Ugandan police successfully thwarted a planned attack on churches by a well-known Islamist militant group, as disclosed by President Yoweri Museveni.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) had intentions to plant two explosive devices within churches in Kibibi, located approximately 50 km (30 miles) from the capital city, Kampala, as conveyed by Mr. Museveni on X, formerly known as Twitter.
However, these devices, cleverly disguised as PA systems and gifted to local pastors, were detected and subsequently rendered harmless by the authorities due to vigilant members of the public who reported them.
Earlier on the same day, President Museveni announced that Ugandan forces had conducted air strikes on four ADF positions situated in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
He noted that a substantial number of terrorists were likely eliminated during these strikes.
President Museveni issued a warning, expressing concern that escaping ADF members were re-entering Uganda with intentions of carrying out sporadic acts of terrorism.
In June, the ADF carried out one of the deadliest attacks in Uganda, resulting in the loss of 42 lives, including 37 students in a high school located in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ugandan police stopped a bomb attack on churches by a dangerous militant group, according to President Yoweri Museveni.
MrMuseveni wrote on X (previously known as Twitter) that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were planning to put two bombs in churches in Kibibi, an area about 50 km (30 miles) away from the capital city Kampala, on Sunday.
But he said the devices were reported to the police and taken care of so they wouldn’t cause harm.
The president said that the bombs were hidden as PA systems and given as presents to pastors in the area. People told other people about what they saw.
Earlier on the same day, Mr Museveni said that Uganda’s forces had conducted air attacks on four ADF locations in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The president said that a lot of terrorists were killed. ”
He said that the ADF who escaped are going back into Uganda and trying to do some random terrorist acts.
In June, a group of militants called ADF hurt and killed 42 people, including 37 students, in a high school in western Uganda close to the border with DR Congo.
It was one of the most deadly attacks by ADF in the country.
Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have decided to remove the need for visas, so people can travel between both countries without visa.
This agreement is meant to make it easier for people to travel between the two countries and to make trade stronger.
The agreement comes after recent discussions between officials from both countries in the capital city of DR Congo, Kinshasa.
Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, has been asking for a policy where people can freely visit the two countries without needing a visa for several months.
Crossing in East Africa should not have any cost associated with it. You have to pay for a visa when traveling to America or Europe, but having to pay for a visa to go to DR Congo is ridiculous. “If that’s true, I got rid of it,” President Museveni said in December when he opened the Mpondwe one-stop border post on Uganda’s border with DR Congo.
In May, he requested the officials from both countries to make the process of allowing travel without visas faster.
Many people from Uganda and Congo have said that they have to pay a lot of money for visas when they cross the border.
Ugandan legislators have rejected a government proposal to permit 15-year-old girls to access birth control pills in an effort to reduce the high rates of teenage pregnancy.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa strongly criticized the idea, describing it as “devilish” and suggesting that it would essentially condone the exploitation of girls.
A senior official from the health ministry argued that the societal stigma surrounding young people using contraceptives needed to be overcome.
According to a survey, nearly one-fourth of girls aged 15 to 19 in Uganda are either pregnant or already mothers. This rate saw a significant increase during the COVID-19 lockdown when schools were closed for nearly two years.
During a contentious parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Member of Parliament Lucy Akello raised concerns about whether the age of consent was being reduced from the current 18 years to 15 years, as reported by the state-owned New Vision newspaper.
She called the idea of providing contraception to girls in their teens “scary.”
Ms. Akello claimed she did not utilize birth control. “I use the natural method, the one God gave me.”
In response to the debate, Primary Healthcare Minister Margaret Muhanga clarified that the government had not endorsed the proposal; rather, it had been put forward by a senior medical officer, Dr. Charles Olaro.
She questioned whether it was preferable for a child to become pregnant and potentially risk her life during childbirth, emphasizing the prevalence of “so many teenage pregnancies.”
Dr. Olaro, speaking to the privately owned Daily Monitor newspaper, stressed that access to reproductive health information is not merely a matter of personal choice; it is a fundamental right. He argued that creating an environment where young individuals can access information about sexual and reproductive health and contraception without facing stigma, discrimination, or judgment is essential.
Despite these arguments, the deputy speaker firmly stated that the proposal “should never see the light of day.”
Uganda, known for its deeply religious society, has also faced opposition from a group of religious leaders who advocate abstinence for teenagers.
Police and military officers in Uganda have stopped people from going to the main office of the National Unity Platform (NUP). The NUP is a party led by a politician called Bobi Wine, who is against the government.
On Monday, the NUP party said that there are many soldiers at our secretariat in Kamwokya, and we are not allowed to go there.
Bobi Wine said that the police went to the party’s main office and prevented people from going in or out.
The person who used to be a musician and is now a politician said on social media that the security officers are blocking a prayer event that the NUP planned to have at its office in Kampala on Monday.
The prayers were meant for the party’s members who had died, been arrested, or gone missing.
Last week, the police took Bobi Wine to his house when he came back to Uganda from South Africa. They did this to stop him from planning a protest.
They arrested many of Bobi Wine’s supporters because they claimed that they encouraged violence and were planning a procession that was against the law.
Bobi Wine is upset with the security officers because they have blocked something on the same day that Uganda became independent.
“He said that they will shamelessly gather today to celebrate ‘independence’, even though they behave worse than the colonialists. ”
A leader of an Ugandan tribe has come back to his home and received a warm welcome, seven years after many people were killed when the police attacked his palace.
Happy people gathered along the roads of Kasese to welcome Charles Wesley Mumbere, the king of Rwenzururu.
In 2016, he was accused of leading a group of armed people from his home in order to separate and form a new country.
The Ugandan government claims that slightly more than 100 people died during the police operation, but human rights organizations argue that the actual number of deaths is much higher.
King Mumbere and many other people were accused of serious crimes like treason, murder, and terrorism. But the prosecutors decided to not continue with the case when they requested amnesty.
The Rwenzururu kingdom is made up of Bakonzo people. They have a past of wanting to separate from Uganda and have had ongoing tensions with the government.
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was taken and kept in his home against his will by some aggressive individuals when he came back from another country.
The singer who became a politician is the most powerful competitor against President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office for nearly 40 years.
He has been caught by the police many times and has been accused of doing things that could harm his country.
The police said that they did not arrest Wine. Instead, they helped him go back home.
Wine, who used to be a famous singer and is actually named Robert Kyagulanyi, tried to become president in 2021 but did not succeed. He competed against President Museveni, who is 79 years old, in a very tense election.
During the election campaign, the government strongly suppressed the opposition, and there were at least 54 deaths in protests against the government.
Wine explained that once he arrived at Entebbe International Airport, some bad people forcefully took hold of him, pulled him, hurt his hands, and forced him into a private car that was ready and waiting for him.
Later, he mentioned from his house that he was not allowed to leave.
A video shared by Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) on X, previously called Twitter, displayed the leader being taken away after getting off a plane in Entebbe. One of his friends was recorded asking, “Where are you bringing him. ”
The scared government has taken our President into custody when he arrived at Entebbe Airport. “We were supposed to meet him today, but the overly anxious government security wouldn’t even let him go through immigration,” said Mathias Mpuuga, the leader of NUP in parliament.
Many people who support Wine were very excited for his return. They see him as a symbol of change in a country that has been ruled by the same person for many years.
Recently, the police said they would stop the National Unity Platform, led by Wine, from organizing rallies in the whole country due to concerns about public safety.
Ugandan soldiers and other security forces were sent to roads near Entebbe airport and also outside the offices of Win’s party, NUP, and in the central business district of Kampala early on Thursday morning.
The police told the organizers to not have the planned event and for people to not attend it. A police spokesperson called it an “illegal act”.
Mr Onyango said that security agencies went with Wine to his home in Magere, Kasangati.
Ugandan authorities often arrest opposition leaders to stop them from organizing large protests. They detain them for a few hours and then let them go back home.
The police said they caught a high school student in central Uganda on September 18th.
The police say that a student had 170 young people stay at a 28-year-old woman’s home. They were waiting for transportation to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The student had promised the young people jobs there.
“After being questioned, the student confessed that he wanted to trick the victims into giving him money by pretending to be associated with Humble Company in Kenya. ” The Uganda Police Force stated that the job advertisement for waiters, waitresses, coffee parkers, and supermarket attendants in Kenya was fake because there was no relationship with the company.
Please rewrite the text in simpler words.
According to a newspaper in Uganda called Daily Monitor, 98 of the victims gave the student 100,000 Ugandan shillings ($26; £21) each, while the rest gave 50,000 shillings each.
The student has not been asked to say whether they are guilty or not guilty.
Investors are fleeing thebusiness in East African region due to the dollar’s scarcity, volatility, high interest rates, and easy access to credit.
According to the East African Business Council’s (EABC) Report on the Ease of Doing Business in the East African Community (EAC) 2023, the region’s firms are at risk from unregulated foreign exchange markets at the border, legal tax appeals and judgements, and protracted customs valuation procedures.
The 252 businesses who responded to the study identified several difficulties with trade finance, including the lack of dollars, excessive interest rates, and restricted access to loans.
“The dollar is putting pressure on local currencies and so our currencies are losing value making it difficult to do business,” said John Kalisa, chief executive of the East African Business Council.
“Our dollar reserves are dwindling, meaning that we import more than what we export so we are in a trade deficit. The only way to get out is to improve our productivity.”
Last week, commercial banks quoted the Ugandan shilling at 3,735/3,745 against the US dollar. Despite the overhaul of the interbank forex market in March, the Kenyan shilling extended its losses against the US dollar in September, exceeding its overall depreciation from the previous year. The local currency has recorded a 21.6 percent decrease against the dollar, dropping from Ksh120.34 on September 12 last year to Ksh146.36 as of this Monday.
As per the Bank of Tanzania’s data, the indicative exchange rates as of Thursday reveal that the country’s shilling has reached a new historic low, averaging 2,428.7 against the US dollar.
“The pressure coming from the dollar sends a message to the regional bloc that there is a need to improve production especially in agriculture and productivity,” said Kalisa.
Even after the harmonization of the Common External Tariff, there is a lack of consistent implementation of the CET across the East African Community (EAC) partner states. The EABC report additionally highlights significant challenges in the region, including high trading costs stemming from difficulties in conducting cross-border payments, the presence of multiple taxes and fees, local government levies/cess at border crossings, and harassment by government regulatory authorities primarily focused on tax collection without recognizing the importance of facilitating free trade across borders.
The report offers several recommendations, including the need for partner states to enhance the ease of doing business through simplified and coordinated legislation pertaining to business registrations, access to finance, contract enforcement, and tax payment processes.
Furthermore, companies have cited a lack of adequate information regarding government policies and regulations as a hindrance to conducting business within the EAC.
Controversial Ugandan academic and activist, Stella Nyanzi, has criticized what she perceives as unscrupulous and corrupt airport officials.
Nyanzi, who recently visited Ghana, shared her encounter with certain individuals at Kotoko International Airport (KIA) while departing after her stay in Ghana.
Her dissatisfaction with these officials arose from what she described as their exploitation of “vulnerable, economically disadvantaged travelers with slightly overweight luggage on KLM flights.”
She expressed frustration at having to pay a fee of US$150 for the excess weight in her checked luggage. Furthermore, she mentioned that the officials had offered to reduce the fee by US$50 if she accepted their unofficial proposition.
In a Facebook post dated September 9, Nyanzi described her interaction with a specific officer who issued her a seemingly irrelevant receipt for USD$150 regarding the excess baggage.
In a subsequent post, she revealed that she had paid the equivalent amount in cedis.
Read her full post below:
There is a dodgy ring of Ghanaians at Kotoka International Airport who rip off gullible poor travelers with slightly overweight bags aboard KLM.
Comprising all sorts of diverse humans, they wear the airport staff uniform of royal blue skirt or trousers, and white shirts. Some wear royal blue jackets, too.
All of them wear name tags attached to woven string onto which is repeatedly embroidered the word Debill in bright red letters.
An elderly bespectacled woman with a wicked crooked smile exposing foul brown teeth pulled me aside and ordered me to redistribute my luggage by repacking my one piece of checked-in bag and my one piece of hand luggage.
Her skin reminded me of dying crocodiles. Her counterpart is a big lipped man with those biggish flat Ghanaian heads. He wrote for me an ugly meaningless invoice/ receipt of USD$ 150 for the three excess kilos in my checked-in luggage.
I said fine, stepped outside the side of the queue for checking in and repacked my bags. As I pulled my last zip, the same old shameless crook of a ring leader, came and whispered to me that I could pay only USD$ 100 and yet check in both pieces.
“Why?” I asked her.
“Akwaaba,” she responded with another dirty-brown toothed smile.
“But there are valuable documents in my hand luggage,” I said.
“Yes, I know-oh. Mummy, I understand-oh. I will even buy you a padlock to lock your bag very well-oh if you pay the less amount for two bags,” she replied.
This suspicious behavior irked me to the core. I hate blatant corruption. “Will I get a receipt?” I asked.
“You pay only 100 dollars but check in two bags instead of paying 150 dollars for checking in only one bag,” she replied.
To celebrate their ninth anniversary, Phaneroo Ministries, a Ugandan Christian organization led by Grace Lubega Matovu, organized a record-breaking event called “Clap for Jesus”.
Hundreds of members gathered at the UMA Multipurpose Hall in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, to join in the longest applause ever recorded.
The participants clapped non-stop for 3 hours and 16 minutes, breaking the previous record of 2 hours and 5 minutes set by Clark Stevens and The Festival of Awesomeness (UK) in 2019.
The clapping was loud and enthusiastic, averaging 88.5 dB of sound level. The minimum requirement was 80 dB for the whole duration.
The participants had to follow strict rules forthe record attempt. They had to clap continuously without stopping, or they would be disqualified by a steward.
Longest applause 👏⏱️ 3 hr 16 min 1 sec by Grace Lubega Matovu and Clap For Jesus Team 🇺🇬 The record attempt was organised “to send a message to the world that regardless of the struggles and difficulties, we must have room for gratitude and thanksgiving.” #clapping#applause#uganda#teamwork#guinnessworldrecords
They were not allowed to go to the bathroom, but they could drink water with the help of a steward while clapping. The event was live-streamed and watched by many Ugandans who clapped along to show their support.
Grace Lubega said that he wanted to bring people to a place of thanksgiving and celebration in a time of hardship and struggle. He said that they wanted to express their gratitude and thanksgiving to Jesus, their Lord and Saviour.
The first record for the longest applause was set in 1991, when Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo received 1 hour and 20 minutes of applause after his performance of Otello in Vienna.
He had 101 curtain calls. In 2002, German band Grabowsky broke the record with 1 hour and 30 minutes of applause after their concert. They played two more songs after the applause ended.
In Uganda‘s capital city, Kampala, the traffic police have shut down some roads so that important people can move easily to and from President Yoweri Museveni’s 79th birthday party on Friday.
About 100,000 people, including Ugandans from the capital and different areas of the country, attended the birthday celebrations.
The Traffic Police Commander in Kampala, Senior Superintendent Godwin Arinaitwe, stated on Thursday that if people can’t drive on the closed roads, they can park their cars at specific spots in Kampala and walk the remaining distance to the event location.
He also mentioned that the traffic police will guide Ugandans who are inconvenienced by the closed roads to different routes.
The young people from Mr Museveni’s political party, the National Resistance Movement, have planned the events for Friday.
On 2 September, the leaders of the city cleaned up Kampala and Kololo Independence Grounds. This was done to get ready for the birthday event happening there.
The US embassy in Uganda is saying that there is still a danger of terrorist attacks in Uganda and the surrounding area. This comes as the Ugandan police evacuated a business center in the capital city, Kampala, because they thought there might be a bomb inside.
The US embassy has warned American citizens to be cautious and not to go to crowded places. This comes after the police in Uganda stopped a suicide bombing attempt in Kampala.
Patrick Onyango, who speaks for the police in Kampala, said that they caught a 28-year-old person who they think was going to blow themselves up. They caught them just before they went into a church called Rubaga Miracle Centre, which is run by Pastor Robert Kayanja.
Mr Onyango said that the person who got arrested was assisting the police in finding three more people suspected to be involved in a planned attack on churches in Uganda.
The police say that the man hid a homemade bomb inside a food container which he put in a bag.
The authorities were able to safely set off the explosive, which had nails, a cell phone, detonator, booster charger, and other parts included.
Unesco now suggests that it should be removed from the list of endangered heritage sites.
Should the removal occur, it would send a powerful signal, particularly considering that half of the potentially impacted sites are situated in Africa. In the capital city of Kampala, there are special buildings on a hillside called the Tombs of Buganda Kings. These buildings have roofsmade of grass. Unfortunately, in 2010, a fire broke out and damaged some parts of these buildings.
The burning of the tombs caused many people to be angry and they protested. During the protests, at least two people died.
They have been fixed with money from other countries.
The Unesco suggestions were made after a group from the UN visited the location in June.
The tombs are considered important for the Baganda people’s history and religion. They were officially recognized as a world heritage site in 2001.
They were made in 1882 as a grand house for the rulers of Buganda and later changed into a place to bury the kings.
A young man, aged 20, hailing from Uganda could potentially face the death penalty after being accused of a severe manifestation of homosexuality.
This is against the law that was approved in May and is considered controversial. This charge has been reported for the first time,but it’s not known if anyone has been charged with it before.
A court in the eastern part of Uganda accused a man on August18th of having sex with a 41-year-old man. But it was not clear why it was believed to be categorized as”aggravated homosexuality,”according to the Reuters news agency. According to the law, if you are gay and have sex with someone who is under 18 years old or have a long-term illness like HIV, it is considered a more serious offense.
Uganda’s new law against homosexuality has received criticism from people all over the world. Demonstrations have taken place, including one in London.
Justine Balya, the lawyer defending the accused, said that Uganda has accused four other individuals of breaking the anti-homosexuality law, but her client is the first person to face punishment under this specific category.
According to Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, a Ugandan court charged a former gay rights activist and another man with homosexuality on 22 August.
Last week, a court in Uganda accused a 26-year-old woman of human trafficking and three acts of homosexuality.
Earlier this month, the World Bank announced that it will stop giving money to Uganda because the law against homosexuality goes against its main beliefs and principles.
The goal of this directive is to make more jobs and promote the growth of Uganda’s manufacturing sector, specifically in the textile industry.
Don’t purchase used clothes because they belonged to deceased individuals. When white people die, they sort out their clothes and send them to Africa. According to Daily Monitor, Mr. Museveni, the President, mentioned this alternative statement. President Museveni gave an order when he started 10 factories in Mbale, a town in eastern Uganda. These factories will make electricity meters and cables.
The factories are owned by Chinese people and are part of a project called the Sino-Uganda Industrial Park. This project is a collaboration between the Ugandan government and Chinese investors.
Rwanda, which is next to Uganda, stopped allowing people to bring in used clothes from other countries in 2018.
Other countries in East Africa have also tried to stop or reduce the importation of second-hand clothing in the past.
The people in charge of a public talk that aims to remember Ugandan leader Idi Amin, which has caused a lot of disagreement, have stated that they intend to continue with the event. This information comes from Uganda‘s privately-owned newspaper, Daily Monitor.
Kaps Fungaroo Hassan, who speaks for the group, told the local news that the lecture is part of a project to change the story about Amin so it shows his legacy as fair and truthful, how they see it.
Mr Hassan said that people have wrongly made Amin out to be a bad person by blaming him for things he didn’t do and by ignoring the positive things he did for Uganda and Africa.
Mr Hassan said to the local media that we are not happy with the way people remember Idi Amin. They focus only on the bad things about him. That’s why we think it’s important to take another look at his life and what he did when he was in charge.
Mr Hassan said that the group hopes people will remember Amin for helping countries in southern Africa gain independence, like South Africa, Namibia, and Angola. He did this when he was the leader of the African Union.
Amin is well-known for being a cruel leader who is famously depicted in the acclaimed 2006 Hollywood movie Last King of Scotland.
Starting from August 2022, the Somali military has been actively involved in an offensive operation against the Shebab, a group with affiliations to al-Qaeda. This operation is being conducted in collaboration with local clan militias, and it’s receiving support from African Union forces as well as American airstrikes.
Although Shebab militants were expelled from Mogadishu in 2011, they have entrenched themselves deeply in expansive rural regions. From these areas, they persistently launch attacks targeting both security forces and civilians.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is committed to eradicating Islamist militias from the nation. It is anticipated that he might imminently unveil the second stage of the military campaign aimed at countering the Shebab in the southern parts of the country.
“This decline is expected for all main components: Core, energy and fresh food inflation. We don’t see this rate increasing further, and we remain optimistic that inflation further reduces to our benchmark by next year…” Rwangombwa said announcing the rate-setting – committee’s decision.
Anticipated by the Central Bank, headline inflation is projected to fall within the specified range (below 8 percent), with an estimated average of 7.6 percent during the fourth quarter by year-end, followed by a decline to approximately 5 percent in the coming year.
Rwanda’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), the primary measure of inflation, displayed an 11.9 percent year-on-year increase in July 2023, a decrease from the 13.7 percent recorded in June 2023. The headline inflation rate saw a reduction to 15.2 percent in the second quarter, down from 20.2 percent in the preceding quarter.
Initially, analysts in Uganda were predicting a consistent Central Bank Rate (CBR) of 10 percent, a rate that had been upheld by the Bank of Uganda for nearly a year. However, a strong impetus to stimulate economic recovery, despite the challenges faced by the currency, is believed to have instigated this new decision.
Benoni Okwenje, the General Manager for Financial Markets Operations at Centenary Bank, expressed surprise at the rate cut. He foresees that the 0.5 percent reduction will likely lead to lower lending rates in the near future, although yields on specific treasury bonds experienced an increase the previous week.
During the first half of 2023, Uganda exhibited indications of an economic slowdown, coupled with decreased credit flows in the private sector. The Bank of Uganda cited these circumstances as influencing its decision to lower the policy rate. Notably, Uganda’s inflation had been subdued due to declining food prices.
Despite certain sectors reporting negative growth in the initial six months, headline inflation decreased from 4.9 percent in June to 3.9 percent the following month. This was attributed to declining prices of food crops, reduced fuel costs, and subdued consumer demand trends.
However, the recent suspension of development funding support by the World Bank, prompted by Uganda’s enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, triggered concern among foreign investors. This led to a sell-off in the foreign exchange market, causing the Ugandan shilling to dip to record lows against the US dollar, reaching Ush3,770 per dollar. The currency slightly recovered following the Bank of Uganda’s latest announcement, indicating a stabilization of investor sentiments.
Furthermore, the unpredictability of climate change-related events could potentially impact agricultural production in the region.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has once again criticized the World Bank for withdrawing funding, asserting that the organization is mistaken if it believes this action will intimidate the Ugandan people.
In a statement shared on his former Twitter account, Mr. Museveni characterized the World Bank as “superficial and intolerable imperialist agents who lack restraint.”
Last week, the World Bank suspended financial assistance to Uganda due to a controversial anti-homosexuality law enacted in May, which contradicted the organization’s principles.
This law has drawn widespread international criticism due to its severe penalties, including imprisonment or even death for individuals engaging in certain same-sex activities.
In response to the World Bank’s actions, President Museveni accused the institution of attempting to pressure Uganda into reversing the law by ceasing funding. However, he also affirmed that Uganda would continue to progress even without the World Bank’s support.
Reiterating his stance on Thursday, President Museveni emphasized that the discontinued funding would not hinder Uganda’s economic advancement. He suggested that the World Bank’s drastic decision could paradoxically aid Uganda’s efforts to diminish external debt and foster self-sufficiency.
President Museveni further noted that Uganda maintains several Western allies but claimed that these allies were hesitant to continue supporting the country.
Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda, has once more denounced the World Bank’s decision to stop providing funds, stating that the institution is misguided if it believes that the action will scare Ugandans.
He said this in a statement on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
The World Bank was described by Mr. Museveni as “shallow and intolerable imperialist actors who do not know where to stop” on Thursday.
due to a contentious anti-homosexuality law that was approved in May and went against the principles of the World Bank.
The law has garnered criticism from all over the world for its severe penalties, which include imprisonment or execution for those who commit specific same-sex behaviours.
Last week, Mr. Museveni responded to the World Bank by accusing it of trying to force Uganda to change the legislation by stopping funds, but he said that Uganda will still advance even without the World Bank’s assistance.
Mr. Museveni reaffirmed on Thursday that the financial withdrawal will not stop Uganda’s economic progress. The World Bank’s dramatic action, he said, would actually help Uganda’s efforts to lower its external debt and increase its independence.
Even while Uganda still has a number of Western supporters, Mr. Museveni claimed that they are afraid to continue their support for his country.
Fleeing hunger and economic hardship, a growing number of unemployed young individuals are departing the country in pursuit of domestic jobs in the Middle East. The Observer has discovered that this trend has surged, with an estimated 2,000 youths leaving each month. This adds up to approximately 24,000 migrants annually.
“These are sad statistics but true… There was a time, before the outbreak of Covid-19 when we would take about 3,000 domestic workers monthly to the Middle East. Now that travel restrictions are relaxed, the numbers have picked up. Between 1,500 and 2,000 migrant workers are leaving the country every month,” Lawrence Egulu, the commissioner in charge of Employment Services at the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MGLSD) said in a recent interview.
It is “unfortunate,” he said that the bulk of migrant workers is female, making up to 75 percent of housemaids in the Middle East. They make up the long queues at Entebbe International Airport every day enroute to the Middle East. Most of the unflattering images and videos on social media capture youths desperately walking to unknown territory in search of employment at all costs.
According to statistics provided by the MGLSD, from 2016 until now, a total of 223,102 migrant workers, both domestic and professional, have left the country for opportunities in the Middle East. These figures don’t encompass Ugandans who have been trafficked into the Middle East. Among these workers, only 32,876 are engaged in professional roles. Out of the remaining 190,226 domestic migrant workers, Saudi Arabia employs the largest portion with 131,970 workers, followed by the UAE with 45,636 and Qatar with 12,620 workers.
Domestic workers earn between Shs 900,000 and Shs 1.2m. Despite the rising instances of abuse against migrant workers, the numbers continue to rise due to the lack of sufficient employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled youth within the country. Public outcry over the mistreatment of Ugandan workers in the Middle East has prompted government intervention.
In response to inquiries about reports of Ugandan worker deaths in the Middle East, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister for ICT and National Guidance, stated that the cabinet has directed the Ministry of Gender to release a comprehensive report on the state of migrant workers in the Middle East. Commissioner Egulu, in a recent interview, noted that most Ugandans struggle to secure professional jobs, as the offers in the Middle East or Gulf Cooperation countries are primarily for domestic positions.
For Ugandan professionals like teachers, drivers, security experts, and plumbers seeking work, Commissioner Egulu explained that they often need to pay significant amounts to secure such positions. This includes expenses for airfare, passports, medical exams, and visas. Some Ugandan companies are charging as much as Shs 7 million for professional job placements in the Middle East. Domestic workers, on the other hand, do not need to pay anything, as long as they are willing to work as housemaids.
“To get domestic workers, a Ugandan recruitment company instead gets paid to look for workers. If a company in Saudi Arabia demands about 100 workers, they can pay between $1,000 and $1,300 depending on one’s negotiation. Since most Ugandan companies have no cash up front and the Saudi company is providing it, the business becomes more attractive – a reason why most Ugandans go for domestic jobs,” Egulu said.
Allan Asiimwe, the managing director of Alastar Company (U) Ltd, a labour recruitment agency, said it is less tedious to find casual jobs for Ugandans. Whereas professional jobs are always available, he said, the slots are often limited compared to jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled people. Without signed job contracts from external recruitment agencies, Ugandan companies can’t advertise any jobs.
“Uganda exports few professionals because we lack accreditation centers that meet the standards of most foreign countries. If we are to externalize professional nurses, teachers, or engineers, they need to travel to Nairobi (Kenya) for accreditation. This process requires some money, which many Ugandans cannot afford. Also, the professional jobs come once in a while and need a lot of patience yet Ugandans are hungry for work and money,” Asiimwe said.
“As a businessman, you will choose what works fast; whether you are taking graduates as housemaids, it’s business as long as they are comfortable with the job,” he added.
Saudi Arabia takes mainly drivers, housemaids, cleaners, teaching assistants, waiters, and waitresses while Qatar employs labourers, security guards, carpenters, cleaners, personal assistants, administrators, and waiters and waitresses. In the UAE, the most significant chunk are security guards, labourers, loaders and cleaners. It’s worth noting that the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Somalia don’t employ domestic workers.
GOVT TO BLAME
Commenting on the low uptake of professionals abroad, Egulu said the government is not aggressive.
“I think Ugandans have gone to school and the onus is on the government to be able to make deals with foreign countries. It is difficult for a Ugandan recruitment company to negotiate better for such big professional jobs. We, maybe, have government officials [meant to negotiate for these jobs] that have not been so much exposed to big labour markets in countries like Brazil, Japan, and Russia,” he said.
Egulu added: “The doors to foreign nations can be opened by the government through the ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are not doing great there with the existing bilateral relations with these countries.”
He insisted that there’s a need to expand the skills base beyond the Middle East because Uganda is not a country that prides itself on “exporting” domestic workers.
“We have been to school and one of the best countries in the region. A situation of war in the Middle East can wipe out every gain. Look…the USA has pulled out of Afghanistan and Iraq, something that fizzled out Ugandan employment opportunities in security. So, Ugandan ex-combatants who were running out lost just like that yet they had other skills,” he said.
Egulu also took a swipe at Ugandan envoys for not tapping into meaningful professional employment opportunities abroad.
“Our diplomats should not just go and shake hands in high-level meetings. Whenever an opportunity knocks, they must sit down and compare notes about job opportunities for professional Ugandans,” he said.
According to the 2020 World Bank second report on the state of the job market in Uganda, around 700,000 young people reach working age every year. This figure is expected to rise to an average of one million in the decade from 2030 to 2040.
“It is estimated that an additional 13 million workers will enter the job market by 2030. This and Uganda’s high dependence rate of 1:42 dependants per employed person mean Uganda has to raise labour productivity whilst increasing the number of jobs created to match the per capita income growth of other economies with low dependency,” reads the World Bank report.
In the Middle East, many Ugandan professionals get jobs without government assistance. The few who go through companies are employed as agricultural workers, administrators, teaching assistants, and technicians. Nurses, most of whom work in homes, provide palliative care to people who are terminally ill but not attached to major hospitals. On teaching jobs, a source who preferred anonymity, said people in the Middle East believe Ugandans are not skilled enough to teach their children.
“Our teachers are good but most schools in the Middle East have people from France, the Philippines, Kenyans, and West Africans. In Dubai alone, you must bribe human resource officers and agents to get professional jobs. For instance, you may be a graduate teacher in Uganda but end up as a kindergarten teacher or school bus/van attendant with a salary ranging from Shs 1.5m to Shs 2m,” the source said.
The source added that some recruitment companies in Uganda can scout for better professional jobs but fear being arrested. For instance, if a professional job goes for Shs 8m, clients can be asked to make initial deposits as they process their travel documents.
“However, some impatient clients end up reporting us to authorities if their visas take long or are rejected. Yet, this is the shortcut being used lately to get better jobs. You pay half and clear the balance when you reach your final destination,” the source said.
In this arrangement, some untrustworthy clients also fleece companies when they eventually settle on the job.According to a source at Uganda’s embassy in the UAE, the majority of Ugandans are into unskilled labour and professional jobs are typically taken up by Europeans and a few individuals from African countries like South Africa.
“Professional jobs are always available because we have IT experts working both here in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, nurses, and engineers working in the oil and gas industry. Ugandans have to position themselves and take up these opportunities whenever they come up,” the source said.
Currently, Uganda has one signed Bilateral Relations Agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for domestic workers. For Qatar, the agreement is in the final review stages for signing while that of the UAE is still under review. In Turkey, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait, negotiations to sign agreements are still ongoing yet an unknown number of Ugandans are employed in these countries. In Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, there are no signed agreements.
The agreements cover the working conditions of migrant workers including the provision of medical insurance, standard employment contracts, and agreeing to implement Ugandan laws in their countries. Uganda was also sending domestic workers to Jordan [about 30%] but the arrangement was suspended three years ago because of the incessant mistreatment of workers with limited remedial measures from authorities there.
HUGE REMITTANCES
As of June 13, 2022, there were 235 licensed private recruitment companies. Every two years, each company pays Shs 2m in license fees. Last year, the ministry of Gender suspended operations of 11 companies in line with Regulation 13 of The Employment (Recruitment of Uganda Migrant Workers) Regulations 2021. Some directors of the suspended companies have since unsuccessfully made efforts to appeal the ministry’s orders.
“When we listed the companies, they came back trying to appeal but they have not fulfilled the ministry requirements to date. For now, their operations remain illegal in Uganda until they put in place what was required of them. We don’t know about their existence,” a source at the ministry said.
The companies were found with forged training reports, renewal documents, accumulated refund claims from clients, forged Covid-19 results, and trafficking people, among others. From migrant workers, the government annually collects US$1.2bn globally – the Middle East alone sends in $600m. This money, wired directly to the Uganda Revenue Authority accounts, is collected from the Middle East-based recruitment companies that are charged $30 [about Shs 110,000] for each worker.
Egulu was concerned that whereas the Gender ministry brings in lots of remittances and non-tax revenue, funding remains a hindrance to the sector.
“We know how to generate this money for the government but we don’t see it. I would have loved to keep track of the girls and boys in the Middle East by establishing labour attaches in all those countries and distress centers, among others, but we are cash-strapped. This money goes to the treasury and we must negotiate to get it,” he said.
Egulu added: “We need to talk more with people in the ministry of Finance that the money you are using to fund other government projects, we contributed to it and deserve a share as the source. We must be entitled to 40 percent of the remittances because we know best how to generate more for you. These have been long proposals and discussions that have not yet materialized. These are dynamics in government and that’s where we are.”
With inadequate funds to support migrant workers, the distressed ones in Saudi Arabia can either report to the Ugandan embassy based in Riyadh or report to the Gender ministry through its recently developed online system. Alternatively, a worker can complain through a relative based in Uganda who in turn logins into the system to file a complaint or manually write the ministry through the permanent secretary.
Deaths/injuries
From 2019 to date, Uganda has registered 88 deaths of migrant workers, according to the Gender ministry. Of these, Saudi Arabia has the highest number at 69. It is followed by the UAE and Jordan with five deaths each; Somalia with three, and Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain with two deaths each. Following the suspension of Jordan, the ministry no longer tracks the illegal trafficking of migrant workers and deaths in that country. On work-related injuries, only seven have been registered since 2019 in Saudi Arabia (five) and Iraq (two).
Some of the licensing requirements
• Company must be registered with URSB • All shareholders and directors shall be Ugandans • The company shall have a minimum authorized share capital of Shs 50m • A Ugandan-based commercial bank guarantee of Shs 100m • Non-refundable application fee of Shs 100,000 • Interpol certificates of good conduct for staff, directors, and shareholders • License fee of Shs 2m every two years • Individual income tax returns for the past year and tax clearance certificate • Staff or board members must not be engaged in the travel or sales agency of an airline company
Similar to numerous other nations, Uganda confronts substantial issues linked to alcohol use disorders (AUDs) stemming from risky alcohol consumption. This predicament significantly affects both public health and the overall social welfare of individuals who engage in such behaviour.
As a part of an ambitious effort to address challenges related to alcohol, a group of 17 addiction treatment experts collaborated with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to organise a five-day workshop.
The primary objective of this workshop was to create a comprehensive manual that provides guidance for the screening and treatment of individuals impacted by hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders.
At the workshop, Ministry of Health psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Kalani Okware explained that to combat and reduce the impact of excessive alcohol consumption, it is essential to develop a comprehensive tool that will help primary health care workers deliver effective care.
“Asmental health specialists, we should focus on designing a comprehensive Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol that matches the needs of primary care workers.”
The manual was developed in line with the WHO SAFER (explain the abbreviation) initiative launched in 2018 at the Third UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
SAFER is a technical package of cost-effective interventions for the prevention of harmful alcohol use.
It has been developed to deliver health and development gains to meet global, regional, and national health needs, and to reduce the human suffering and pain caused by harmful alcohol use.
“The harmful use of alcohol has a devastating impact on Consumers’ health, including injuries, mental health problems, and diseases like cancer and stroke. I call on the government of Uganda to Strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability and Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment at all levels, said Dr. Yonas Tegegn, Woldemariam, WHO Representative to Uganda.
Taking part in the workshop, Dr. Hafisa Kasule, WHO Technical Officer for Non-Communicable Diseases, revealed that “Ugandans currently consume over 12 litres of pure alcohol per year per capita.
Surprisingly, less than 50% of the population consumes alcohol, which means that the few who do drink are drinking too much, a challenge that demands immediate action,” she said.
She also stressed that tackling the pervasive problem of harmful alcohol use is essential to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.5 on alcohol and substance abuse.
WHO’s efforts to support Uganda in the prevention and control of alcohol consumption are long-standing.
Actions to date include, among others, the development of a risk factor survey in 2013 and 2023 to determine the burden of alcohol consumption in the country; the adaptation and piloting of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (MHGAP) intervention guide to facilitate access to alcohol use disorder services in primary health care centres.
Moving forward, WHO is in discussions with members of the Ugandan parliament to lobby for the adoption of the Alcohol Control Bill. This law will provide a legal basis for controlling the production, marketing, and consumption of alcohol in the country.
The World Bank has rendered an explanation as to why Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ bill contravenes its principles.
Unfortunately the institution has made a decision to halts financial aids to Uganda as a result of their stance on LGBTQ.
Details of the statement are here below:
In relation to Uganda, the World Bank Group has issued the subsequent communication:
The principles upheld by the World Bank Group are in direct contrast to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Our conviction is that our mission to eliminate poverty on a sustainable planet can only prosper if it encompasses individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation.
This legislation undermines the strides we are making in this direction. Our endeavors worldwide are rooted in the ideals of inclusivity and non-discrimination.
Upon the immediate enactment of this law, the World Bank promptly dispatched a team to Uganda for the purpose of assessing our ongoing initiatives in light of this new legal framework.
The outcome of this evaluation has determined the necessity for supplementary actions to ensure that our projects adhere to our established environmental and social standards. Our objective revolves around safeguarding sexual and gender minorities against biases and exclusions within the projects we financially support. Deliberations are currently underway with the relevant authorities to implement these actions.
We shall withhold the presentation of any fresh public funding for Uganda to our Board of Executive Directors until the effectiveness of these supplementary measures has been verified.
To a significant degree, the introduction of external oversight and mechanisms for addressing grievances will empower us to take remedial measures whenever deemed necessary.
The World Bank Group boasts a longstanding and mutually beneficial rapport with Uganda. Our commitment to aiding all Ugandans in their pursuit of escaping poverty, accessing essential services, and enhancing their quality of life remains unwavering, encompassing each and every individual without exception.
President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has responded to the World Bank over its intentions to halt future loan requests.
On August 8, the bank declared that it was pursuing legal action against the nation as a result of the recent passing of an anti-LGBTQ bill.
The president said that the behavior of the international lender amounted to trying to persuade Ugandans to renounce their faith and culture in exchange for money in a letter to the people that was published on Twitter.
Despite the fact that discussions with the lender to formalize areas of collaboration were in progress, he claimed that the East African nation would still thrive with or without funding.
Full text: Museveni’s message to the nation
Ugandans, especially the Bazzukulu. Greetings.
Things are moving well in Uganda in spite of the corruption of some Public Servants and some elements of the political class.
Last night, an official from the World Bank rang me to alert me about the statement from that Bank regarding the suspension of any new requests from Uganda for loans. I want to inform everybody, starting with Ugandans, that Uganda will develop with or without loans.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really under-estimate all Africans.
We do not need pressure from anybody to know how to solve problems in our society. They are our problems. We are continuing to talk with the World Bank so that both they and we avoid this diversion if possible.
In the aftermath of the adoption of a strict rule barring same-sex relationships in Uganda, the World Bank has halted fresh financing to that nation.
The death penalty is applied for “aggravated homosexuality” and a 20-year prison sentence is imposed for “promoting” homosexuality under the anti-LGBT law that President Yoweri Museveni signed in May.
The law “fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Group’s values,” the World Bank said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that its vision “includes everyone irrespective of race, gender, or sexuality.”
According to the statement, “no new public financing to Uganda will be presented to our Board of Executive Directors” until the effectiveness of fresh initiatives put out in the wake of the new legislation has been evaluated.
Uganda has criticized the action as being unfair and contradictory.
“There are many Middle East countries who do not tolerate homosexuals, they actually hang and execute homosexuals. In the US many states have passed laws that are either against or restrict activities of homosexuality… so why pick on Uganda?” Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs Okello Oryem was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.
According to Reuters, the World Bank had given Uganda $5.4 billion ($4.2 billion) in development finance through the end of 2022, primarily for health and education projects.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the delivery of $120 million to Uganda in June but issued a warning about harsher funding limitations due to the anti-gay law.
In addition to the US, the World Bank has imposed penalties on Uganda because of its anti-homosexuality law.
Five maritime police officers from Uganda who were sent to Lake Victoria to recover bodies after an accident that occurred last week were saved after their rescue boat crashed on Sunday, according to the police.
At least 20 people died in the accident on last Tuesday involving a boat that was overcrowded and perhaps carrying 34 people. Nine people were saved, while others were classified as missing.
Only five bodies—all women—had been discovered by the police on Saturday, according to sources.
They stated that they were “facing challenges” because of the dry lake and the huge amount of rain.
The event on Sunday, according to the police, “underscores the unpredictable nature of the lake and the difficult circumstances that our dedicated marine officers face while performing their life-saving duties.”
It states that the accident investigation is ongoing and that more information will be supplied as soon as it becomes available.
The report states that the hunt for the drowning victims’ bodies is still ongoing in the meantime.
In the Kasese District near the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border, numerous residents are facing the threat of starvation as a result of insecurity caused by suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels.
According to these residents, the fear for their safety escalated after the devastating attack on Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School on June 16, which tragically claimed the lives of over 40 people, including 38 children. Many individuals abandoned their gardens in the DRC to seek refuge, leaving them exposed to hunger. While the exact number of affected residents remains unknown, the situation is dire.
Previously, these residents used to cross the DRC through porous borders and rivers to cultivate their gardens. However, due to the prevailing insecurity, Ugandan security forces have tightened control over the borders, now permitting only recognized crossing points for anyone attempting to enter Congo.
One resident, Ms. Rebecca Kyakimwa, aged 50, revealed that her two-acre garden is situated in Domena Village, DRC. Regrettably, despite the crops in her garden, including cassava, sweet potatoes, and yams, being ready for harvest, she and others are unable to access their gardens due to safety concerns.
“Since the ADF rebels incident happened in Kasese, I cannot access my garden anymore because of the insecurity in Congo,” she said.
For fear of being targeted by the rebels in their attacks, Mr. Manasi Kakuhi was forced to leave his garden close to the border.
His 10-person family now risks going hungry since they have lost their main source of food.
“When you want to cross to DRC using the main channel, you are required to pay US$ 10,000 ($2.78) at the border and many of us don’t have that money. We also fear losing our lives,” he said.
“We sometimes hear gunshots at night, and I fear risking my life going to harvest crops from my gardens. We have nothing to eat at home and we are only living at the mercy of God,” he added.
The business community has been impacted by the unrest in the DRC.
Daniel Bwambale used to deal in shoes from the DRC, but his business has now been put on hold due to the current unrest there.
There is a concerning surge in the number of men inUganda seeking paternity tests, sparking fears of potential family breakups and lasting psychological effects on children.
The topic has become a major subject of debate in the country, triggered by a tabloid newspaper’s publication alleging that a prominent business tycoon, with multiple wives and mistresses, had a dispute with one of his spouses.
The alleged disagreement led the tycoon to request paternity tests, reportedly revealing that he was the biological father of only 15 out of his 25 children.
The tycoon and his family have chosen not to address the issue publicly, and the accuracy of the report remains unverified. Nonetheless, the story rapidly spread, causing significant controversy over the past months.
Lawmakers have been compelled to make heartfelt appeals, urging men to reconsider putting their families and children through the emotional trauma of such tests. The situation has prompted concerns about potential family discord and the lasting psychological impact on the affected children.
“Let’s live like our forefathers lived. The child born in the house is your child,” Minister of Mineral Development Sarah Opendi said in parliament. Although she qualified her statement by adding that if a man wanted a paternity test it should be done when a child is born – not when they are grown up.
Most concerningly, the privately owned Monitor daily stated that testing has resulted in domestic violence, with police detaining an Israeli national who lives in Uganda for allegedly killing his wife after DNA results revealed he was not the father of his six-month-old child. The individual isn’t yet facing any charges.
Speaking in mid-July, Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman Simon Mundeyi claimed that the number of requests for testing, which need collecting the father and child’s DNA, had increased tenfold.
“We used to have on average 10 applicants daily at our government analytical lab. We are now averaging 100 daily and the numbers are still increasing,” he added.
Private clinics also cashed in on the trend, putting up advertisements on the back of taxis and on billboards offering tests.
Image caption,The government is cracking down on DNA testing in private health centres
This raised concern that results may turn out to be wrong, especially after reports surfaced that suspected fake testing kits had been smuggled into Uganda.
The Ministry of Health stepped in to restrict testing to just three state-run laboratories – though the director of public health, Daniel Kyabayinze, said there was more social media hype than a surge in testing.
Nevertheless, steps were being taken to ensure that families received counselling and psychological support when tests were done.
“We have seen social media messages where people think paternity tests are disruptive to families and can cause gender-based violence. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen because of the result which is given,” Dr Kyabayinze told the BBC.
Public opinion has been split in the debate that has raged across Uganda – from bars to Parliament; taxis to Twitter, now known as X.
Expressing his support for tests, Kampala resident Bwette Brian told the BBC: “I think the man has the right to know whether the children are his or not. Children are responsibilities and every child must know the family they are attached to.”
Disagreeing, another resident, Tracy Nakubulwa, said: “I have seen happy marriages and families separate all due to the issue of paternity testing – and children are becoming victims.”
Human rights activist Lindsey Kukunda said the fact that wives sometimes secretly have a relationship with another man, to give her husband a child, “is not new”.
“Our ancestors did it, our grandparents did it, our mothers did it,” she said.
She points out that when couples have difficulty having children, it is often the man who has fertility problems, whereas “in African culture, if a woman can’t provide a man with children, she will be divorced or thrown out of the house”.
“So what these men don’t realise is that the woman that has provided them with children has slept with another man – to give you the child you desire.”
Ms Kukunda accused husbands who seek paternity tests of double-standards.
“It is common for men to have affairs and bring home children – but the wives raise these children as their own,” she said.
Image caption,Most paternity tests in Uganda confirm a biolgical link between fathers and their children
Microbiologist Freddie Bwanga said the state laboratory where he works has not seen a major increase in requests for testing, but greater awareness now exists around the issue.
His experience over the years shows that 60-70% of tests prove a biological link between the father and child.
As for the 30% to 40% who found they were not, the outcome was often beneficial in “helping children to be settled where they are born”.
And, some would argue, testing is better than relying on age-old cultural practices – like smearing cow fat on the umbilical cord, and putting it in a woven basket filled with water.
If it then floats – a cultural researcher pointed out to Uganda’s Monitor newspaper – it means the child belonged to the family.
But Uganda’s state minister for primary health care said there was no need for men to seek paternity tests.
“Anything that you don’t know can’t kill you. If you don’t know that this is not your child, it won’t break your heart. But when you find out your heart will be broken,” Margaret Muhanga said.
The UN’s human rights mission in Kampala will be closing after 18 years of operation, as the Ugandan government has terminated its mandate.
The sub-offices in Gulu and Moroto have already been shut down in northern Uganda.
This decision comes in the wake of Uganda passing some of the world’s toughest anti-LGBT laws, disregarding advice from local and international human rights organizations, including the UN.
In response, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, released a statement on Friday, urging the government to ensure the effective and independent functioning of Uganda’s national human rights body, which is tasked with overseeing human rights in the country.
Mr. Türk expressed concern over the continued closure of the majority of 54 NGOs that were arbitrarily suspended in 2021, as well as the potential further restrictions on free expression due to Uganda’s amended computer misuse law.
Moreover, he raised deep concern about the situation leading up to the 2026 elections, stating that human rights defenders, civil society members, and journalists in Uganda are facing an increasingly hostile environment.
“In the year under review, the company achieved sales of 348 tonnes of coffee compared with 185 tonnes in March 2022,” said the firm.
“The increase was mainly attributed to the favourable weather experienced in the year which enhanced bean development.”
Recently, the coffee sector in Kenya has come to a standstill as the government suspended coffee trading licenses for all traders in an effort to address the issue of cartels. As a result, the auction at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) has been inactive for over four weeks, leaving farmers burdened with unsold coffee beans.
Farmers are becoming increasingly concerned about the accumulation of stockpiles, fearing that when trading eventually resumes, the excess supply will lead to a sharp drop in prices, potentially resulting in financial losses for them.
The halt in coffee trading is not only impacting the farmers but also affecting the government, as coffee exports constitute a significant source of foreign exchange. At a time when the country is facing a rising import bill and increasing foreign debt payment obligations, the suspension poses challenges to the nation’s financial stability.
“The government had promised to extend existing marketing and brokerage permits by three months up to September through a gazette notice but that hasn’t happened,” an industry source told Nation last week.
Explaining its decision to end the mandate of the UN’s human rights office earlier this year, Uganda’s foreign ministry assured the UN of its “commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights”, and the presence of “strong national human rights institutions and a vibrant civil society”.
When reminiscing about the tragic church massacre that claimed the lives of her mother, two siblings, and four other relatives, Judith Ariho remains composed, without shedding any tears.
The heart-wrenching incident occurred exactly 20 years ago in the Kanungu district of south-western Uganda, where they were trapped inside a church with the doors and windows nailed shut from the outside, and the building was set on fire.
Even after two decades, the magnitude of the horrifying event remains overwhelming for Ms. Ariho. To cope with the trauma, she seems to have developed a coping mechanism of distancing herself from the emotions associated with the tragedy.
Image caption,This still from archive footage shows the ruins of the church in the wake of the fire
The dead were members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God – a doomsday cult that believed the world would come to an end at the turn of the millennium.
“The end of present times”, as one of its books phrased it, came two-and-a-half months later, on 17 March 2000.
Twenty years later, no-one has been prosecuted in connection with the massacre and the cult leaders, if they are alive, have never been found.
BBC
Everything was covered in smoke, soot and the stench of burnt flesh. It seemed to go right to your lungs”Anna Kabeireho Neighbour
Anna Kabeireho, who still lives on a hillside that overlooks the land that the cult owned, has not forgotten the smell that engulfed the valley that Friday morning.
“Everything was covered in smoke, soot and the stench of burnt flesh. It seemed to go right to your lungs,” she recalls.
“Everybody was running into the valley. The fire was still going. There were dozens of bodies, burnt beyond recognition.
“We covered our noses with aromatic leaves to ward off the smell. For several months afterwards, we could not eat meat.”
Kanungu is a fertile and peaceful region of green hills and deep valleys, covered in small farms broken up by homesteads.
The journey down into the valley that was once the headquarters of the Movement has to be taken by foot.
From down there, it is easy to see how the religious community would have maintained their lives away from the eyes of neighbours.
Birdsong bounces off the hills and there is the sound of a waterfall in the near distance. It is the ideal setting for a contemplative existence.
But nothing remains of the building that was doused in petrol and set alight. At the edge of the spot where it stood is a long mound of soil, the only marker for the mass grave in which the remains from the inferno were buried.
Defrocked priests and nuns
The faithful had been drawn by the charismatic leaders Credonia Mwerinde, a former bartender and sex worker, and ex-government employee Joseph Kibwetere, who said that they had had visions of the Virgin Mary in the 1980s.
They registered the Movement as a group whose aim was to obey the Ten Commandments and preach the word of Jesus Christ.
Christian icons were prominent in the Movement’s compound and the cult had tenuous links to Roman Catholicism with its leadership dominated by a number of defrocked priests and nuns, including Ursula Komuhangi and Dominic Kataribabo.
Image caption,Christian iconography was found in one of the compound’s buildings after the fire
Believers lived mostly in silence, occasionally using signs to communicate.
Questions would be sent to Mwerinde in writing. Known as “the programmer”, she is said to have been the mastermind behind how the establishment run, and would write back with answers.
Ms Ariho, 41, joined the Movement with her family when she was 10.
Her widowed mother was struggling to raise three children, one of whom suffered from persistent headaches. Kibwetere’s group offered prayer and a sense of belonging, she says.
The self-sustaining community would take in whole families, providing for their every need. The members grew their own food, ran schools, and used their skills to contribute labour.
BBC
We did everything possible to avoid sin. Sometimes, if you sinned, they would command you to recite the rosary 1,000 times”Judith Ariho Former cult member
Ms Ariho’s family hosted a branch of the church with about 100 members in their compound, 2km (1.2 miles) outside the town of Rukungiri.
“Life rotated around prayer, although we also farmed,” she says.
“We did everything possible to avoid sin. Sometimes, if you sinned, they would command you to recite the rosary [an entreaty to God] 1,000 times.
“You had to do it, and also ask friends and family to help, until you had served your punishment.”
Devotion to the Movement regularly involved pilgrimage to a steep, rocky hill nearby. After a tough hike through a eucalyptus forest, hanging onto rocks and grabbing at tufts of grass, the faithful would reach a rock that they believed depicted the Virgin Mary.
Image caption,Followers of the Movement believed that this rock resembled the Virgin Mary
As we walk through her village, she points to the homesteads of the immediate neighbours. “Over there, they lost a mother and her 11 children, and in that home, a mother and her eight children died too,” she says, shifting her gaze to the ground.
Ms Ariho had not travelled to Kanungu as by 2000 she had married into a family who were not part of the Movement.
But she remembers that the leaders had an omniscient grip on the faithful, saying that Mwerinde and Komuhangi seemed to be aware of every sin that had been committed in the far-flung outlets of the church.
When a follower broke the rules, the two women would shed tears of blood, she says.
But it appears that the cult leaders may have also engaged in murder and torture before the final massacre.
In Kanungu, there are numerous wide and deep pits where dozens of bodies, thought to have been dumped over several years, were retrieved days after the blaze.
At the back of what seems like a ruined office building are two more pits, said to have been torture chambers. Pits were also found near other branches of the church.
What turned ordinary members of society into murderous cult leaders is still not clear.
Before his apparitions, Kibwetere had been a successful man, and a regular member of the Roman Catholic community.
Topher Shemereza, now a local government official, saw him as a father figure.
“He was an upright member of the community and a shrewd businessman. I did not have a job when I finished university, so he offered me a deal to transport local moonshine, which we sold in the neighbouring districts,” he explains.
A few years on, Kibwetere informed his protégé that he would no longer sell alcohol. The older man and his fellow cult leaders spent a fortnight in Mr Shemereza’s government-issued house right up until the night they set off for Kanungu, where they would establish the Movement’s headquarters.
“That was the last time I ever saw him. The man I knew was not a murderer. Something must have changed in him,” he says.
Image caption,The remains of some of the Movement’s buildings can still be seen
After the Movement’s foundation, word of Kibwetere and his religion spread across south-west Uganda and beyond.
The community was not closed off from the rest of society, and several people in positions of authority – including policemen and local government officials – were aware of its activities. But little action was taken against the cult before the inferno.
Although Interpol issued notices for the arrest of six cult leaders in April 2000, it is still not known if any of them died in the fire or whether they are living in hiding.
A 2014 Uganda police report indicated that Kibwetere may have fled the country. But others doubt that he was well enough to do this.
No memorial
Spiritual movements that bear the hallmarks of the Kanungu cult, where devotees unquestioningly believe their pastors can resurrect the dead or that holy water will heal ailments, have continued to emerge across the continent.
BBC
The Kanungu cult pointed out the evils of the time… and preached a renewal or re-commitment to the faith”Dr Paddy Musana Makerere University
Their appeal is clear, according to Dr Paddy Musana of Makerere University’s Department of Religion and Peace Studies.
“When there is strain or a need which cannot be easily met by existing institutions like traditional faiths or government, and someone emerges claiming to have a solution, thousands will rally around them,” he tells the BBC.
“The Kanungu cult pointed out the evils of the time… and preached a renewal or re-commitment to the faith.”
Dr Musana adds that one need not look too far to find a similar thread in the messages of today’s self-proclaimed prophets.
“The ‘Jesus industry’ has become an investment venture. Today’s preachers talk about health and wellness, because of the numerous diseases, and a public health system that barely functions,” says the academic.
He argues that the government needs to do more in overseeing these spiritual movements.
Two decades on, the 48-acre plot at Kanungu is now being used as a tea plantation, but local businessman Benon Byaruhanga says he has plans to turn parts of it into a memorial.
So far, the dead at Kanungu have never been officially remembered. Those who lost family members have never got any answers.
“We pray for our people on our own. We bear our pain in silence,” Ms Ariho says, reflecting on the deaths of her mother and siblings.
An exiled Ugandan writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who claims to have been tortured for his writing, has affirmed his unwavering commitment to continue writing, stating that he will persist until his “last breath,” in an interview with the BBC’s Focus on Africa.
Despite the threats he faces, the 35-year-old writer expressed his desire to return home. He emphasized that his primary goal is to contribute to making Uganda a better place. Writing has served as a coping mechanism for him in the face of pain and adversity.
Rukirabashaija gained recognition for his satirical novel, “The Greedy Barbarian,” which exposes high-level corruption in a fictional country. His book “Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous” recounts the alleged torture he endured while in detention in 2020.
After the publication of his second book, which enraged the authorities, Rukirabashaija was arrested again in 2021. Both of his novels were seen as direct criticisms of President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power in Uganda since 1986.
Following his online ridicule of President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi, Rukirabashaija was detained once more. Eventually, his passport was confiscated, but he managed to escape through a covert route and sought refuge in Europe in 2022.
Rukirabashaija’s decision to leave was primarily influenced by the advice of several medical professionals who recommended urgent medical treatment abroad.
Suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, he is concerned about the potential psychological impact on his children resulting from the ordeals they have collectively experienced.
Nevertheless, his aspirations of returning home persist. While he acknowledges that forgiveness towards those who nearly took his life is a difficult prospect, he rejects the idea of remaining in exile and refuses to be labeled a “coward.”
Uganda and South Sudan have come together to strengthen their energy ties and promote socioeconomic development in the border towns of Oraba, Elegu, Kaya, and Nimule through the signing of a crucial power sales agreement (PSA).
The power sales agreement aims to boost electrical commerce between the two neighboring nations and foster economic growth in the region. The Olwiyo substation in northern Uganda, which is already operational at 132kV, will serve as the electricity source for the 400kV Olwiyo-Juba transmission line, facilitating the distribution of power to Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.
The initiative stems from a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) established in December 2015, focusing on developing transmission and distribution infrastructure to connect Uganda and South Sudan under the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Plan (Nelsap). To ensure effective implementation, a joint technical committee has been set up to plan and coordinate the project’s development.
As per the agreement, the priority lies in the construction of the 308 km power transmission line, with 138 km located in South Sudan and 170 km in Uganda. Additionally, the substations at Juba, Olwiyo, and Bibia (near the Elegu border post in Uganda) will undergo expansion to facilitate smooth electricity flow.
The momentous power sales agreement was officially signed in Juba on Tuesday by Irene Bateebe, the Permanent Secretary of the Ugandan Energy Ministry, and Beck Awan Deng, the General Manager of the South Sudan Electricity Corporation (SSEC). This collaboration represents a significant step forward in strengthening energy ties and promoting socioeconomic progress between Uganda and South Sudan.
“Today’s signing ceremony marks the beginning of serious cooperation in power trade between Uganda and South Sudan,” energy minister Dr Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, who led the Ugandan delegation said.
Peter Marcello Jelenge, South Sudan representative, added, “We would like to see projects that benefit both the people of Uganda and South Sudan…We will take power from small towns in Uganda, such as Elegu and Oraba.”
The feasibility study, which started in March 2023 and is anticipated to be finished in February of the following year, is being carried out by a consortium made up of the Italian companies CESI S.p.A., ELC Electro Consult S.p.A., Colenco Consulting Ltd., and Colenco Consulting Ltd. of Nigeria.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has decided to donate money to South Sudan and Uganda for feasibility studies with additional funding by the AfDB.
Over the course of a year, park rangers in Uganda‘s Murchison Falls national park accumulated 12 tonnes of traps, which they piled high and dubbed “snare mountain.”
They’re hoping to highlight the devastation to local wildlife by poachers who use these snares to trap lions, elephants and hippos among others.
“Over the past 10 years, we’ve removed about 47 tonnes of snares and bear traps,” says Michael Keigwin, the founder of the Uganda Conservation Foundation charity, as reported by the Guardian newspaper.
There is talk of a poaching crisis fuelled by Uganda’s worsening economy after strict Covid-19 lockdowns, and the charity estimates that more than 60% of the national park’s hippos have been killed in the past few years for their meat and the ivory in their teeth.
Rev. Canon John Awodi passionately asserts that “homosexuality is a sin that must be repented of” and that it is against the “order of God” while presiding over Sunday services at All Saints’ Cathedral in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
“Homosexuality is an abnormal behaviour. The church in this location takes that stance. It is against biblical and natural law, the Anglican priest told CNN.
Particularly since Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was enacted last month, these themes have emerged frequently in his sermons and interviews.
The act outlaws gay marriage in Uganda, punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” – which includes sex with a minor or otherwise vulnerable person, having sex while HIV positive and incest.
After initially wavering and sending the bill – which is widely popular with lawmakers, Christian and Muslim leaders in Uganda, as well as commentators on social media – back to parliament for review, President Yoweri Museveni eventually signed it into law in May, leading to global criticism, existential dread within the LGBTQ+ community, and legal challenges.
“It dehumanizes us as human beings, it doesn’t treat us as citizens. We are literally criminals and we are illegal in our own space that we call home. Nowhere is safe for any queer person living in Uganda,” Joan Amek, co-founder of Rella Women’s Foundation, told CNN.
Even though she created a safe space and shelter for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women through her organization, she says, she herself faces eviction from her rented apartment by the end of July. She believes it is because of her sexuality and prominence in queer activism, even though her landlord didn’t explicitly say so but her suspicions rose after a neighbor tipped her off.
“I have had myself being chased away from where I’m staying,” she said.
Returning to her parents’ house was not an option either. “My mum stands in solidarity with me but from a distance. When we had the conversation that I had been evicted, she didn’t say ‘you can come home’ she just said ‘oh, sorry, I’ll pray for you.’ How is prayer going to help?” Amek asked.
In recent weeks, disturbing videos have surfaced showing mounting hostility towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals in Uganda since the reintroduction of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
In one video, verified by a consortium of civil society groups called the Strategic Response Team (SRT), a transgender woman is marched naked on the streets while a jeering crowd follows, and a lesbian couple endures ridicule from neighbors, among other forms of public shaming.
At least 300 human rights violations against suspected homosexuals have been reported in Uganda arising from the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, the SRT told CNN. As it investigates them, the SRT says it submitted a list of 50 verified cases to a judge while seeking an injunction against the law.
They include cases of evictions, so-called “corrective” rape, outing, termination from employment, blackmail, threats of violence or physical attacks and incidents of mob justice, according to SRT.
However, opposition lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa, who introduced the 2023 bill, dismissed the latest reports of human rights violations as “distortions” and fabrications.
He told CNN the allegations were “completely false,” and backed the law.
“Who has been fired from their jobs? Who has been evicted from their houses? This is a very innocent law. No one has been targeted,” he said.
Nash Wash Raphael, a 30-year-old transgender man, says he was attacked on the night Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. He was left with a broken ankle and relies on crutches to walk while it heals.
This was not the first time Raphael had faced violence; he says it was the ninth assault since his transition. Raphael describes his life as “hell,” and says he attempted suicide when pictures of him and his partner were leaked and went viral. While they weren’t intimate photos, they still outed him.
“I feel like I should take my own life as there is nothing else I’m left to protect. This is my second year on hormones, and I was supposed to get my top surgery next year, but all this has been shattered, and I can’t even afford it,” Raphael said. Top surgery refers to the procedure to remove breast or chest tissue.
Raphael says he no longer walks during the day, afraid that he might get attacked again.
After getting fired from his job for not wearing traditional women’s clothes, he tried casual jobs in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and hawking baked goods in Kampala but says he couldn’t keep his identity hidden for long.
He says his Muslim family disowned him and he remains in contact only with his youngest sister out of six siblings. His father told CNN that Raphael is his daughter who has refused to come home.
“My life is actually useless to them. I literally tell myself that I don’t have a family in this world. The same God that created them has a reason why he made me the way I am,” Raphael says, his voice breaking.
The new law states that “a person who promotes homosexuality commits an offense and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.”
It also requires Ugandans to report suspected homosexuals or violations of the law to the authorities.
On Museveni’s recommendation, the law prescribes rehabilitation for convicted homosexuals to change their sexual orientation, even though scientists say so-called conversion therapy is harmful and ineffective.
Ugandan lawmakers, who overwhelmingly supported the bill, railed against the supposed “recruitment” of young people into homosexuality, pedophilia and grooming.
Basalirwa, the lawmaker, told CNN he had met with people who had been “recruited” but had, in his words, “counseled out of it.”
“I want to disagree with the people who say homosexuality is a Western concept. No, it is not. We’ve lived with homosexuality here in this country, in Africa. What is foreign is recruitment and promotion. That’s un-African,” he said.
Human rights advocates say that the offense of “promotion” of homosexuality could be weaponized against activists, journalists, or any ordinary citizen.
“Someone can accuse anyone of being queer and they’ll get arrested. And next thing you know, you could be spending up to life in prison,” Amek told CNN.
Amek has grown accustomed to the dangers of her work, after she says her organization’s offices were raided by police three times, forcing them to move to a new shelter for vulnerable queer women.
It is the cost of continuing to operate in a conservative Ugandan society where homophobic messaging emanates everywhere from churches and mosques to the highest political offices, Amek said.
The Church of Uganda openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and supported the Anti-Homosexuality Act, accusing the global head of the Anglican Church of misinterpreting the Bible.
Welby wrote to the leader of Ugandan Anglicans expressing his “grief and dismay” for at that support, but it fell on deaf ears. The Church of Uganda says it will separate from the Church of England over their differences on the issue of homosexuality.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 is a revival of a previous version nicknamed the “Kill the Gays” Bill that Uganda’s parliament passed in 2014 but which was blocked in court on a technicality. This current law is also being challenged in court.
Amek understands that she risks jail time by speaking up, but she persists, saying it is worth it. “I don’t want to be a martyr and die. But I want to stand strong for protection of the LGBTIQ generation and community now, but also for the future,” she said.
“Silence equals death. And regardless of whether I stay silent or not, they’ll still kill us, they’ll still criminalize us.”
The Ugandan government has stated that it intends to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21.
The World Health Statistics 2023 Report ranks Uganda among the leading countries for high rates of alcohol consumption.
According to the WHO report, it is estimated that Ugandans currently consume 12.2 litres of alcohol per person annually, which is significantly higher than the global average.
“Research has shown that if someone has not taken an addictive substance by 21, they are much less likely to use addictive substances later in life,” Dr Hafsa Lukwata, the Ministry of Health commissioner for mental health, alcohol and substance sbuse, told the BBC.
“There has been a public outcry over substance abuse in young people,” Dr Lukwata added.
She said that parliament will discuss the age limit, among other measures, in the soon-to-be presented Alcohol Control Bill.
Ugandan police have announced the arrest of 20 individuals suspected of collaborating with Islamist militants who were involved in an attack on a school last Friday.
Among those detained are the head teacher and the school’s director.
The attack took place at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, located in western Uganda, resulting in the tragic death of 42 people, mostly students.
The victims were predominantly burnt to death in their dormitory.
The Ugandan army continues its pursuit of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militants, who are believed to have crossed the border back into the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where they maintain their base.
In a significant achievement for Brussels, Kenya and the European Union have officially entered into a trade agreement. This deal marks a valuable milestone in the EU’s endeavor to strengthen economic relations with Africa, countering the growing competition posed by China.
Authorities have blamed Friday’s attack in Mpondwe town, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group that has pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS).
In his first remarks since the attack, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni promised to hunt the assailants “into extinction”.
“Their action – the desperate, cowardly, terrorist action – will not save them,” Museveni said in a statement, vowing to deploy more troops on the Ugandan side of the border.
Pope Francis offered a prayer on Sunday for “the young student victims of the brutal attack” that has shocked Uganda and drawn international condemnation.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “an appalling act”, while the United States, a close ally of Uganda, and the African Union also condemned the bloodshed.
Here is what we know so far about the worst attack in Uganda since 2010, when 76 people were killed in twin bombings in the capital, Kampala, by the Somalia-based al-Shabab armed group.
What happened?
Most of the victims died when the dormitory of the Lhubiriha Secondary School, located less than 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, was set on fire late on Friday.
Students told Al Jazeera that they were sleeping when suspected ADF fighters forced their way into the school. Some of them were hacked to death, while others were burned alive using petrol bombs. Some students survived by hiding under the bodies of others.
“We were getting ready to sleep when we heard shouting, we saw men wearing dark green clothes with guns, axes and machetes,” said Bright Mumbere, a student.
“They wanted us to open the dormitory door and then started shooting,” he added.
Uganda’s Minister of Education Janet Museveni, who is also the country’s first lady, said 17 male students were burned in their dormitory while 20 female students were hacked to death with machetes.
An unknown number of attackers, believed to be from the ADF armed group based in the eastern DRC, fled towards the Virunga National Park, a vast area that straddles the border, with six students in captivity, authorities said.
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesman Felix Kulayigye said armed forces were pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students.
Questions have been raised about how the attackers managed to evade detection in a border region with a heavy military presence.
Major General Dick Olum said intelligence suggested the presence of the ADF in the area at least two days before the attack, and an investigation would be needed to establish what went wrong.
Families in mourning
Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition, frustrating efforts to identify the dead and account for the missing.
At a mortuary in Bwera, a town near Mpondwe, families were inconsolable as the bodies of their loved ones were placed in coffins and taken away for burial.
Selevest Mapoze, mayor of the town of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha, said “most of the relatives have come to take their bodies” from the morgue.
But for many others, there was no news of missing relatives. The charred unidentified bodies have been sent to the city of Fort Portal for DNA testing.
“We know that 20 of the students, all girls, were hacked to death using machetes, and 17 boys were burned as petrol bombs were thrown in their dormitory,” Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, said.
Who are the ADF?
The ADF, which the US has designated a “terrorist” group, is considered the deadliest of dozens of armed militias that roam mineral-rich eastern DRC. In March, Washington announced a reward of up to $5m for information leading to the capture of the ADF leader.
The ADF was formed in 1995 by a coalition of rebel forces – including the Uganda Muslim Liberation Army and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) – to fight against the rule of Museveni, who has held power in the East African country since 1986.
Over the years, the group was backed by subsequent DRC governments who were keen on subverting Rwandan and Ugandan influence in the country.
But in 2013, the ADF began attacking Congolese military targets, leading the army to fight back. Consequently, ADF leader Jamil Mukulu fled to Tanzania in 2015, where he was arrested and extradited to his home country to stand trial on charges of “terrorism”.
Past ADF attacks
This was not the first attack on a school in Uganda by the ADF. In June 1998, 80 students were burned to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the DRC border. More than 100 students were abducted.
Ugandan authorities also blamed the group for deadly suicide bombings in the capital in 2021, following which it launched a joint military operation in DRC. But the measures have so far failed to stop the ADF attacks.
At least 41 people, mostly kids, were killed and six others were kidnapped when armed rebels assaulted a school in western Uganda, according to Ugandan officials.
Military spokesman Felix Kulayigye told CNN that some of the victims were killed by machete attacks while others perished in dormitory fires.
The Lhubirira secondary school was attacked late on Friday by about 20 members of the rebel organisation Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has ties to ISIS.
The school is situated along Uganda’s border with Congo in the town of Kasese, and educates children between the ages of 13 and 18. Of the dead, 39 were students and two were from the local community, local officials said.
Authorities were still trying to extinguish the fire by Saturday morning. The military suspects more dead bodies may be found, but said there was no one still alive trapped in the school.
According to Kulayigye, there had been 62 people in the school during the attack.
“We’re commiserating with the families, and the leadership of the UPDF (Ugandan Peoples’ Defense Forces) are on the ground and have been deployed to protect the place,” he added.
The United Nations condemned the attack. “Those responsible for this appalling act must be brought to justice,” a statement read.
Extending “heartfelt condolences” to victims and their families, Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the immediate release of those abducted and reiterated “the importance of collective efforts to tackle cross border insecurity between Congo and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area.”
The spokesman for Uganda’s military operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Major Bilal Katamba, told CNN the military is pursuing the suspects in the DRC and believes they are headed towards the Virunga National Park.
Major Dick Olum, commander of the UPDF operation in eastern DRC, said the rebels had spent two days in the town – where they were led and shown around by local residents – before the killings.
“Everybody should be on the lookout,” he warned residents in Kasese.
“If you see someone you don’t recognize, have him arrested. Please identify the youth that led the ADF here,” he appealed.
Footage of the aftermath showed whole areas of the school cordoned off and armored military vehicles in the vicinity. Large crowds were also seen gathering on school premises.
Ugandan government officials led by State Minister for Higher Education John Muyingo visited the school on Saturday.
In a statement shared on Twitter, First Lady Janet Museveni said the government was “providing support for the bereaved families during this trying time.”
“On behalf of the Ugandan government… I extend heartfelt condolences to the families, students, staff of Lhubiliriha Secondary School and the broader community affected by this tragedy,” she said.
“We call upon everyone to offer prayers for the affected families and community while also urging vigilance to uphold the safety of our children in schools.”
“I remain confident that the UPDF, with divine guidance, will ensure those responsible face justice,” she added.
An eyewitness who lost three cousins in the brutal attack, told CNN that the local mortuary is “very crowded” as victims rescued from the school continue to be treated.
“I knew my relatives were at school, so when I heard about the incident, very early in the morning we rushed to the hospital and we found their bodies there, and the mortuary was very crowded,” Clay Biromunane said.
Biromunane was in his bedroom around 300 meters away from the school when he heard gunfire erupt at around 10:40 p.m. local time.
“Up to now people are up and down looking for their relatives,” Biromunane said.
The 35-year-old said the community was “very much surprised” by the attack and said they had never experienced anything like it before.
Mapoze Slevest, Mayor of Mpondwe, similarly expressed surprise, telling reporters that Mpondwe “was a good community with no rebels.”
Based along the mountainous border between Uganda and the DRC, the ADF began fighting against the government after being founded in the mid-90s.
The group was sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations in 2014 for terrorist activities in the region, including attacks on children.
The US Department of Treasury denounced the ADF “for targeting children in situations of armed conflict, including through killing, rape, abduction and forced displacement.”
In January, the ADF was accused of detonating a bomb during a church service in the DRC, killing at least 12 worshipers.
Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Mayor Selevest Mapoze told The Associated Press that some of the students suffered fatal burns when a dormitory was set on fire.
Others were shot or hacked with machetes.
The raid, which happened around 11:30 p.m., involved about five attackers, the Ugandan military said.
Soldiers from a nearby brigade who responded to the attack found the school on fire, ‘with dead bodies of students lying in the compound,’ military spokesman Brig. Felix Kulayigye said in a statement.
Residents sit near the scene of the violent rampage in Mpondwe (Picture: AFP)
The statement cited 47 bodies, with eight other people wounded and being treated at a local hospital.
Ugandan troops are ‘pursuing the perpetrators to rescue the abducted students’ who were forced to carry looted food toward Congo’s Virunga National Park, it added.
It is suspected that the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an extremist group that has long since been launching attacks from its bases in eastern Congo, are behind the raid.
The school, co-ed and privately owned, is located in the Ugandan district of Kasese, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Congo border.
Who are the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF?)
The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo.
The shadowy group rarely claims responsibility for attacks.
The ADF has long opposed the rule of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.
The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni’s policies.
At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not from the scene of the latest attack.
A Ugandan military assault later forced the ADF into eastern Congo, where many rebel groups are able to operate because the central government has limited control there.
The group has since established ties with the Islamic State group.
Joe Walusimbi, an official representing Uganda’s president in Kasese, told the AP agency over the phone that some of the victims ‘were burnt beyond recognition.’
Winnie Kiiza, an influential political leader and a former lawmaker from the region, condemned the ‘cowardly attack’ on Twitter.
She said ‘attacks on schools are unacceptable and are a grave violation of children’s rights,’ adding that schools should always be a safe place for every student.’
In March , at least 19 people were killed in Congo by suspected ADF extremists.
Ugandan authorities for years have vowed to track down ADF militants even outside Ugandan territory. In 2021, Uganda launched joint air and artillery strikes in Congo against the group.
Rebels associated with theIslamic State group have carried out a devastating assault on a school in western Uganda, resulting in the deaths of approximately 40 individuals, primarily students.
The tragic incident took place at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, where a group of boys residing in the school’s dormitories were among those killed.
Currently, eight individuals remain in critical condition following the attack.
The responsibility for the Friday assault has been attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan organization operating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
NB: Some people may find details in this story distressing.
Many of the bodies were transferred to Bwera Hospital, national police spokesperson Fred Enanga said.
A dormitory at the school was burnt and a food store was looted during the incident, he added.
Some of the bodies are said to have been badly burnt and DNA tests will need to be carried out to identify them.
The attackers are said to have torched the students’ mattresses and are also thought to have detonated bombs in the region.
Members of the wider community possibly among the dead. A number of students remain unaccounted for.
Soldiers are pursuing ADF insurgents towards the DRC’s Virunga National park – Africa’s oldest and largest national park which is home to rare species, including mountain gorillas.
Militias including the ADF also use the vast expanse, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, as a hideout.
“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.
Uganda and the DRC have held joint military operations in the east Congo to prevent attacks by the ADF.
Security forces had intelligence that rebels were in the border area on the DRC side for at least two days before Friday night’s attack, Major General Olum said.
The deadly episode follows last week’s attack by suspected ADF fighters in a village in the DRC near to the Ugandan border. Over 100 villagers fled to Uganda but have since returned.
The attack on the school, located less than two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the DRC border, is the first such attack on a Ugandan school in 25 years.
In June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DRC. More than 100 students were abducted.
The ADF was created in eastern Uganda in the 1990s and took up arms against long-serving President, Yoweri Museveni, alleging government persecution of Muslims.
After its defeat by the Ugandan army in 2001, it relocated to North Kivu province in the DRC.
The group’s principal founder, Jamil Makulu, was arrested in Tanzania in 2015 and is in custody in a Ugandan prison.
ADF rebels have been operating from inside the DRC for the past two decades.
In 2021, suicide bombings in Uganda’s capital Kampala and other parts of the country were blamed on the ADF.
The most recent division within the Anglican Church arises following remarks made by the Archbishop of Canterbury regarding Uganda’s recently passed legislation.
On Wednesday, the chairperson of a conservative Anglican organization leveled allegations against the global leader of the Anglican Church, asserting that his critique of Uganda’s recently enacted anti-LGBTQ legislation perpetuated colonialism.
The new legislation imposes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year prison sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.
“It seems the history of colonisation and patronising behaviour of some provinces in the northern hemisphere towards the South, and Africa in particular, is not yet at an end,” said Bishop Laurent Mbanda, chair of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and head of Rwanda’s Anglican Church.
He was referring to Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion’s 85 million members, who said last week that he had written to Ugandan Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba.
The letter expressed “grief and dismay” at Kaziimba’s support for the law.
Welby had said last week that he was aware of the history of British rule in Uganda and his statement was not about imposing Western values, but a reminder of the commitment “to treat every person with the care and respect they deserve as children of God”.
In response, Archbishop Kaziimba said last week that Welby “has every right to form his opinions about matters around the world that he knows little about first-hand”.
Mbanda’s statement mentioned but did not explicitly offer support for the Ugandan law.
The law has triggered widespread Western criticism including threats by United States President Joe Biden and others to cut aid to Uganda and impose other sanctions.
Issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights have sharply divided Anglicans, with the church’s GAFCON coalition of conservative adherents among the most critical.
Anglicans created GAFCON in 2008 in response to what the group says was Western churches’ abandonment of Bible-based doctrines. GAFCON claims to represent the majority of all Anglicans worldwide.
In February, another splinter group, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, said it no longer recognised Welby’s leadership of the Anglican Communion after the Church of England announced it would allow priests to bless same-sex couples.
The Church of Uganda says 36 percent of Uganda’s population of around 45 million are Anglicans.
The United States has updated its travel advice for Uganda, following the promulgation in May of the “Anti-Homosexuality Law 2023”, considered to be one of the most repressive in the world, according to a note published Monday evening by the State Department.
The law provides for heavy penalties for people who have homosexual relations and “promote” homosexuality. The crime of “aggravated homosexuality” is punishable by death, a sentence that has not been applied for years in Uganda.
The US State Department, which had already warned its nationals to “reconsider travel” to Uganda because of the terrorist attacks and crime rate, said that the enactment of the anti-homosexuality law “increases the risk that LGBTQI+ individuals, and those perceived to be LGBTQI+, will be prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment or death”.
The US authorities also warned of the risk of “harassment or attacks by vigilante groups” against LGBT+ people.
“The US should understand that Uganda is a sovereign state that legislates for its people and not for the Western world. They can issue travel advisories because it is their right, but it should be remembered that blackmail has no place in the modern world,” Ugandan Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi told AFP, adding that the US decision was “expected”.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled this African country in the Great Lakes region with an iron fist since 1986, promulgated the law on 29 May, sparking outrage from human rights organizations and many Western countries. Despite threats of sanctions, the Ugandan head of state assured the world that “no one will make us move”.
Denouncing a “tragic attack” on human rights, US President Joe Biden said he had asked his administration to study the consequences of this “shameful” law on “all aspects of cooperation between the United States and Uganda”.
The American authorities are considering “additional measures”, such as sanctions or restrictions on entry to their territory for “anyone associated with human rights violations or corruption,” he added.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also condemned the law as “contrary to human rights”.
In 2014, international donors had already reduced their aid following the passing of a law punishing homosexuality.
In particular, Washington suspended funding for government programs and imposed visa bans. European countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands had also frozen part of their bilateral aid.
The law was eventually annulled by the Constitutional Court on the grounds of a technical defect in the vote.
Days after parliament passed a divisive anti-gay bill, the normally bustling HIV/AIDS treatment center in Kampala, Uganda, is nearly deserted.The staff reports that the daily average of 50 patients has decreased, and that unused antiretroviral medications are piling up.
A resident medical officer at a US-funded clinic, warned that new waves of HIV infections were forming as vulnerable people stayed away from treatment centers, afraid of being identified and arrested under the new laws.
“The LGBT community in Uganda is on lockdown now,” he said. “They don’t have preventive services. They cannot access condoms … they cannot access ARTS (antiretroviral).”
Under the bill, which President Yoweri Museveni signed into law last week, gay sex is punishable by life in prison while “aggravated homosexuality”, including the transmission of HIV, is punishable by death.
Until this year, the Kampala clinic had been a beacon of success for the fight against HIV in Uganda, where 1.4 million people live with the virus and 17,000 die a year as a result of its ravages, according to the Uganda AIDS Commission.
Now, when patients do come in, it’s often out of absolute necessity. The HIV cases presenting has thus become more severe as people skip treatments.
A US official suggested that the law would reverse the country’s advancements in fighting HIV/AIDS.
That statement was rebuked by Ugandan prime minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, who responded that the government would ensure that prevention programs would remain accessible to those that needed them.
Nonetheless, the trend of HIV patients staying away from treatment centers is being mirrored on a national level, according to Mary Borgman, country director for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which funds the Kampala clinic and about 80 other drop-in centers across Uganda.
She said fear had increasingly been deterring people from coming in for treatment ever since the anti-gay bill was introduced in parliament in March.
The people living with the virus are not the only ones afraid of repercussions. Many medical officials are reluctant to provide services to gay patients, as they fear being accused of defending and promoting homosexuality.
Reporting gay activity
Lillian Mworeko, the East African regional coordinator for the International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS, said some providers feared that offering medical services to LGBTQ patients could be classed as “promoting” homosexuality, an offense punishable by 20 years in prison under the new law.
The Ugandan bill toughened up an existing British colonial-era law, under which gay sex was already illegal. Proponents say the new legislation is needed to counter what they allege are efforts by LGBTQ Ugandans to recruit children into homosexuality.
The amended version signed by Museveni didn’t criminalize merely identifying as LGBTQ, as a previous version did, and revised a measure that required people to report gay activity to only oblige reporting when a child was involved.
Though acclaimed nationally by public opinion and seen as a clear statement against the propagation of “corrupt western mores” in African societies, local activists have denounced the backwardness of the law, pointing out that homosexuality existed in precolonial Africa, was accepted in most cultures than others and was not considered unnatural or a sin.
“The majority of these people, like transgender or queer people, have gone through a lot already,” shared a medical officer.
At the Kampala clinic, run by local charity Icebreakers Uganda, one of the medical officers said he understood the fears of LGBTQ people in Uganda who often endured painful lives, featuring rejection by their families and arrests.
On Sunday night, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni took to Twitter to confirm that he was still self-isolating, countering rumors circulating that he had succumbed to COVID-19.
After testing positive for the virus on June 7, President Museveni announced on the following day that he would be taking a period of “forced leave” to focus on his recovery.
“Greetings. It is now day five of my corona-status. Last night, I slept very well up to the 10th hour of the night (saa kumi za usiku – what the Europeans call 4am)”, the Ugandan leader said in a long Twitter post.
In an effort to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, President Yoweri Museveni urged the people of Uganda, particularly the elderly, to get vaccinated against the virus and also consider receiving booster shots.
Ugandans and, especially the Bazzukulu.
Greetings. It is now day 5 of my corona-status. Last night, I slept very well up to the 10th hour of the night (saa kumi za usiku –what the Europeans call 4am). This time, the dull headache was not there, nor was the mild throbbing… pic.twitter.com/Zikr4WjBbm
However, rumors circulating on Twitter in recent days falsely claimed that President Museveni had been moved to intensive care and subsequently passed away due to complications from COVID-19. These rumors are unfounded and should be disregarded.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared that COVID-19 no longer posed a global health emergency, it cautioned that the virus would continue to undergo mutations.
This emphasizes the importance of continued vigilance and adherence to preventive measures, including vaccination, to mitigate the spread and impact of the virus.
In the early 1970s, as Uganda was undergoing significant political changes, an extraordinary correspondence took place between the late Queen Elizabeth II and the notorious Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin.
This article delves into the details of their interaction, shedding light on the nature of diplomatic relations and the political climate of the time.
The rise of Idi Amin
Idi Amin, born in 1925, began his career in the British Colonial Army and steadily rose through the ranks before seizing power in a military coup in 1971. His regime, which lasted from 1971 to 1979, was characterized by widespread human rights abuses, political repression, and ethnic persecution. It is estimated that during his rule, Amin was responsible for the deaths of up to 500,000 people, many of whom were targeted for their political affiliations or ethnic backgrounds.
The Queen’s initial correspondence with Idi Amin
In January 1972, Idi Amin sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, inviting her to attend the celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of Ugandan independence in October of that year. The letter expressed Amin’s admiration for the Queen and his desire to strengthen ties between their two countries.
In response, the Queen sent a polite but non-committal letter, expressing her gratitude for the invitation but regretting that her existing commitments would prevent her from attending the event. The Queen signed off her letter with the customary phrase, “I am your good friend, Elizabeth R.”
This initial correspondence between the Queen and the Ugandan dictator took place before the full extent of Amin’s atrocities had come to light, and it is unlikely that the Queen was aware of the true nature of his regime at the time.
The evolving relationship between the Queen and Idi Amin
As the year progressed, news of the atrocities committed by Amin’s regime began to circulate, and the international community became increasingly aware of the brutal nature of his rule. This included theQueen, who was reportedly horrified by the reports of widespread human rights abuses in Uganda.
In August 1972, Amin ordered the expulsion of Uganda’s Asian community, which comprised a significant proportion of the country’s business and professional class. Many of the expelled Asians held British passports, and the crisis strained relations between the United Kingdom and Uganda.
The Queen’s reluctance to send a message to Uganda
In light of these events, the Queen was reportedly hesitant to send a message to Uganda for its Independence Day celebrations in October 1972. However, she was advised by the Foreign Office that a failure to do so might prompt Amin to take retaliatory measures against British citizens living in Uganda.
In the end, the Queen sent a brief message, expressing her good wishes to the people of Uganda but making no mention of Amin himself. This was seen as a diplomatic move to protect British interests without endorsing the Ugandan dictator.
The impact of the Queen’s correspondence on Idi Amin
It is unclear what impact the Queen’s correspondence had on Idi Amin. Some sources suggest that he was initially thrilled by the attention from the British monarch, but his opinion of her may have soured after she declined his invitation and sent only a subdued message for Uganda’s Independence Day.
In any case, Amin’s regime continued its brutal course, and the relationship between the United Kingdom and Uganda remained tense throughout his rule.
The fall of Idi Amin and the aftermath
Idi Amin’s regime finally came to an end in 1979 when he was overthrown by Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles. He fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia, where he lived in exile until his death in 2003.
In the years following Amin’s rule, Uganda has made significant strides in rebuilding its political and economic systems, and relations with the United Kingdom have gradually improved. However, the legacy of Amin’s brutal regime continues to cast a shadow over the country’s history.
Lessons from the Queen’s correspondence with Idi Amin
The correspondence between the Queen and Idi Amin offers important insights into the complexities of diplomacy and the challenges faced by world leaders in navigating relationships with controversial figures.
It serves as a reminder that even well-intentioned gestures can sometimes be misconstrued or exploited for political gain, and that maintaining a balance between upholding moral principles and protecting national interests can be a difficult and delicate task.
The role of the monarchy in diplomacy
The British monarchy has long played a role in diplomacy, both formal and informal. While the Queen’s correspondence with Idi Amin is an example of a more formal diplomatic exchange, there are countless instances of the royal family engaging in less formal diplomacy.
For example, through personal relationships, charitable work, and cultural exchanges, the British royals have often served as goodwill ambassadors and helped to promote understanding and cooperation between nations.
The balance of power in diplomatic relationships
The Queen’s interactions with Idi Amin also highlight the delicate balance of power that often exists in diplomatic relationships. While the Queen was undoubtedly a figure of great influence and international prestige, her ability to directly affect the actions of a foreign leader like Amin was limited.
This underscores the importance of international cooperation and multilateral efforts to address issues such as human rights abuses and political repression, as no single nation or individual can effectively tackle such challenges alone.
The correspondence between the late Queen Elizabeth II and Idi Amin serves as a fascinating case study in the complexities of diplomacy and the challenges faced by world leaders in navigating relationships with controversial figures.
Queen Elizabeth II and Idi Amin
While the Queen’s initial engagement with Amin may have been well-intentioned, the subsequent revelations of his brutal regime and the impact on British citizens in Uganda forced her to adopt a more cautious and measured approach.
Ultimately, the Queen’s interactions with Amin serve as a reminder of the delicate balance of power in diplomatic relationships and the importance of international cooperation in addressing global challenges.
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has admitted that international partners and funders may reduce help to the East African country as a result of a recently approved anti-LGBTQ law.
The 78-year-old is, however, unperturbed by that prospect stressing that the country will rationalize its affairs to deal with the situation if it come up.
“If they cut aid, we shall sit down and discipline our expenditure. We arrange our budget, if they interfere with our trade, we shall trade with others,” he told lawmakers at an event on June 1, days after assenting to the legislation.
“That is what I was telling you, the other time when I met you at Kololo (a place for national gatherings), I said you people should be ready for war and you cannot fight a war when you are a pleasure seeker, if you like a soft life, war is not for soft life,” he stressed.
In previous comments made about the law, criticized by the United States, United Nations and others; Museveni cautioned that the law had been passed and that there will be no going back on it in apparent response to strong reservation from some international partners.
President Museveni signs anti-LGBTQ law
Museveni signed the much talked-about anti-homosexuality bill into law on May 29.
The new legislation limits the offence of homosexuality to gay sexual acts, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Aggravated offences, such as sexual abuse against minors or disabled individuals, or infecting a victim with a lifelong illness, can result in the death penalty, the BBC Africa LIVE page reported.
The law also mandates reporting of any homosexual abuse against children or vulnerable individuals.
International partners and organizations expressed deep concern over the law’s impact on health education and outreach programs for AIDS and the safety and well-being of LGBTQ individuals.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, president of Uganda has declared that every discussion on anti-LGBTQ bill has been settled since May 29 when he approved of the Bill transmitted to him from the Parliament.
He stressed in a quote shared by the presidency that ‘nobody will move us,’ likening the fightback that the Bill has generated to a war situation, which he said the country was ready to face.
Museveni, who has perenially spoken in harsh terms against same-sex relations said the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) will resist any opposition day and night.
“The NRM has never had two languages, what we tell you in the day is what we shall say to you at night. The signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is finished, NOBODY will move us, We should be ready for a war. Remember war is not for the soft,” Museveni is quoted to have said.
President Museveni signs anti-LGBTQ law
The 78-year-old signed the much talked-about anti-homosexuality bill into law on May 29.
The new legislation limits the offence of homosexuality to gay sexual acts, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Aggravated offences, such as sexual abuse against minors or disabled individuals, or infecting a victim with a lifelong illness, can result in the death penalty, the BBC Africa LIVE page reported.
The law also mandates reporting of any homosexual abuse against children or vulnerable individuals.
International partners and organizations expressed deep concern over the law’s impact on health education and outreach programs for AIDS and the safety and well-being of LGBTQ individuals.
President @KagutaMuseveni????️: The NRM has never had two languages, what we tell you in the day is what we shall say to you at night. The signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is finished, NOBODY will move us, We should be ready for a war. Remember war is not for the soft. pic.twitter.com/8nuMRXYlb1— State House Uganda (@StateHouseUg) May 31, 2023
Uganda’s new anti-gay law has sparked a range of emotions in the East African country. President Yoweri accepted the revised measure on Monday, causing the United States and European countries to threaten sanctions and aid cuts.
A section of Ugandans say the anti-homosexuality legislation is the least of the country’s priorities.
“It is not what we need right now. The kind of rights, we cannot be talking about such rights when fundamental rights like human rights, rights to access to education, access to health services we have not fought for such rights and we go for that other right,” said Shem Luyombya, a Kampala resident.
But some Ugandans said the law is an unnecessary provocation against donor countries.
“If sanctions can affect a country like Russia then who are we to say that we are not going to be affected by it? The world is a global village so if they cut you off you are actually going to suffer some repercussions but then again it comes to the point of how far can someone else influence how you run your country?,” wondered Jonathan Owot, a Kampala resident.
LGBTQ rights campaigners say the new legislation is unnecessary in a country where homosexuality has long been illegal under a colonial-era law criminalising sexual activity “against the order of nature.”
The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.
Explosions occur as Ugandan forces combat militas.On Friday morning, the extremist al-Shabab organization launched an attack on a Ugandan soldier post of the African Union Transition Mission (ATMIS) in Bulla Mareer district, Lower Shabelle region, Somalia.The attack began immediately after morning prayers.
It started with a large explosion, believed to be an explosives-laden vehicle.Buulo Mareer is about 110km (68 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu.
Residents reported that after the big explosion, two more explosions occurred in the camp, before a fight started between the Ugandan troops and the attackers.Al-Shabab said they captured the camp and killed dozens of ATMIS soldiers, but there has been no independent confirmation of the group’s claim.
ATMIS says its forces are currently assessing the security situation in the area but no word yet from the Somali government regarding the attack.Ugandan army spokesperson Felix Kulayigye told Kenya’s Daily Nation that the military was probing the attack. He blamed “foreign insurgents” for the raid without giving further details.
The actual damage caused by the attack is not yet known. Civilians have remained inside their houses and though some of the bullets being fired hit their houses, no damage has been reported.
Some residents in Bulo Mareer told the BBC that they could hear the sound of helicopters hovering over.
CCTV footage circulating on social media shows a disgruntled soldier shooting erratically in a crowded office.
The reason for the shooting is however unknown.
The armed officer can be seen enquiring about something from an occupant of the room who had his desk separated from the rest and came off as the head of the workers in the room.
But the latter held up his right hand amid utterances that cannot be heard.
The officer after this shot with his AK47 intermittently at people in the office who immediately rushed out leaving the man he was speaking to earlier.
He shot at the man several times till he fell to the ground.
The officer is also seen trailing behind the ‘runaways’ but returned to finish off the man who was still on the floor with more bullets.
After this, he picked up a document and exited the office.
