7-13 March 2016

Media Monitoring Report for Uganda

Posted on April 1, 2016

Compiled by Emma Allison Howie

New Vision, March 12th 2016 – Seven killed in fresh Kasese post-election violence

The Police and Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) have tightened security with thousands of personnel deployed to ensure safety as fresh tribal clashes hit Hima town in Kasese district.
The deployment followed after the police shot dead five people as they allegedly attacked security operatives (police) on patrol and a UPDF barracks in Hima town on Friday.
“The five people who were armed with knives and pangas took advantage of the post-election chaos in Hima town council to find their way inside the barracks,” according to the 305 UPDF brigade spokesperson. Lt. Amos Nsamba.

The Daily Monitor, March 13th 2016 – How police boss was wounded in Kasese attacks

A senior police commander was on Friday wounded as the army moved in to beef up police in quelling what the authorities have reported as ethnic violence that broke out in the Rwenzori Mountain district of Kasese on Thursday night, following the post-election fallout.
Six people have since died in the violence, including two civilians shot on Friday by a man in military uniform, who was captured on video, in an operation led by the Police commissioner in charge of the Field Force Unit (FFU), Mr Jacob Opolot.
The new attacks in the district followed protests in the local council elections in the area held earlier on Thursday.
Gun fire rocked the hilly Buhuhira Sub-county on Friday as police and army tried to quell the situation, that has animated the civilian population against the police and army.

The Daily Monitor, March 12th 2016 – Fresh ethnic clashes erupt in Kasese

Two people have been shot dead and four soldiers critically injured in an attack in Hima town council in fresh ethnic violence in Kasese district.
The attacks are believed to have been triggered by ethnic conflicts stemming from the sub-county elections in the district this week in which the opposition again swept most of the seats. It is alleged that a group of more than 60 people armed with guns, spears and machetes on Thursday at around 10pm, attacked and speared three UPDF soldiers who were on night foot patrol at Kikonzo village, Kendahi Ward in Hima town council before the soldiers killed two in alleged self-defence.
The attacks came in a day after an independent candidate, Mr Tom Wabukombi, lost to the incumbent Mr Musana Katura (NRM) by 200 votes in the Hima Local Council chairperson elections. Prior to the attack, a house of one of the supporters of Wabukombi was set ablaze after he was suspected to have caused the defeat of their candidate by allegedly having undercover dealings with their opponent.

The Daily Monitor, March 12th 2016 – US tells Uganda to reverse troubling trend

The United States has said Uganda government’s continued crackdown on civil liberties, if not reversed, could affect economic and political ties between the two countries.
Mr John Kirby, the Assistant Secretary and Department spokesperson Bureau of Public Affairs said the US is troubled with Uganda’s persistent violation of the rights and freedoms of Ugandans and the media.
Mr Kirby cited the continued detention of opposition figures [like Dr Kizza Besigye] and their supporters without legal justification and the harassment of opposition supporters. That and the interference in legal challenges to the election results as well as the intimidation of Uganda's media, he said, are “unacceptable activities in free and democratic societies.”

The Daily Monitor, March 11th 2016 – Govt drafts new law to gag media

Attorney General Fred Ruhindi on Wednesday tabled a new Bill titled: The Uganda Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that seeks to give the executive arm of government outright powers to control communications in any way the sector minister deems fit.
In a two-page Bill from Mr John Nasasira, the Minister for Information and Communication Technology(ICT), government wants to amend the 2013 law to remove the requirement for parliamentary approval of the regulations made by the minister under the law.

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