Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda faced several serious security challenges in 2022. Some of the serious issues were the return of rebel activities, the criminal elements from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and the Uganda Coalition for Change (UCFC) which is a self-styled attack rebel group that carried out senseless attacks on police units and personnel in which some police officers lost their lives while others were seriously injured.
Another serious issue was the insecurity among the opposition supporters who accused the government of Uganda of abducting and detaining some of them in unauthorized places which led the United Nations to intervene in this matter.
Uganda also witnessed other violent crimes along the highways such as car vandalism, smash-and-grab crimes, vandalism of electricity and other utility infrastructures, and traditional crimes of aggravation like armed robberies and murder.
Attacks
According to the Inspector general of Police Martin Okoth Ochola, the ADF and the UCFC carried out attacks on police units in which assault rifles were seized and in several instances, police officers were killed, and many were injured, the act that forced the government to close thousands of provincial police posts across the country.
These attacks which started in mid-2022 forced the parliamentary Leader of the Opposition Mathias Mpuuga to wonder whether the country was under attack, and demand a comprehensive report from the government on the killing of police officers.
Legislators stormed out of Parliament due to human rights abuses
At the beginning of February 2022, Uganda’s opposition Members of Parliament walked out of Parliament in protest of the continued brutal arrests and torture of Ugandans.
This followed a video of a novelist Rukirabashaja Kakwenza stripping naked showing the scars of torture by the Special Forces Command (SFC) that went viral. The Leader of the Opposition raised this matter in Parliament.
The opposition’s petition asked the Parliament to prioritize the debate on what the government is undertaking to protect the rights of Ugandans. They later stormed out of Parliament saying that they could not sit in parliament while some of their colleagues were suffering in jail. Among the prisoners are two opposition legislators who have been arrested since 2021 to date.
Signed agreement to fight rebels
Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) on 6th August 2022, agreed to form structures and share intelligence information on South Sudan rebels alleged to be hiding in Uganda disguised as refugees. In the agreement signed between the two countries, UPDF and SSPDF will also share intelligence information on the Uganda National People’s Liberation Armed Forces (UNPLAF) assumed to be operating in South Sudan, and dissidents of the National Salvation Army hiding in Uganda. The agreement followed the spillover of the UNPLAF and the National Salvation Army activities into Uganda and South Sudan.
The two nations agreed to work together to make sure whatever insecurity affecting them will be dealt with through sharing of information. Where it is necessary the two armies will join forces against the negative groups and also be strict on the refugee influx. The SSPDF will work with the UPDF to ensure that rebels disturbing the peace at the border are defeated.
Vandalism of electricity
The growing destruction of the electricity infrastructure, from high-voltage transmission lines to cables brought fear in Ugandans due to the fact that the vandals were able to target the dangerous transmission lines during a rainy season without any of them getting electrocuted. The government did not treat this act as no ordinary vandalism, and in December, the security cabinet met to discuss this issue.
It seemed like these were professional vandals who knew exactly what they were doing and the audacity pointed, at the very least, to a sophis ticated criminal gang or an armed insurgent group in its initial stage of sabotage. The internal security situation in the latter half of the year began to feel like 1981 all over again. It would not be surprising for an armed insurrection to have taken shape in 2022.
Helicopter crashes
The two helicopters of UPDF crashed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The first clash happened on 24th September near the village of Boga in Congo’s Ituri province and the other on 25th 2022 in the border zone of Kabarole Uganda. The Mi-17 chopper was mainly used for transportation, medical evacuation, and VIP travel.
The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was skeptical about the cause of the two helicopter crashes and ordered a board of inquiry to investigate how and why military helicopters were dropping from the skies.
Rebels surrendered
In November, about 250 Ugandan men and a few women who in the past conscripted into rebel activities in South Sudan handed themselves to Uganda People’s Forces (UPDF) 4th Division. These were men and women who had in the past recruited into rebel groups. Including the National Salvation Front (NAS), the South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army in Opposition (SPLM-IO), and others to fight against the South Sudan government.
After these rebels surrendered Uganda tightened its intelligence network to monitor and guard against the possibility that returnees could hide weapons and cause instability in the future. According to Brig Bamwiseki, those who surrendered were very many, so tightening security was necessary in order to prevent those rebels who planning to hide the guns they came with and use them later to commit crimes like highway robbery and other crimes.
UN reports pined Uganda on Human Rights Abuses
In November, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights against Torture pinned the government of Uganda on human rights abuses. At first, the UN Committee Experts summoned the State’s human rights institutions and questioned them about unauthorized places of detention (safehouses) and inaction in prosecuting several torture cases.
The Committee’s concern was the report that revealed that torture and ill-treatment continued to be frequently practiced in Uganda and that reports indicated excessive use of force within the context of Covid-19 emergency measures.
Another concern is the reported non-implementation of the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Regulations of 2017 by security agencies, including the Uganda Police Force. And that the victims have limited access to justice due to prosecutors and judges lacking sufficient evidence to prosecute cases of torture.
In May 2022, the leader of the opposition Hon. Mathias Mpuuga, during plenary sitting, presented names and contacts of the persons reported missing and asked the government to at least declare them dead and avail their remains or to produce them to the courts of law.
The Committee urged the Ugandan government to abolish the use of unauthorized places of detention (safehouses) and immediately provide information about all places of detention. They also tasked Uganda to conduct investigations and prosecute officials involved in arbitrary detention and unauthorized detention places and ensure that victims had access to adequate remedies.
President Museveni while addressing the nation on 31 December 2022 leisure Ugandans by assuring them that they do not need to worry because Uganda is safe now and that the situation is under control. While explaining the issue of terrorism he said that the terrorists are now fleeing and killing villagers which will not save them.
He advised the terrorists to surrender so that they can get rehabilitated and learn how to earn an honest living in the sectors of commercial agriculture, small industries, services, and Information Communication Technology (ICT) instead of being parasites on the population.
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