Uganda Government denies closure of media houses

A woman in Kampala protests the closure of two media houses by taping closed her mouth.

By Nkonge Ismail Kaggwa in Kampala Uganda has denied it forced the closure of two of the country’s media houses last Monday which has left many journalists jobless and business stalled. Appearing before the country’s national assembly, the Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs, Hillary Onek, told members of parliament that the police was acting legally when hundreds of heavily armed policemen, some of them dressed in anti-riot uniforms, raided the offices of the country’s leading independent English daily, the Daily Monitor, laying siege to its premises and doing the same to a mostly tabloid English daily, the Red Pepper. Both media houses were until this morning still cordoned off and … Continue reading

Posted in Uganda | 1 Comment

IFJ condemns Uganda Police raid on media premises

David Tinyefunza the Ugandan general whose letter has led to a police siege of two media houses in Uganda.

By Henry D Gombya The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) yesterday “vigorously condemned the clamp down on the media in Uganda” after the country’s leading national daily, The Daily Monitor and a daily tabloid the Red Pepper were besieged by heavily armed police on the pretext of looking for a letter that the two newspaper had published the previous week. In a statement, Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director said: “This is a real affront on media freedom. Uganda is definitely becoming a country where press freedom abuses and violations are widely perpetrated by the police with total impunity. This must stop immediately.” As we went this online newspaper went to … Continue reading

Posted in Uganda | Leave a comment

Museveni takes Uganda back to the bad old days of Idi Amin

Gen Yoweri Museveni

By Henry D Gombya Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni today stands accused of dragging Uganda back to the old bad days of Dictator Idi Amin after he ordered security forces to ransack the offices off one of the country’s leading daily, the Daily Monitor, forcing it to halt its publication work after security men entered the building and disabled the paper’s plant. People of Uganda are now walking the streets in fear of being arrested for placing posters of any kind on trees or electricity lamp posts, saying anything critical of the government or walking to work in protest of high taxi fares. Surprisingly, no journalist is safe from harassment by … Continue reading

Posted in Uganda | Leave a comment

Fighting breaks out between Kabila forces and the M23

A heavily guarded Gen Sultani Makenga  commander of the M23 troops in Bunagana,  Eastern DRC. (File photo).

By Diana Katabarwa in Kampala Fighting has broken down between the March 23 Movement (M23) and Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo  (The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo –FARDC) jointly with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) after the latter launched an attack on the M23  positions in Kanyaruchinya village 10 kms from Goma town. According to sources close to the M23, the attack was repulsed and the attackers sent back to Muja and by late afternoon Monday, there was still heavy fighting going on in Muningi with FARDC shelling M23 positions. M23 said it remains on high alert with information filtering … Continue reading

Posted in DRC | 1 Comment

Kenya advised to ask ICC cases be sent back to Kenya courts

Dr David Matsanga speaking to Justice Richard Goldstone at  SOAS Thursday.

By Henry D Gombya A leading African judge respected around the world for his liberal views, has advised Kenya that it is not too late for the country to ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to revert investigations into the 2007 post-election violence back to Kenyan courts. Speaking Thursday at a meeting of the Coalition of the International Criminal Court, Justice Richard Joseph Gladstone, a retired Justice of the South African Criminal Court, said if the Kenyan government didn’t want the ICC to become involved, a very simple solution had been presented to them by the Waki Commission.   “Judge Waki, a Kenyan judge said ‘investigate these crimes yourself.  If you … Continue reading

Posted in International Criminal Court, Kenya | Leave a comment