Forty two years ago, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, issued a statement in Kampala accusing president Milton Obote’s Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) of having come up with a plan to arrest Opposition Members of Parliament.
Ssemogerere, who was also the president general of the Opposition Democratic Party (DP), made the revelation during a press conference held at the party’s headquarters on Johnson Street in downtown Kampala on October 26, 1984.
Ssemogerere made the claim at a time when five people from Busoga, namely Dr Eriab Muzira, Alex Waibale, John Magezi, John Mpaulo and David Kisadha Nabeta had been ‘convinced’ by then UPC Secretary General John Luwuliza Kirunda to ‘cross to the common ruling party’. Prof Yoweri Kyesimira, who turned down Kirunda’s overtures, was languishing in Luzira thanks to a detention order signed by Kirunda.
UK Debate
Ssemogerere’s claims came 10 days after the UK’s House of Lords discussed the human rights situation in Uganda.
In the record of proceedings of October 16, 1984, the debate was precipitated by a question tabled by Viscount Buckmaster.
‘The question was as follows: To ask Her Majesty’s government whether they accept recent reports of extensive killings and other serious violations of human rights by the armed forces in Uganda and whether they will define the role of the British military training team operating with the Ugandan Army,’ Viscount Buckmaster submitted.
In response, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, Lord Trefgarne, conceded that the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) had indeed been found to have carried out extrajudicial killings and that the British government had already called out the government in Kampala over the same.
‘My Lords. We accept that abuses of human rights and killings have taken place in Uganda and that members of the Ugandan Army, among others, have been responsible. We have made clear our concern to the Ugandan government. The role of our training team is to assist with the training and development of the Ugandan armed forces as part of our wider efforts to help improve security and economic conditions in Uganda,’ he said.
According to the record, the minister’s response elicited more concerns, with Lord Viscount Buckmaster describing the human rights situation in Uganda as ‘among the gravest in the world’.
‘Would he (minister) not agree, however, that human rights violations in Uganda are among the gravest in the world? Is he not aware that the reports from Amnesty International, whose reputation for the assessment of such situations is surely beyond dispute, have indicated that these human rights violations have been continuing since February 1981, quite apart from the killings in Amin’s day, and that they are increasing in severity rather than diminishing?’ he asked.
He added: ‘Secondly, the Amnesty International report reveals that most of the victims of these army barbarities have not been guerrillas at all but unarmed civilians, including many women and children. Is the noble Lord the minister also aware that there are in Britain today a great many Ugandans, and also Britons, who served in Uganda recently and who have first-hand experience of these horrendous happenings, which have included mass murders, mutilations, abductions and many other horrible happenings?’
Amnesty report
At the time, some details of a report that Amnesty International was compiling on the human rights and security situation had started trickling into the public in Britain.
The global human rights watchdog subsequently released a 64-page report in which it detailed claims that the UNLA had committed serious atrocities, including killings of civilians in the Luweero Triangle where it was battling rebels of the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) and in other parts of the country.
The report, which was released on June 11, 1985, also detailed the harassment of supporters of DP and the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) and suspected sympathisers of the NRA.
The NRA had taken up arms against the Obote II government amid claims that the 1980 elections had been rigged in favour of UPC.
1980 elections
Although the party won the popular vote with a narrow margin of 3,000 votes, having garnered a total of 1,966,244 votes against UPC’s 1,963,679 votes, it could not form the government as it had fewer MPs compared to what UPC had. DP had only managed 50 seats in Parliament against UPC’s 75 seats.
It has been claimed in several reports that voter registration centres had been manned by UPC supporters; that potential Opposition candidates for some of the parliamentary seats had been denied the opportunity to get nominated; that constituencies had been gerrymandered and that the Military Commission, which organised the polls, had ignored proposals aimed at having the Electoral Commission constituted differently.
In its report, Amnesty International accused UNLA of illegally detaining civilians, some of whom appeared ‘unconnected with the armed Opposition to president Obote’s government’, in military garrisons where they would be subjected to torture.
The report further noted that all but a few of those detained in military facilities, namely Makindye Military Police barracks, Lubiri and Kireka barracks, were tortured, adding that many torture victims have ‘disappeared’ in custody and are feared dead. The report also accused UNLA and the National Security Agency of carrying out illegal detentions; setting up detention camps; employing crude methods of torture; denying detainees access to sanitation facilities; extorting detainees’ families and burying victims in mass graves.
Minister responds
In response, the minister said whereas abuses were occurring, the situation in most parts of the country had improved. He attributed the improvement to the presence of British military trainers.
‘However, we take the view that across the country there has been some improvement in recent years, and I believe that that can to some extent be ascribed to the work done by our military training team in that country. It is for that reason that we plan that the training team should continue,’ he said.
At the time, Britain was contributing troops to the Commonwealth Military Training Team (CMTT) and the British Military Training Team (BMTT), both of which were involved in training UNLA. BMTT was composed of only 13 people, five officers and eight Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), and the minister believed that they had positively impacted the UNLA.
‘I believe we can claim that the work of that team has resulted in improved discipline and efficiency of the Ugandan Army. The purpose of the team is to train junior officers and NCOs for the Ugandan Army. We believe that they have been very successful in that role. Indeed, in the area where the team is working, we can point to a significant improvement in the security and human rights situation,’ he submitted.
He also reported that Uganda was receiving aid to the tune of about £7 million a year and defended continued engagement with the Obote II government, saying that it was not in conflict with Her Majesty’s government policies on aid.
‘As the noble Lord knows, we are always ready and indeed desirous to condemn abuses of human rights wherever they may occur. But I believe that the Ugandan government is trying to put this matter right. We think it best to assist them in that endeavour,’ he submitted.
According to the record, Lord Viscount Buckmaster called on the British government to order the Uganda government to ‘stem this terrifying torrent of evil’, but Lord Trefgarne was reluctant to go that way.
‘My Lords, I certainly agree that we should do everything we can to assist the Ugandan government and the Ugandan Army in their endeavours to improve the situation, but Uganda is, of course, a sovereign country and we have to stop short of interfering in the internal affairs of that country,’ he said.
Ssemo claims dismissed
In Kampala, the government was quick to dismiss Ssemogerere’s claims that it was targeting DP MPs.
Then minister for Information, David Anyoti, issued a statement saying the Chief Justice had not written any such letter to president Obote.