Gulu, Uganda – Despite 22 years of war are coming to an end in Northern Uganda, it seems that security is still precarious in the Acholi region. HUMAN RIGHTS FOCUS (HURIFO) – a Ugandan NGO based in Gulu – has recently made public the news of a new wave of arrest-cum-abduction claimed to be perpetrated by plain clothed gun wielding persons who are widely believed to belong to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (C.M.I).
The targets seem to be predominantly former LRA combatants. After many of them were abducted when still young children and forced to fight for many years, many LRA fighters have been allowed to return home under amnesty. Besides the challenges of the re-integration process, ex-LRA soldiers are now fearing to fall victims to the recent wave of yet unjustified abductions.
It was the 1st of June 2009, 7:50 am. Otim was riding his bicycle, heading to school where he attended the 2nd year of motor vehicle mechanic training at the Comboni Vocational Institute in Gulu. He never reached the destination. Several eyewitnesses testified afterwards what had happened. Reportedly, a light-blue UAG appeared, and two men jumped off the vehicle. While one was pointing a gun against Otim, the other held an AK 47. After forcing Otim into the car, they disappeared. Since that tragic day none of Otim’s relatives has received any news. Otim’s reasons for arrests as wells as his whereabouts are not yet known.
Otim’s arrest and abduction is neither the first nor the last. During the past weeks, six people have been arrested in a similar way. Except for a journalist, Patrick Otim abducted in Pader, the other five victims are believed to be ex-LRA combatants.
James A.A. Otto, executive director of HURIFO, issued a press release published on the Daily Monitor on Monday, June 15, where on behalf of HURIFO he publicly and officially asked the Government of Uganda to produce the arrested people in courts, or to be sued.
Interestingly enough, Milton Odong, the deputy Resident District Commissioner of Gulu – appointed to represent the government – instead of reading the press statement by HURIFO as an appeal to safeguard the rights of citizens – no matter whether liable or not (the court should decide!) – Odong calls for investigations into HURIFO, accusing the established and respected NGO of ”defending and working for the interest of subversive elements in the disguise of fighting for people’s rights”. Mr Odong claims that the people detained few-know-where were actually arrested because ”they have been regrouping themselves to wage war in the North”. However, even if Mr Odong proves to be correct – and only a court and a trial can determine it – HURIFO has simply asked the President Museveni as the head of Government to make sure that justice is done. Article 23 of the Uganda Constitution 1995 explicitly protects the rights of any person arrested, restricted or detained, rights that have been repeatedly violated with these recent abductions. The Uganda Constitution says: the whereabouts of any person arrested has to be authorised by law; the person and subsequently his relatives have to be informed of the reasons for the arrest; and whether the person is brought to court or released, any of these must happen within 48 hours from the time of arrest.
All these above mentioned clauses of the article 23 of the Uganda Constitution have not been respected. The security of every citizens is protected by different structures such as the Local Councils, the police DISO, UPDF and the District Security chaired by the RDC. Since none of these organs seem to have successfully managed (or tried?) to protect the rights of Otim and the other five Ugandan citizens abducted, HURIFO – as the organization in place to protect the rights of Ugandans – has applied to the Government, requiring a prompt intervention.
The press realease by HURIFO published on the Daily Monitor on Monday, June 15, reads:
“Whereas the laws of Uganda provide for arrest by any individual which individuals could also include persons from CMI, the Constitutional provision allowing this has not been followed in effecting the illegal arrests.
Article 23 of Uganda Constitution of 1995 has comprehensively provided for arrests:
Clause 2 of Uganda Constitution of 1995 provides (…) a person arrested, restricted or detained shall be kept in a place authorised by law.
Clause 3 of Uganda Constitution of 1995 provides (…) a person arrested, restriced or detained shall be informed immediately in a language that the person understands, of the reason for the arrest, restriction or detention of his or her rights to a lawyer of his or her choice
Clause 4(b) of Uganda Constitution of 1995 provides (…) A person arrested or detained (…) shall if not earlier relased, be brought to court as soon as possible in any case not later than 48 hours from the time of his or her arrest.
Clause 5 of Uganda Constitution of 1995 provides (…) Where a person is arrested or detained:
a) the next of kin of that person shall, at the request of that person, be informed as soon as practicable of the restriction or detention;
b) the next of kin, lawyer and personal doctor of that person, shall be allowed reasonable access to that person (…)
In effecting the arrests and the subsequent detention, now te subject of this press release, none of the Constitutional provisions guaranteeing the full enjoyment of the fundamental rights of the victims have been followed. Another matter of grave concern is the pattern that seems to target mainly former LRA combatants and manner of arrest that eyewitnesses describe as very brutal.
A legitimate government that President Yoweri Museveni NRM leads, should desist from involvement in clandestine activities like these arrests which smack sinister motives, and have its acts done in the open and indeed in a transparent manner. These include effecting arrest by adhering to the laws of arrest and holding the suspects in places f detention authorised by law. Information to the suspects as well as next-of-kin has to be done as of rights rather than privilege.
The bitter truth is that (…) it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to convince the afflicted community in the Acholi Sub-region that the state through its security arms, CMI inclusive, has no hand in this wave of arrests and incommunicado detentions. We could advance another side of the debate by assuming that the arrests were by unknown gun men. It would still beg a bigger question of protection than the state can provide plausible response to.
If these were truly unknown gun men:
how could they abduct six people from diverse places of Kampala, Pader and Gulu, and yet get away it, beating all the security rings around an individual citizen? (The security rings around the citizens include: all structures of Local Councils; the police DISO, UPDF itself, and the District Security chaired by a whole Resident District Commissioner as the President’s representative)
why should members of these security rings allow the so called unknown gunmen have a field day by trampling on the rights of citizens just recovering form a gruesome war (…) and get away with it?
The people of Acholi Sub-region should be given a break that they deserve. Similarly, the ex-LRA combatants should and must be given a break that they badly need in order to facilitate the expeditious re-integration into civilian lives in the very community that has since forgiven them.
In conclusion, we wish to laud an appeal to President Yoweri Museveni as the command in chief of Uganda Peoples Defence Forces:
To constitute an independent Judicial Commission to carry out a full scale inquiries into the new wave of illegal arrest that has since engulfed the Acholi Sub-region (…) and make its report public as a larger part of confidence building measures (…)
To cause the security apparatus currently holding these suspects to either unconditionally free them or take them before a competent court of law and prefer charges against them if at all
To ensure that the gains that Uganda has since made in the of Human Rights during the NRM rule should not be negated by the callous illegal acts the subject of this press statement
To allay the fears of the relatives that the victims are not under severe torture both mental and physical
To allay the fears of the population of Acholi Sub-region whose lives and hopes for a lasting peace are now characterised by fear, despair, despondency and privation, as this new wave of insecurity manifested in the unwarranted arrest take heavily toll without an end in sight
To ally the fears now rampant among the ex-LRA combatants who are trying to forget the past abductions in the hands of LRA commanders are now again involuntary forced to re-live their traumatic experience while back.”
3 Comments
June 22, 2009 at 7:52 pm
…UAG o UAZ? …e se i fantomatici personaggi armati con kalashnikov (l’arma più diffusa al mondo, sicuramente trafugati passando per Napoli) fossero semplicemente componenti di una neo-organizzazione armata con scopi criminali o sovversivi che sta esercitando un arruolamento forzato? …o magari qualche componente del governo stesso con ambizioni smisurate si stesse organizzando il proprio esercito privato …per un “colpetto” di stato! …certo sarebbe interessante scoprire quali interessi finanziari si stanno muovendo all’interno del paese …chissà quale multinazionale interessata a nuove concessioni per sfruttare il territorio …!!! …i problemi dell’Uganda e dell’Africa sono causati dal nostro stile di vita!
June 23, 2009 at 7:04 am
I fantomatici personaggi armati sono molto piú probabilmente membri del Chieftancy of Military Intelligence, un apparato governativo che funge da “servizi segreti”. Le ragioni degli arresti non sono ovvie ma potrebbero essere ricondotte a informazioni che i sei rapiti detengo sulle postazioni dei ribelli. Le elezioni del presidente sono in due anni e se in questo tempo riuscisse a catturare Kony, leader dell’LRA sicuramente ne trarrebbe vantaggio almeno tra i Buganda (tribú del sud). Gli Acholi del nord, a cui Kony appartiene vogliono solo la pace. La terra degli Acholi se la stanno dividendo i militari dell’UPDF del governo, nessuna multinazionale coinvolta. I problemi dell’Africa sono causati dal nostro stile di vita? I problemi dell’Africa, per la maggior parte delle volte, sono causati da una generale mancanza di leadership capace di governare, dall’eccesso di ingordigia di molti che genera una corruzione pandemica e che porta al continuo mis-uso di risorse. Molti problemi in Africa che impediscono al continente di svilupparsi sono genuinamente africani. A volte altre potenze ci mettono del loro.
June 23, 2009 at 9:35 am
…Grazie per la lezione d’Africa, le mie supposizioni sono solo ragionamenti a base intuitiva e sicuramente avrai ragione Tu, anche se per quel poco che ho letto in rete sembra che in Uganda ci siano grossi interessi legati allo sfruttamento delle risorse locali …e di questo Kony non si dice un granché di bene e comunque anche la storia d’Italia ci dovrebbe insegnare che se certe organizzazioni eversive riescono ad esistere è solo perché all’interno della struttura governative esistono soggetti politici direttamente interessati! Inoltre da come descrivi le problematiche genuinamente africane, pare che le nostrane non divergano più di tanto! Pertanto suppongo che comunque la corruzione sia legata alla volontà locale di possedere uno stile di vita imperniato attorno agli oggetti di culto “occidentali” …e comunque tutte le organizzazioni sovversive, governative e para governative necessitano risorse economiche …pertanto tutte le ambizioni individuali sono legate agli interessi di qualche fantomatica potenza economica visto che non pare esista una struttura economica locale solida …ma sicuramente hai ragione Tu…