Ugandans in uproar over torture of citizens

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - The Ugandan government has been urged to hold to account security officials who have unlawfully detained and tortured citizens after a man who had been missing resurfaced with wounds on his chest.

Eric Mwesigwa, a supporter of the musician turned opposition politician popularly known as Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said this week that he was tortured by security personnel, an allegation a military spokesman dismissed in a statement.

Mwesigwa, who appeared to be in excruciating pain, said hot metal objects were placed on his body, leaving two raw wounds on his chest.

The security agents who tortured Mwesigwa wanted to know Wine’s plans “to overthrow the government,” Wine said.

The public uproar over the reported torture of citizens by security agencies as well as increased cases of detention without trial and missing persons coincided with the day the Ugandan government commemorated one of the biggest critics and victims of torture -- Archbishop Janani Luwum.

Luwum, who was murdered in 1977 by torture at the hands of security agents, was the former archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire. He was a leading voice in criticizing the excesses of Idi Amin's regime, including the torture of citizens, arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances of civilians and soldiers.

- Condemnation

The prime minister of the traditional kingdom of Buganda, Charles Mayiga, this morning joined in the condemnation of the continuing cases of torture of Ugandans by suspected elements in government security forces. He said the commemoration of Luwum was being contradicted by the unending cases of torture of citizens.

“It’s a contradiction and shame that we commemorate the murder of Archbishop Luwum by Idi Amin when state security operatives torture Ugandans in this manner today. Respect for human rights is the foundation for democracy and progress,” Mayiga said on Twitter, citing the case of Mwesigwa.

The latest torture allegations come amid controversy over the Ugandan government’s refusal to renew the local mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Office. Ugandan authorities justified the decision by asserting that the government is committed to protecting its own people.

Criticizing the Ugandan government’s decision in a statement Wednesday, Human Rights Watch charged that those Ugandan authorities have “had a long history of abuse and repression, especially of critics of the government and the political opposition,” and that they “have failed to hold government security forces accountable for serious human rights violations.”

The Uganda Law Society demanded that the perpetrators of the acts of torture, particularly by the security officers, should be brought to book.

The European Union and the US in the past year have raised alarm over torture allegedly perpetrated by Uganda’s security personnel.