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International Lobby for Reform in Uganda (ILORU)
18B
Messaline Avenue, Acton, London W3 6JX
Tel/Fax:
0208 752 1837 / 07985333634
E-mail: information@iloru.fsnet.co.uk
Submission to the inquiry into human rights report 2002
Uganda - militarism is the root cause of gross human rights abuse
Introduction:
The International Lobby for Reform in Uganda (ILORU) applauds the United Kingdom Government for its positive foreign policy statements in relation to human rights.
ILORU recalls that within the first few days of taking office in 1997, the then Foreign Secretary Mr Robin Cook published a Mission Statement setting out four key roles for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), one of which stated:
'We shall work through international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves.” [www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?]
ILORU also recalls that the current Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw confirmed this policy in the Queen's Speech debate on 22 June 2001, saying:
“We shall continue to uphold the values which underpin our own security and prosperity, and that of our allies - human rights; democracy; fundamental freedoms to which every human being is entitled - and we shall use our influence in the world to help confront tyranny, oppression, poverty, conflict and human suffering”. [Hansard. 22 June 2001]
ILORU further applauds the UK Government for the generous and an ever-increasing development aid package, which it has been giving to our country, Uganda over the years. To underline its generosity, last year the UK gave Uganda £86 million, a figure that was exceeded only by India among all developing countries.
ILORU recognises that the UK’s development aid to Uganda has in the past made a real impact on our poverty reduction efforts. This is consistent with the figures provided to us by the UK government. In her later dated 8th April 2002, the Foreign Office Minister Baroness Amos informed us:
..until recently, the following achievements were recorded by Uganda: an average economic growth rate of 6-7% per annum, the proportion of people living below poverty level fell to 35%; access by people to sanitation and clean water increased to 55% and 58% respectively; the national prevalence of HIV/AIDS fell to 10%; and the number of children in primary education increased to about 6 million”.
ILORU also recognises that these achievements were the result of a constructive working partnership between the governments of the UK and Uganda. We therefore give credit to the Museveni government for its role in bringing about these achievements.
Regrettably, however, the evidence on the ground shows that these achievements are more quantitative rather than qualitative in their impact. For example, the vast majority of the 6 million children in primary education, particularly those outside the capital city and the surrounding areas, are leaving school barely able to read, or write their own names, leave alone any other words.
Uganda’s much acclaimed record on fighting HIV/AIDS has also been questioned by a leading expert. A report in the Economist last year said:
“The official story, repeated often and with reverence at AIDS conferences, is that infection rates were stratospheric when Yoweri Museveni seized power in the 1980s…The epidemic was rolled back: earlier this year, the president said that his government had cut HIV prevalence from 30% in 1990 to 6.1% last year…But an American medical researcher now questions the precision of this miracle. In an article in the Lancet last month, Justin Parkhurst, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, argues that it is based on flimsy evidence. Much of the data come from testing pregnant women seeking treatment at urban health clinics, which, he writes, is “hardly indicative of a nation where about 87% of the population live in rural areas.” Nationwide, he suggests, infection rates were never as high as 30%. The oft-cited dramatic drops in HIV prevalence were recorded only in a few places. Elsewhere, the decline was more modest. [AIDS in Uganda. Was the miracle faked? Economist, 25th August 2002]
The present political situation in Uganda
Since the March 2001 presidential election when Dr Col. (rtd) Kizza Besigye almost ended President Museveni’s then 16-year marathon rule, Uganda has been in a state of increasing security tension and political uncertainty. That tension and uncertainty was voiced in the House of Commons on November 11th November 2002, when Mr Tony Baldry [Banbury] asked the Secretary for International Development Ms Claire Short about Uganda’s increased defence spending. In a revealing reply, Ms Claire Short said:
“It is right that Uganda should do all in its power to bring the rebellion to an end. However, a large demand for new military supplies is not what is needed to bring about that end. We must protect Uganda's progress in reducing poverty”. [Hansard, 11th Nov. 2002]
However, ILORU sets below a number current developments in Uganda, which clearly indicate that, rather than focusing on poverty reduction and democratisation as a national priority, the Movement (no-party) government is diverting scarce resources to efforts aimed at ensuring its self-preservation through the manipulation of the Constitution, persecuting its opponents and fighting a series of seemingly endless wars in the North, East and West of the Country, and across its borders. To date, the Movement government has undertaken the following worrying steps that has ensured the consolidation of its 17-year monopoly of power:
1. Refused to engage with national political parties and has, instead, pursued peace-meal negotiations with tribal warlords as policy, thus militarising the politics of the country, and justifying the ever-spiralling increases in defence spending;
2. Diverted 23% of the budgets from all departments including health and education to defence;
3. Requested its bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors including the UK to be allowed to substantially increase its defence spending for the next three years;
4. Ordered 12 MIG26 fighters, combat helicopters and other hi-tech military hardware in preparation for the seemingly endless wars within and beyond its borders;
5. Forced through Parliament the Political Organisations Act (POA), which effectively turned the country into a one-party-state;
6. Introduced draconian press laws, which allow for the arrest of journalists and the closing down of papers, which write stories critical of the government;
7. Fused the Movement political system with state institutions including the Army, Police and Prison forces, the Civil Service, the intelligence services; and has politicised and turned these institutions into sectarian instruments of oppression, and of facilitating institutional theft at home and abroad on a grand scale;
8. Turned Uganda into a military-cum-police state where day-to-day community policing is carried out by at least ten different para-military organisations. These include the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JAFT); the Special Revenue Police Service (SRPS); the General Court-Martial (TGCM), a special military court where civilian opponents of the regime are tried; the Kalangala Action Plan (KAP), an armed political mobilisation organ for the Movement system; Operation Wembley (OP); the Local Defence Unit (LDU); the Peoples’ Intelligence Network (PIN); the Presidential Protection Brigade (PPB) commanded by the president’s son Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba; the 100, 000-man Reserve Army commanded by the president’s brother, Lt. Gen. Saleh; the Internal Security Organisation (ISO); the External Security Organisation (ESO); and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). What is more, the Police force has been upgraded to a military status through training, armament and leadership under the command of Major General Katumba Wamala, a top senior military officer.
9. Created several “Safe Houses” or ungazetted detention centres where the para-military organisations stated above routinely hold, torture and murder suspected political opponents of the regime;
10. Ignored the Parliamentary Select Committee report on Electoral Violence; which found that electoral violence has increased by 512%, and that Ugandans have lost faith that their votes would bring about a change of government;
11. Driven millions of Ugandans into Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps where they live in sub-human conditions in the North, East and West of the country;
12. Claiming that Rwanda was poised to attack Uganda, the President told Claire Short in a leaked August 2001 letter: “adequate military and security spending is actually a most primary economic investment”, and asked her “to show understanding to our intention to raise our defence spending beyond the 1.9% of GDP we had agreed with the donors”.
The present human rights situation in Uganda
The political tension in Uganda has led to an unprecedented increase the incidents of human rights abuses, which are characterised by a spate of arrests, detention and murders of the real, or imagined political opponents of the regime. An increasing majority of the victims are the supporters of the Reform Agenda, a political pressure group headed by Dr Col. (rtd) Kizza Besigye.
State inspired murders
Some high-profile cases of politically-inspired murders have involved the following victims:
1. On 12th January 2002, the police randomly fired AK47 Riffles at a public rally, and killed a trainee journalist, Jimmy Higenyi. Nobody has been arrested since.
2. In 13th August 2003, Patrick Muhumuza Mamenero was tortured and killed by Chieftaincy of Military Police (CMI). His body was found dumped near his home in Ntungamo, in Western Uganda. The autopsy showed that he died from internal bleeding caused by a blunt instrument while in detention.
3. On 16th September 2002, Peter Oloya Yumbe, a remand prisoner in Gulu, Northern Uganda, was shot and killed by the members of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) led by Lt. Col. Otema Awany. The Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) condemned Mr Oloya’s killing, which they described as “unconstitutional, uncivilised and barbaric”. Oloya’s remain has never been released to his family.
Illegal arrests and detention
Although many families are too frightened to report about the arrest, detention or the disappearance of their members, appended below are some names that have come from the affected areas in Gulu in the North, Soroti in the East, Kampala and Entebbe in the centre and many areas in western Uganda.
On January 21, 2003, the Monitor newspaper reported that “Security agents have picked up at least 100 Reform Agenda activists in the past six weeks”, adding that “Some activists and sympathisers have been taken and their whereabouts remain unknown, while others have been charged with treason.” Some of the more recent victims include the following:
Charles Willy Ekemu from Soroti;
Francis Ogwang Olebe from Soroti;
Mr Stephen Okurut from Soroti;
Dr Peter Eriaku from Soroti;
Engineer Pascal Gakyaro from Entebbe;
Engineer Dan Tumusiime from Entebbe;
Mr Tony Kilara, chairman of Bungatira sub-county in Gulu;
Mr Alex Otim and an activist, LC-Mr V councillor for Paicho sub-county in Gulu;
Mr Lukwiya Pido Lawrence in Gulu;
Mr Oceng David Penytoo, the LC-V councillor for Lamogi sub-county in Gulu;
Mr Komakech O., a businessman from Alero sub-county in Gulu;
Mr Wilson Mukama, Mr Vincent Kasozi from Kampala;
Mr Henry Suubi from Kampala;
Mr Ibrahim Lubega from Kampala;
Ms Margaret Nalubega from Kampala;
Ms Nicholas Luzinda from Kampala;
Mbareeba Kifaka, the district security officer of Ntungamo;
Alice Nakyanzi Kafoda, A Reform Agenda Campaign Co-ordinator in Ntungamu;
Mr Edward Mwanga, the husband to Alice Nakyanzi Kafoda;
John Bagashasha;
Lt. Dan Mugarura from Kampala;
Tony Takenzire, a social worker in Ntungamo;
Mr Henry Rushamba,
Mr and Robert Rushamba, Besigye’s campaign agents in Bwaise,
Mr Lawrence Magambo, former campaign agents for Besigye in Bombo;
Dennis Mamenero was charged with treason and remanded in prison. His son Patrick Muhumuza Mamenero had been killed on by the security services on 13th August 2003
The abuse of children: On 7th December 2001, the operatives from the dreaded Chieftaincy of the Military Intelligence (CMI) raided and searched the residence of Winnie Byanyima MP and wife to Dr Kizza Besigye specifically to look for his her two-year old son. This incident took place in spite of the fact that Uganda is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article Two of the Convention states:
"States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status".
Military Court Martial for civilians: Civilians charged with treason are tried by a special Military Court Martial, and must spend 360 days on remand before applying for bail. For example, on December 18th 2002, the new Vision, a government-controlled daily reported that Court Martial chairman, Lt. Gen. Elly Tumwine ruled that Henry Suubi and Kasozi Vincent, who are facing treason charges must “spend 360 days on remand from the time the court remanded them, before applying for bail”.
Uganda and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948
The catalogue of human rights abuses indicated above clearly indicates that the Movement in Uganda is acting in direct contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to which it is a signatory. In particular, by restricting political activities as well as press freedom; and by arresting detaining, torturing and murdering political opponents, the government is breaching the following Articles of the Declaration:
Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21. (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
The consequences of human rights abuses in Uganda
The UK Government must recognise that these sweeping political restrictions and human rights abuses by the Ugandan government could have adverse political and social consequences, which would further destabilise the Great Lake region as a whole. Please note that the second preamble of the (UDHR) which states:
“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”
There is therefore a real prospect that continued political and human rights restrictions may lead to violence.
The UK Government must also recognise that the current political restrictions and human rights abuses in Uganda are not consistent with the current development thinking and practice. The 2002 Human Development report, a publication of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) states:
"Politics matter for human development. Reducing poverty depends as much on whether poor people have political power as on their opportunities for economic progress. Democracy has proven to be the system of governance most capable of mediating and preventing conflict and of securing and sustaining well-being. By expanding people's choices about how and by whom they are governed, democracy brings principles of participation and accountability to the process of human development".
There is a body of evidence, including the recent diversion of education and health budgets to defence, which indicates that the continuing political and human rights restrictions in Uganda is seriously undermining the efforts towards poverty reduction.
Reactions to the human rights situation in Uganda
The human rights abuses in Uganda have attracted some strong comments from the following notable sources:
The new British High Commissioner to Uganda, Mr Adam Wood is reported to have told the Ugandan government:
“There is a risk if you don’t allow change. There might be change through violence. I am conscious of what lies in the past,” [New Vision, 16th January 2003]
Under the headline “Tension in Uganda - War, and rumours of war“, the Economist wrote about:
“A gathering storm threatens Uganda, and the president's response is crude” [The Economist, 17th October 2002]
Following the October 2002 raid and closure by the Security forces of the Monitor newspaper, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said:
“ the move is a blatant attack on press freedom" adding, "Just when independent reporting is most necessary - in war - the Ugandan government has silenced one of the country's most respected journals,"
On 25th Nov. 2002, Col. (rtd) Dr Kizza Besigye, the most serious challenger in the 2001 presidential election issued a 25-page document, which gave eight reasons to prove that Uganda is ripe for war.
Conclusion
The issues raised in this submission strongly indicate that Uganda is no longer “Africa’s success story” that the some media outlets once talked about. The restriction of political activities and the independent press, the proliferation of para-military organisations with powers to arrest, torture and murder their victims; the personalisation of state institutions; the growth of tribal warlords; and the reliance on military force as the main method of resolving political disputes, are a real and serious threat to the existence of Uganda as a state. There is therefore an urgent need for the British policy makers to take immediate steps to stop Uganda from sliding further towards the abyss of political and social turmoil where the country used to be in 70s and early 80s.
The British government must note that not too long ago Zimbabwe was the food basket of Southern Africa, Sierra Leone was King Solomon’s mine in Africa, and the Ivory Cost was the Switzerland of Africa. All these countries have today become the latest additions to a list of Africa’s failed states. ILORU is seriously concerned that Uganda has already acquired the critical ingredient that makes a failed state weak or the total absence of national institutions that can stand the test of time.
Therefore, ILORU urges the British government to translate into action the former Foreign Secretary Mr Robin Cook’s words when he said: 'We shall work through international forums and bilateral relationships to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves.”
ILORU also urges the British government to translate into action the current Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw’s words when he said: ….”we shall use our influence in the world to help confront tyranny, oppression, poverty, conflict and human suffering”.
Recommendations:
ILORU now calls on the British government to recognise its political moral obligation to the ordinary people of Uganda and use it considerable bilateral and multilateral leverage to persuade the Movement Ugandan government to do the following as a matter of urgency:
1. Reinstates poverty reduction and democratisation as the twin national priorities;
2. Negotiates with national political parties, rather than with tribal warlords;
3. Repeals the Anti Terrorism Act, which punishes by death any journalist who reports about terrorist activities;
4. Repeals of the Movement Act, which fuses the Movement political system with the organs of state;
5. Abolishes the Court Martial, which tries civilian opponents of the regime;
6. Abolishes the Internally Displaced Persons camps and declare the north a disaster zone;
7. Abolishes the Chieftaincy of the Military Intelligence and Operation Wembley, the two dreaded para-military organisations, which are responsible for a catalogue of the most horrendous forms of human rights abuses;
8. Hands over the duties of community policing to civilian police;
9. Introduces a law prohibiting the army and other security organisations from being deployed during election;
10. Repeals of the POA, which bans political parties from operating outside the capital city;
11. Draws a firm timetable for the presidential election due in 2006,
12. Allows and guarantees the safe return of all opposition politicians;
13. Puts in place voter education programme, among others.
Sam A Akaki
European Co-ordinator
International Lobby in Uganda (ILORU)
18B Messaline Avenue
London W3 6JX
Tel. 079 85 33 36 34
Page created July 3, 2003 by Charlie Jenks
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