{"id":2834,"date":"2021-01-24T17:55:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T17:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc"},"modified":"2021-01-24T17:54:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-24T17:54:54","slug":"activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc","title":{"rendered":"Activists in push to block sale of Israeli firearms to SFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>An Israeli court is on February 15 scheduled to start hearing the case in which human rights activists want the Israeli government, through its Defence ministry to stop selling and exporting firearms to the Special Forces Command (SFC), a semi-independent unit of the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces (UPDF).<\/p>\n

The activists, including a group of Ugandans in exile, through their attorney Eitay Mack, first wrote to Israeli Ministry of Defence (IMD) on December 5, 2020, urging it to revoke the security export license to supply weapons to the SFC, particularly the Galil-Ace and Tavor assault rifles manufactured by Israel Military Industries.<\/p>\n

The activists in the petition described SFC as \u201coutside any legal framework in Uganda\u201d and which has been turned into \u201ca unit of repression\u201d, citing numerous cases, including the 2017 raid on Parliament to neutralise dissenters of the presidential age limit ammendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these circumstances, if the defence exports to the SFC unit are not stopped without delay, the conditions of the offence of complicity and auxiliary conduct under international law and Israeli law regarding the officials in the Ministry of Defence and the Israeli defence exporters responsible for exports may be met,\u201d the 43-paged petition reads in part.<\/p>\n

The IMD, however, went to the District Court of Tel Aviv this week seeking gag orders to quash the activists\u2019 petition on grounds of \u201cnational security and foreign affairs\u201d that should not be interfered with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be clarified that the State of Israel does not disclose details about marketing and export licenses. This is for its clear security and political reasons. Note that the State will not be able to address in this open answer the individual allegations raised by the petitioner,\u201d IMD\u2019s filing, a copy seen by this newspaper, reads in part.<\/p>\n

IMD also argues that the petitioners neither have the grounds nor proof of the said exports arms supplied to SFC.The activists in their petition methodically detailed curated photos of the Galil-Ace and Tavor assault rifles and other weaponry made by Israel, mostly tweeted by First Son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who was last month elevated to command the SFC, replacing Maj Gen James Birungi, who after being proposed for American sanction-list was removed and sent to Somalia.<\/p>\n

The activists in the petition indicated that Ugandan Defence minister Adolf Mwesige last year on October 20 met with Israel\u2019s Ambassador to Uganda Oded Yosef to discuss updating the existing security agreement, which they want reviewed owing to \u201chuman rights situation in Uganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The activists in the petition further detailed several quotes from President Museveni\u2019s speeches over the last five years justifying use of force against civilians.<\/p>\n

In one of the President\u2019s texts titled \u201cGuidelines on managing rioters, terrorists, criminals and looters and methods of arresting and handling suspects\u201d addressed to the Chief of Defence Forces and other heads of security organs, he said: \u201cThe involvement of the SFC, Military Police and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) in handling law and order issues has been caused by the kawukumi (bean weevils) that had invaded the Police. Otherwise, they should not have been involved and they were never involved. I commend them because the main aims of the government were achieved: to protect the lives of Ugandans and their property.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, the activists say, indicates \u201cthe danger of further defence exports to the SFC unit is clear and present, especially given the severity of the situation in Uganda and the risk of further deterioration against the background of the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

They further detailed several cases of tortured individuals, deaths and abductions at the hands of security agencies.Mr Mack, however, told this newspaper that \u201cin our opinion, it is inconceivable from the outset that the State of Israel will arm a private security force of any ruler, and this is all the truer in the case of Uganda and (President) Museveni.\u201d Government reacts UPDF spokesperson Brig Gen Flavia Byekwaso was not available for comment on the matter.However, Mr Ofwono Opondo, the executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, described the petitioners as \u201ctime wasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can write to America, ICC, Israel, and whoever they want but as government we do not do things for external groups but for our people so it should be Ugandans to judge,\u201d Mr Opondo said.He added: \u201cGovernments world over make mistakes but do those petitioners want to say their governments do not make mistakes to be ever dwelling on ours? They went and bombed Iraq claiming there were weapons of mass destruction which were never found, then they bombed Libya but look how it is now?\u201d<\/p>\n

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com|fmusisi@ug.nationmedia.com<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. An Israeli court is on February 15 scheduled to start hearing the case in which human rights activists want the Israeli government, through its Defence ministry to stop selling and exporting firearms to the Special Forces Command (SFC), a semi-independent unit of the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces (UPDF). The activists, including a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-2834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nActivists in push to block sale of Israeli firearms to SFC - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Israeli court is on February 15 scheduled to start hearing the case in which human rights activists want the Israeli ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Activists in push to block sale of Israeli firearms to SFC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Israeli court is on February 15 scheduled to start hearing the case in which human rights activists want the Israeli ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-24T17:55:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-600db4444a21e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Activists in push to block sale of Israeli firearms to SFC\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-24T17:55:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\"},\"wordCount\":785,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-600db4444a21e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/activists-in-push-to-block-sale-of-israeli-firearms-to-sfc\",\"name\":\"Activists in push to block sale of Israeli firearms to SFC - 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