Crime

Uganda’s Spy Chief Slapped With US Sanctions

Published

2 months ago

December 7, 2021

Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, the Chief of Uganda’s Military Intelligence has been slapped with disastrous sanctions by the US government, Taarifa reliably reports. Extra details of the sanctions are underway.

In previous target sanctions, targeted leaders in Uganda were banned from traveling to US, their properties and bank accounts frozen and also their family members denied any visas among other restrictions.

Meanwhile, the Washington uses the Magnitsky legislation which came into force in 2012 to sanction foreign individuals who have committed human rights abuses or been involved in significant corruption.

However, the US is a longstanding partner of Uganda. Their relationship was built on military cooperation.

“They have been a good partner for us in addressing the challenge in Somalia,” said Deborah Malac, the American ambassador in Uganda from 2016 to 2020.

Ofwono Opondo, a Ugandan government spokesman, says, “our relationship with the United States is good, it is important, we value it, but we reject them meddling in our affairs,” he said.

The former US envoy in Uganda says “the time is right for “a tangible recalibration in the relationship”.

US Congressmen have suggested sanctions targeting Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, the chief of military intelligence, and Lieutenant General Peter Elwelu, who commanded the 2016 attack in Kasese.

During the recently concluded presidential elections in Uganda, Museveni deployed the military to manage security in Kampala city and neighbouring districts. The Army used this chance to crash the opposition by conducting mass arrests, arbitrary detentions without trial, torture and killing.

“Uganda’s January 14th elections were marred by election irregularities and abuses by the government’s security services against opposition candidates and members of civil society,” said Ned Price, then US State Department spokesman.

“We’ll consider a range of targeted options to hold accountable those members of the security forces responsible for these actions,” the US official said early this year.

In 1987, a year after fighting his way to power in Uganda, Yoweri Museveni made his first visit to the White House.

“Pleasure to meet with you,” said Ronald Reagan to his beaming guest. “I know your concern and progress you’re making with regard to human rights.”

It was the beginning of a long relationship between Museveni and the United States, in which the former rebel positioned himself as an important security partner.

Crime

Kakwenza Granted Bail

Published

19 hours ago

January 25, 2022

Staff Writer

Ugandan Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has been granted bail after several weeks in detention accused of disturbing the peace of President Yoweri Museveni and his son Gen Muhoozi Keinerugaba.

Kakwenza has been languishing at Kitalya prison where his lawyer Eron Kiiza indicated that the novelist had been tortured while in custody and needed to be released on bail so he could access proper medical treatment.

Award-winning Ugandan novelist Rukirabashaija has been charged with two counts of “offensive communication” after making unflattering remarks about the president and his son on Twitter.

The prosecution alleged that he had “used his Twitter handle to disturb the peace” of President Yoweri Museveni and his son Lt-Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Mr Rukirabashaija pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Rukirabashaija had also tweeted that “the Musevenis have imposed enormous suffering on this country”. Last year, he won the Pen Pinter Prize for an international writer of courage.

‘Greedy Barbarian’ Novelist Paraded In Court For Mocking Museveni

Crime

‘Greedy Barbarian’ Novelist Paraded In Court For Mocking Museveni

Published

5 days ago

January 21, 2022

Staff Writer

Emerging details indicate that a Ugandan Novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was on Friday presented before Buganda Road court virtually to answer charges of mocking peace of President Yoweri Museveni.

Taarifa has learned that Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Douglas Singiza has remanded author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija till Tuesday next week when he will be able to rule on whether to grant him bail.

Kakwenza, now held on remand at Kitalya prison, appeared in court via video link to apply for bail.

His lawyer Eron Kiiza indicated that the accused had been tortured while in custody and needed to be released on bail so he could access proper medical treatment.

Kiiza also added that the case of computer misuse, for which he is accused, is available.

Award-winning Ugandan novelist Rukirabashaija has been charged with two counts of “offensive communication” after making unflattering remarks about the president and his son on Twitter.

Rukirabashaija had also tweeted that “the Musevenis have imposed enormous suffering on this country”. Last year, he won the Pen Pinter Prize for an international writer of courage.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is best known for The Greedy Barbarian, a satirical novel which describes high-level corruption in a fictional country, and Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous, an account of the torture he was subjected to while in detention in 2020.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) and other rights bodies have piled pressure on the Kampala government demanding the unconditional release of Ugandan novelist.

“Uganda: I’m alarmed by reports of alleged torture and incommunicado detention of author [Rukirabashaija Kakwenza]. He remains in detention without trial, despite a court order for his unconditional release. I urge Ugandan authorities to uphold rule of law and due process,” twitted Mr Eamon Gilmore, the EU special representative for human rights.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija Author Giving Museveni Sleepless Nights

Crime

Huye Intermediate Court Begins Substantive Hearing Of Munyenyezi Genocide Case

Published

1 week ago

January 18, 2022

Staff Writer

Beatrice Munyenyezi, the woman suspected of crimes of Genocide against the Tutsi appeared before Huye Intermediate Court this Tueaday in the trial that has entered into substance.

During the last hearing a week ago, the case was postponed for the second time due to the absence of lawyers.

As the case enters into substance, Munyenyezi, 51, will explain herself in detail on the charges of Genocide crime, conspiracy to commit genocide, planning of the genocide, complicity, and incitement to commit genocide, and complicity in rape.

While the accused is detained at Mageregere prison, the litigants, defense lawyers, and prosecutors’ rebuttals are heard by the Huye Intermediate court, the place she is said to have committed the crimes.

Proceedings will be heard virtually to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Munyenyezi is the first woman to be sent back home by the US government after she was convicted for having lied to immigration authorities to obtain the first asylum and then US citizenship, according to Justice Info Net.

Munyenyezi denied involvement in political affairs and Genocide preparation, but her marriage to Pauline Nyiramasuhuko’s son, Shalom Ntahobali, in 1993 marked her entrance into the ‘big league’ or commonly known as ‘Akazu’.

Rwandan prosecutors pin Munyenyezi for inciting Interahamwe to rape Tutsi women and girls but she has been denying the allegations in her pre-trial phase of the hearings saying she was “pregnant and weak at the time to engage in incitations.”

The report ‘When Women Become Killers’ released in 1995 indicate that Munyenyezi’s mother-in-law, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, began organizing massacres in (Butare) now Huye even before the murder of the Tutsi prefecture Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, who managed to prevent the massacres during the first two weeks of the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Munyenyezi’s mother-in-law is reported to have boasted her role saying “If someone says that a woman, a mother killed, then I am ready to be confronted.”