And a minister asserted last week that Uganda has the right – and is ready – to deploy in the eastern DRC, for which the Congolese government gave permission last Friday. Again, many Ugandan Muslims feel they are being criminalised and marginalised. Some analysts have suggested that Uganda’s counter-terrorism forces are deliberately killing suspects due to pressure to deliver results.
In another incident, eyewitness say the suspect was shot as soon as he opened the door. In one case, for example, the suspect’s family says the man was handcuffed, led outside and shot. Security forces claim the deaths occurred when suspects were resisting arrest or trying to flee, but some of these accounts are contested. In his recent address, President Museveni announced that 12 terror suspects had been killed and 106 arrested. The ADF was also used as an ex post facto excuse for Uganda’s 1998 invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Moreover, following the 2002 anti-terrorism act which contained a broad definition of “terrorism”, the state extended its crackdown to opposition members and human rights defenders. Muslim communities were particularly targeted. In their notorious “safe houses”, for instance, suspects were often arbitrarily detailed, held incommunicado, and tortured with impunity. The Ugandan security forces’ response was ridden with human rights violations. In the late-1990s, for instance, the ADF launched a series of bomb attacks on buses and public buildings, killing up to 88 people. Human rights abusesĬounter-terrorism activities under President Yoweri Museveni have a long track record of committing abuses. It means that we will likely see a renewed stimulus to counter-terrorism activities in Uganda, which has emerged as a central partner in the “War on Terror” especially since 9/11. This spate of attacks is devastating for residents of Kampala, but it could also have profound geopolitical consequences. So-called Islamic State, which considers the ADF an affiliate, has claimed responsibility for some of the assaults.
The Ugandan government has blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which the US recently designated a terrorist organisation, for the bombings. The most recent came on 16 November, when a trio of suicide bombers – one outside police headquarters, two near parliament – killed four people and wounded dozens more.
In the last few weeks, Uganda’s capital Kampala has been shocked by several bomb attacks. Jason Nolte, 21st Theater Sustainment Command. US soldiers training counterparts in Uganda.
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