but not pastleaders."

Buturo said Obote's role in the massacre of over 300,000 peopleduring his second regime was a legitimate question that the government would want to ask him.

He said Obote should put the request to return home in writing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or to the president.

Buturo said "as a former head of state, he would not simply pack his bags and fly into the country."

"The government would need to hold consultations and discussions with the host country and even the United Nations on his security," he said.

Obote, as prime minister of Uganda, received the instruments ofpower for Uganda from the British colonialists on October 9, 1962 and was president until he was toppled by Idi Amin on January 25, 1971 whereafter he fled to Tanzania where he stayed in exile until1980.

After a force made of Ugandan exiles and Tanzanian soldiers drove Idi Amin out of power in 1979, Obote returned to power on May 27, 1980, but he was again toppled by Tito Okello Lutwa in July 1985 and fled to Lusaka, Zambia where he has been living in exile to this day.

Source: Xinhua