Uganda Accused of Using Military to Silence Govt Critics
Human Rights Watch has accused President Yoweri Museveni’s government of increasingly using the military as a “cudgel against dissent and criticism.” In a statement, the rights group said the military is arbitrarily seizing government critics, holding them incommunicado, and subsequently handing them over for bogus prosecutions.
HRW enumerated several instances of unlawful arrests and detentions of activists and politicians by military forces. Among these was a June 15 raid by armed soldiers on the home of prominent lawyer Erias Lukwago, who was unlawfully seized and taken to an undisclosed location.
“These latest unlawful detentions fit into an apparently wider government campaign to shut down free expression and peaceful assembly,” the statement said.
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Reports of abductions and the alleged torture of political opponents have raised concerns about a return to the “dark days” of Uganda’s former dictator, Idi Amin, according to The Independent. The newspaper cited the recent abduction of Erias Lukwago – the former Kampala mayor and lawyer for imprisoned opposition politician Kizza Besigye – as the latest case fueling public anxiety.
Lukwago, who also
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Uganda’s leading independent media group, Nation Media Group, has said that its outlets are under “military siege”.
This comes after armed soldiers shut down the Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, and Spark TV on orders from army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. In a series of posts on X, Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni, said he did not believe in a free press and that he had the
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Ugandan army chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has denied accusations of issuing death threats to veteran opposition politician Dr. Kizza Besigye, who remains remanded in prison on treason charges. Besigye said that the General, who is the son of President Yoweri Museveni, made the threats through multiple public statements and social media posts. The military chief has asked a Kampala court to dismiss Besigye’s
President Yoweri Museveni
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