Local Defence Unit personnel arrest a man during demonstration over food relief at Kasubi, a Kampala suburb, on June 16. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
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UPDF recalls LDUs for fresh training
https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/UPDF-recalls-LDUs-fresh-training/688334-5594362-vb2r05/index.html
Thursday July 16 2020
Local Defence Unit personnel have been withdrawn countrywide to undergo refresher training in human rights and law enforcement procedures, Daily Monitor has learnt. They are to be trained by police.
The move comes a few days after President Museveni questioned their human rights record.
The withdrawal of LDUs, who have been very active in enforcement of the lockdown rules, became noticeable on Monday during the crackdown on traders who had attempted to reopen arcades in the capital Kampala.
LDUs have been criticised for civilian killings and torture while on duty.
Maj Bilal Katamba, the spokesman of the army’s 1st Division, confirmed the withdrawal of LDUs from checkpoints but insisted that it is due to the easing of the lockdown and not their bad human rights record.
He said the LDUs will continue with their fight against crime.
“The lockdown has been eased and there was no purpose of the LDUs being at the road checks,” Maj Katamba said yesterday.
On Tuesday night, President Museveni said he would address the nation on the indiscipline of LDUs.
There are more than 25,000 LDUs in the country. Most of them were recruited two years ago following the increased spate of crime in various parts of the country.
On several occasions the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has had to apologise for the behaviour of the LDUs and in some instances prosecuted errant personnel, especially those captured on camera committing crimes.
Asked about why the LDUs did not participate in the enforcement of the re-closure of arcades, he said it is because they were not called upon by the police. “Our task is a supportive role. We support the police when called upon,” he said.
Mr Patrick Onyango, the police spokesman for Kampala Metropolitan region, declined to comment on why they did not invite the LDUs to support them, but said the army spokesman, Brig Richard Karemire was the right person to comment.
In a recent address to the nation, President Museveni shared telephone contacts of Lt Col Edith Nakalema, the head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit, where the members of the public harassed by LDUs should call for help.
President Museveni said the errant LDUs are tarnishing the image of his government in the eyes of the local population and international community.
More than 20 people have been killed by LDUs since January with majority deaths happening during the lockdown, which started in March.
Abuses by Imbonerakure
In recent years, Imbonerakure members have been responsible for numerous killings, beatings, threats and other abuses against suspected government opponents, Human Rights Watch said. Imbonerakure often operate alongside the police and intelligence services.
The police, in their brutal suppression of protests against President Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in 2015, used Imbonerakure from neighborhoods where protests were taking place to identify and target demonstrators. Bujumbura residents said they often saw known Imbonerakure wearing police or military uniforms, carrying weapons, and operating side by side with the police. One man detained by Imbonerakure said he watched them put on police raincoats.
Since February 2016, Human Rights Watch has documented several cases of Imbonerakure beating, intimidating, and arresting people in various provinces. Victims, witnesses, and human rights activists say that people rarely report Imbonerakure abuses to the authorities because they fear retribution and believe that some security force members collaborate with the Imbonerakure.
The ruling party and intelligence services have often used Imbonerakure to identify suspected government opponents. Despite having no legal powers of arrest, Imbonerakure have frequently arrested people, beaten them, and handed them over to intelligence agents who tortured some of them.
Residents from some provinces told Human Rights Watch that Imbonerakure often give orders to the police and that low-level police appear powerless to stop Imbonerakure abuses. Imbonerakure often collaborate with provincial intelligence authorities after they arrest perceived opponents. In one northern province, Imbonerakure told a policeman who asked them why they were beating a man: “What are you doing here? Get out of here!” The policeman left.
Victims reported that they have seen Imbonerakure conducting surveillance and sometimes arresting people crossing the border between Burundi and Rwanda. Government authorities have indicated that many Burundians who go to Rwanda have links with the opposition or may be planning to join Burundian opposition members in Rwanda.
In mid-April 2016, four Imbonerakure and a policeman arrested a man on the Burundi side of the border. The Imbonerakure made him take off his shirt and shoes, took his telephone, and bound his arms and legs. They carried him to a makeshift Imbonerakure base in the forest, where he saw another man the Imbonerakure had beaten. The first man said:
A student in a northern province said that on April 18, he was in a bar with friends when a group of Imbonerakure wielding wooden rods asked for his identity card and money. When he was unable to give them money, they accused him of helping Burundian rebels cross from Rwanda into Burundi. A truck from the local government office arrived and took him to a nearby province. The student said:
Abuses by Armed Opposition Groups
Local journalists and human rights activists have reported several grenade attacks and killings believed to have been committed by armed opposition groups. Former members of armed opposition groups told Human Rights Watch that in the past they had used hit-and-run tactics and grenade attacks to kill ruling party members and suspected collaborators.
Unidentified people have attacked several bars in Bujumbura and other provinces with grenades since early 2016. Burundian media reported that on May 24, 10 men attacked a drinks depot and bar in Mwaro province, killing a judicial policeman and injuring several customers. During the same attack, a guard at the ruling party offices in Ndava, a commune in Mwaro, was also killed as the attackers attempted to burn down the building. Three men were arrested in connection with the attacks.
In Bururi province, unidentified gunmen shot dead several ruling party members in April and May, including Jean Claude Bikorimana, a ruling party member fatally shot on April 9. Three ruling party members were among four people shot and killed at a bar in Bururi province on the night of April 15; another attack on the same night killed a ruling party member, Japhet Karibwami, at his home. Several people were reported arrested after these attacks.
A reported ruling party member, Anitha Nizigama, was shot dead June 12 in Musaga, Bujumbura. The exact circumstances and motive for the shooting have not been confirmed.
In all of these cases, Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm the identity of the attackers. Efforts to interview witnesses to attacks or contact family members of ruling party members or Imbonerakure who were killed were unsuccessful.
Burundi Youth Militia Compares Opposition to Lice in Video
Burundi human rights activists expressed outrage Tuesday over an online video that shows pro-government youth militia members teaching young students songs comparing the opposition to lice.
The video of Imbonerakure militia members follows a recent video in which they encouraged the rape and impregnation of opposition supporters.
Burundi has been plagued by deadly political violence since President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully sought a disputed third term in 2015. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country.
Lawyer and activist Lambert Nigarura told The Associated Press that the latest hate messages are meant to depict ethnic Tutsi as bad people, and he called it “the final step in preparation of genocide.” He urged the international community to take action against Imbonerakure activities in schools.
The latest video was filmed by a local human rights group in Burundi. It shows Imbonerakure members singing with schoolchildren in the local Kirundi language, saying their president in 1993 was assassinated in cold blood. Melchior Ndadaye was Burundi's first ethnic Hutu president, and the country's Tutsi-led army was blamed for killing him.
In the video, the Imbonerakure asks whether those who killed the president have stopped the killings, and the children reply that the killers have not stopped and they know them well.
Another Burundian human rights activist, Vital Nshimiyimana, called the songs “terrifying.”
Burundi has faced similar tensions between Hutu and Tutsi as neighboring Rwanda, where the 1994 genocide left more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu dead. What sparked it was hate speech against the Tutsi minority spread by Hutu extremists.
In Burundi, ruling party members have called the Imbonerakure peaceful. But Human Rights Watch earlier this year reported that Imbonerakure members had brutally killed, tortured and severely beaten scores of people across the country.
The U.N. human rights office says a chilling video circulating on social media has laid bare the horrifying and alarming nature of the campaign of terror.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for High Commissioner Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein, says the video shows more than 100 members of the Imbonerakure, the government’s youth wing, inciting violence. He says the young men are heard calling for opponents to be impregnated so they can give birth to Imbonerakure or for them to be killed.
“These grotesque rape chants by the young men of the Imbonerakure across several provinces across Burundi are deeply alarming — particularly because they confirm what we have been hearing from those who have fled Burundi about a campaign of fear and terror by this organized militia,” he said.
When the video surfaced, the ruling CNDD-FDD party initially said it was fake and had been filmed outside Burundi. After admitting the footage was real, the party said youths at one rally sang a song that "does not conform to the morals or ideology" of the party.
However, Colville says the video of this rally, which was released on April 5, is not an isolated incident, but rather the tip of the iceberg. He says his office has documented eight large rallies organized across Burundi where similar slogans inciting rape and violence against opponents have been chanted.
Colville says senior government officials reportedly have been present at some of these rallies.
While the terror campaigns are ongoing, Colville tells VOA rapes, torture and other serious human rights violations are continuing.
“Some of the reports of torture are pretty horrendous — people being burnt with hot knives, acid being poured over parts of their body, teeth broken with rifle butts, attacks on sexual organs, etc. So, very grizzly stuff,” he said.
Colville says security forces reportedly have participated in the systematic use of torture. High Commissioner Zeid is calling on the authorities in Burundi to prevent the abhorrent practice and to swiftly condemn the incitement to hatred and violence.
The video of Imbonerakure militia members follows a recent video in which they encouraged the rape and impregnation of opposition supporters.
Burundi has been plagued by deadly political violence since President Pierre Nkurunziza successfully sought a disputed third term in 2015. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country.
Lawyer and activist Lambert Nigarura told The Associated Press that the latest hate messages are meant to depict ethnic Tutsi as bad people, and he called it “the final step in preparation of genocide.” He urged the international community to take action against Imbonerakure activities in schools.
The latest video was filmed by a local human rights group in Burundi. It shows Imbonerakure members singing with schoolchildren in the local Kirundi language, saying their president in 1993 was assassinated in cold blood. Melchior Ndadaye was Burundi's first ethnic Hutu president, and the country's Tutsi-led army was blamed for killing him.
In the video, the Imbonerakure asks whether those who killed the president have stopped the killings, and the children reply that the killers have not stopped and they know them well.
Another Burundian human rights activist, Vital Nshimiyimana, called the songs “terrifying.”
Burundi has faced similar tensions between Hutu and Tutsi as neighboring Rwanda, where the 1994 genocide left more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu dead. What sparked it was hate speech against the Tutsi minority spread by Hutu extremists.
In Burundi, ruling party members have called the Imbonerakure peaceful. But Human Rights Watch earlier this year reported that Imbonerakure members had brutally killed, tortured and severely beaten scores of people across the country.
UN: Burundi Militia Waging Campaign of Terror
GENEVA - The U.N. high commissioner for human rights says he is alarmed by a growing, widespread campaign of terror in Burundi being waged by government-backed militia against opponents of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s party.
The U.N. human rights office says a chilling video circulating on social media has laid bare the horrifying and alarming nature of the campaign of terror.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for High Commissioner Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein, says the video shows more than 100 members of the Imbonerakure, the government’s youth wing, inciting violence. He says the young men are heard calling for opponents to be impregnated so they can give birth to Imbonerakure or for them to be killed.
“These grotesque rape chants by the young men of the Imbonerakure across several provinces across Burundi are deeply alarming — particularly because they confirm what we have been hearing from those who have fled Burundi about a campaign of fear and terror by this organized militia,” he said.
When the video surfaced, the ruling CNDD-FDD party initially said it was fake and had been filmed outside Burundi. After admitting the footage was real, the party said youths at one rally sang a song that "does not conform to the morals or ideology" of the party.
However, Colville says the video of this rally, which was released on April 5, is not an isolated incident, but rather the tip of the iceberg. He says his office has documented eight large rallies organized across Burundi where similar slogans inciting rape and violence against opponents have been chanted.
Colville says senior government officials reportedly have been present at some of these rallies.
While the terror campaigns are ongoing, Colville tells VOA rapes, torture and other serious human rights violations are continuing.
“Some of the reports of torture are pretty horrendous — people being burnt with hot knives, acid being poured over parts of their body, teeth broken with rifle butts, attacks on sexual organs, etc. So, very grizzly stuff,” he said.
Colville says security forces reportedly have participated in the systematic use of torture. High Commissioner Zeid is calling on the authorities in Burundi to prevent the abhorrent practice and to swiftly condemn the incitement to hatred and violence.
Abuses by Imbonerakure
In recent years, Imbonerakure members have been responsible for numerous killings, beatings, threats and other abuses against suspected government opponents, Human Rights Watch said. Imbonerakure often operate alongside the police and intelligence services.
The police, in their brutal suppression of protests against President Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in 2015, used Imbonerakure from neighborhoods where protests were taking place to identify and target demonstrators. Bujumbura residents said they often saw known Imbonerakure wearing police or military uniforms, carrying weapons, and operating side by side with the police. One man detained by Imbonerakure said he watched them put on police raincoats.
Since February 2016, Human Rights Watch has documented several cases of Imbonerakure beating, intimidating, and arresting people in various provinces. Victims, witnesses, and human rights activists say that people rarely report Imbonerakure abuses to the authorities because they fear retribution and believe that some security force members collaborate with the Imbonerakure.
The ruling party and intelligence services have often used Imbonerakure to identify suspected government opponents. Despite having no legal powers of arrest, Imbonerakure have frequently arrested people, beaten them, and handed them over to intelligence agents who tortured some of them.
Residents from some provinces told Human Rights Watch that Imbonerakure often give orders to the police and that low-level police appear powerless to stop Imbonerakure abuses. Imbonerakure often collaborate with provincial intelligence authorities after they arrest perceived opponents. In one northern province, Imbonerakure told a policeman who asked them why they were beating a man: “What are you doing here? Get out of here!” The policeman left.
Victims reported that they have seen Imbonerakure conducting surveillance and sometimes arresting people crossing the border between Burundi and Rwanda. Government authorities have indicated that many Burundians who go to Rwanda have links with the opposition or may be planning to join Burundian opposition members in Rwanda.
In mid-April 2016, four Imbonerakure and a policeman arrested a man on the Burundi side of the border. The Imbonerakure made him take off his shirt and shoes, took his telephone, and bound his arms and legs. They carried him to a makeshift Imbonerakure base in the forest, where he saw another man the Imbonerakure had beaten. The first man said:
They started beating me with cables like those they use to install fiber optic lines. Others used big sticks. When they were beating me, they said they were going to decapitate me … that I maintain relations with Rwandans, and that I’m in touch with “putschists” [those responsible for the failed coup].A pickup truck belonging to the SNR provincial commissioner arrived at the forest base and four policemen put the man in the back. The policemen beat him as he was driven to the SNR office, where a senior official accused him of collaborating with the armed opposition. After an acquaintance paid a bribe, Burundian authorities released the man.
A student in a northern province said that on April 18, he was in a bar with friends when a group of Imbonerakure wielding wooden rods asked for his identity card and money. When he was unable to give them money, they accused him of helping Burundian rebels cross from Rwanda into Burundi. A truck from the local government office arrived and took him to a nearby province. The student said:
We were held in a cellar of a multi-story house. When we arrived, we were tied up tightly with ropes. [Police] started to beat us with truncheons. We spent four days there and were always tied up. They beat us twice a day: once in the morning about 6 a.m. and once at night about 8 p.m. We were especially beaten on the bottom. Then we were sent to [another province]. The police commissioner drove us there. Wherever we went, we were accused of collaborating with armed groups.Imbonerakure arrested a 34-year-old taxi driver in a northern province in early 2016. The taxi driver said:
[A senior police official] wanted us to admit that [weapons the police had found] were ours. He intimidated us, saying it’s better that we admit it because, according to him, a mistake admitted to is half-way forgiven. We told him that we can’t admit something we know nothing about. He said: “Are you going to tell human rights organizations [about your arrest] once you’ve been freed?”
A few days later, the senior police official drove him to a rural, uninhabited place and released him.
I saw two Imbonerakure come toward me with a policeman. They jumped on me, and they grabbed me by my belt, one on either side of me. A third Imbonerakure came and hit me, and they took me by force. I said to a policeman who was nearby: “Are you going to let them harm me while you are standing there?” The policeman said: “I can’t do anything for you.”Imbonerakure tied the man’s arms behind his back and marched him into the forest.
They started to beat me. They all had wooden rods. They lashed me 300 times. An Imbonerakure who said he was the commissioner in charge of operations said: “It’s you who are supplying the rebels. Even Jesus is an Imbonerakure. Whether you want him or not, Nkurunziza should remain president. You’ll have to wait at least 200 years until there’s a Tutsi president.”The man said one of the Imbonerakure who beat him appeared to be Rwandan.
When they were beating me, I screamed loudly and one of them said [in Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda]: Reka nze mbereke! [I will show you]. Then the same person came and stomped on my stomach and put plastic bags and stones in my mouth so I couldn’t yell.The man paid a bribe of 100,000 Burundian francs (approximately US$60) to an Imbonerakure who released him. The man said he was bruised and swollen and urinated blood after the attack.
Abuses by Armed Opposition Groups
Local journalists and human rights activists have reported several grenade attacks and killings believed to have been committed by armed opposition groups. Former members of armed opposition groups told Human Rights Watch that in the past they had used hit-and-run tactics and grenade attacks to kill ruling party members and suspected collaborators.
Unidentified people have attacked several bars in Bujumbura and other provinces with grenades since early 2016. Burundian media reported that on May 24, 10 men attacked a drinks depot and bar in Mwaro province, killing a judicial policeman and injuring several customers. During the same attack, a guard at the ruling party offices in Ndava, a commune in Mwaro, was also killed as the attackers attempted to burn down the building. Three men were arrested in connection with the attacks.
In Bururi province, unidentified gunmen shot dead several ruling party members in April and May, including Jean Claude Bikorimana, a ruling party member fatally shot on April 9. Three ruling party members were among four people shot and killed at a bar in Bururi province on the night of April 15; another attack on the same night killed a ruling party member, Japhet Karibwami, at his home. Several people were reported arrested after these attacks.
A reported ruling party member, Anitha Nizigama, was shot dead June 12 in Musaga, Bujumbura. The exact circumstances and motive for the shooting have not been confirmed.
In all of these cases, Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm the identity of the attackers. Efforts to interview witnesses to attacks or contact family members of ruling party members or Imbonerakure who were killed were unsuccessful.