The Announced Double Swearing-in (In) Uganda on the 12th of May; Doubling down on the days ahead…

m7, besigye

There are circulated and planned demonstrations against the National Resistance Movement and their “elected” government during the General Election of 2016 and was announced and declared by Eng. Dr. Badru M. Kiggundu on the 20th February. That they waited for the Supreme Court Petition of Amama Mbabazi that they cascaded and destroyed by all means. Just the same way the Uganda Police Force went after Democratic Party Members, FDC supporters and leadership in the days after to destroy evidence of the altering and rigging of the election.

The Reason why Uganda People’s Congress haven’t done or had any issues after the Election is because their leader Jimmy Akena have done deals with the NRM and even had his own people in the party campaign for the NRM in certain areas. Therefore they have been left in peace as they in solidarity have concocted an campaign trail together with the NRM, as well as the Party had no Presidential Candidate, which is also an extended token to the NRM and their Executive.

So with all of that mind, with the electoral climate and the electoral process that have been farce, where the South Sudanese rented troops was around in the nation during the election days, together with the army and anti-riot police stationed on the streets while the election and polling where held. Where the ballots and pre-ticking extensions and the certainty of Police involvement in central parts of the electoral process, then you know that the general election was neither free nor fair for the people and the citizens hadn’t their vote, they got the people the Executive had selected, not the ones the people wanted to have elected.

NRM 13.11.15 Omunge

Elected by the people is whole stage of difference than the Selected from the Executive. That is power of the President and the president that has presided since 1986. The man who does not believes in the will of his own people, because he selected the leaders for them, if they don’t show loyalty towards him. He is the only man with a vision, as well have heard so clearly and everybody else is not able to run the country. I am sure he has stalled the procurement of the Cobalt 60 Teletherapy Machine at the Uganda Cancer Institute to facilitate more cows to one of his ranches.

In this days and age, the reason for extra haste and other meetings at the State House is that the Russian and French investors in the Oil Development that is the key to new ways of extorting the state, as the Executive have done for 3 decades. The reason why the deals of the Pipeline between Ugandan Government, Tanzanian counterparts and the Total E&P Uganda is uncertain, as much as the drilling agreements in Lake Albert by Total, China National Oil Offshore Corporation (CNOOC) and the others who have gotten rights to do so. But, that is not important as the exotic dancing at the clubs of Kabalagala in the Suburb of Kampala is the real danger of the country. Just ask the wise-guy Hon. Jim Muhwezi, he has the vision for the sodomy of the nation and the danger of dancing!

Uganda Campaign Poster 2016 Funny

The hesitation also of the final days of the 9th Parliament to fix themselves some more cash without questions while stalling the budget talks for next budget year of 2016/17 that was supposed to voted-in Parliament; but the Members of Parliament wanted to be sure of a pay-rise for the Nobel duty of being Selected by the Executive. The Executive knows this and let it go, because he knows if he needs anything done he can just give them little sweet brown-envelopes and they will let him be giddy.

So with that all in mind, the planned demonstrations, the running and planning building a petroleum industry behind closed chambers, the amazement of last-pitched laws of the 9th Parliament and last saga of late the speakership of the 10th Parliament.

Uganda-parliament-2

10th Parliament like the 9 Parliament before needs a speaker and people are fighting for it, the Incumbent Kadaga believes she is the one for it again, the deputy Oulanya believes it his turn and other are throwing in their vote for confidence of being it. The NRM have no plans of letting a opposition leading the Parliament minutes and the organizing the structure of the lawful assembly of the land. That cannot happen, because the NRM and the Executive need to work in own speed and own liking as the Executive is the final word as he fix the votes and run the land. Therefore his last word on who becomes it and who is dismissed, just like Amama Mbabazi and Gilbert Bukenya have been dismissed by him for their ambition, so if the speakers become the same; I am sure he will do it again with force of the NRM CEC and the screaming tone of NRM Secretary General Justine Kasule-Lumumba. Be noted, that will happen, because he keeps people hungry and when they see a moment of eating more than expected then he hit back.

As we note the days and coming days. The tension of the faulted election will unfold and the questions will remain at what force the Police and Army will address the men and woman who walks to demonstrate, and how will the rest of the days between the 5th May and to the 12th May go. There are the historical pains of the Walk to Work where the tear-gas and the crackdown of it. The Police have ever since been monitoring and also spying on the opposition with their Political Police and Commission that been vicious on the dismantling the hopes of the opposition.

Besigye 041115

So how it might go is hard to predict as we can hope of the grand show-up of the Nomination Day around Kampala, if so then the Police Force cannot take them all and wind-down the demonstration with water-cannons, live-bullets and tear-gas. This I say because this is the tactics of the Police Force, even take Helicopters and Armoured Personnel Carriers and Mambas filled with officers to control with harassment of the fellow citizens. So the Police will want to dissolve the matters and the will of the people with the tarnish of civil disobedience. That is what I am worried about as the loss of life and the loss of will after 30 years of oppression.

And I have not even mentioned the started wrangles between the councillors, KCCA administration of the selected men and woman of President Museveni and the elected Lord Mayor that they want to rid-off for the second time. Because the Mzee believes all of the opposition supporters of Kampala are cockroaches or rats, depending on the way he does not talk about crash or kill opposition as proven in the Supreme Court Election Petition of 2016. But, hey maybe I am wrong. You can do the fact check on the words used by the His Excellency during and after the Election Day.

Museveni 031115

So even if Don Museveni gets President Mugabe, President Kenyatta, President Kagame, President Kabila, President Kiir, President Al-Bashir, President Sheik Mohamud, President Magafuli, President Gulleh, Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn and so on. They will surely grace him at Kololo and surely nobody will attack the car of President Mugabe this time. As they did last time he entered a roundabout on the road towards Kampala from Entebbe International Airport. Surely the men and woman, who grace the Kololo, will either be the few die-hards of NRM, the actually paid for the day Crime Preventers and the ones that are earning on the National Resistance Movement. Even some ambassadors and other pleasantries will show-up. Even some of the singers like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone will be there to sing-a-song. So you are warned.

The levels and magnitude of it all is how the world will perceive the days and how the Police Force will act towards the Opposition. How the mentality and the grandest approach, how the rhetoric and words from the ruling party will also show the TRUE state of affairs.

MuseveniQuote

The international reactions and the real surface of how they will deal with it; as we know the American Africa Corp have recently given more technical gear and training to the Ugandan Army in Somalia. Not that makes headlines or be questioned as the President Obama have talked about leaders who never leaves, but at the same time gives handouts to the same men he critic. That is saying something, but acting differently and is hard to fully follow and accept.

It is in this view that the 12th May will show who is loyal and who his friends are, this will show how powerful and loyalty towards the 30 year ruling President Museveni. The Besigye move is deteriorate and also show that the legitimate Executive are something Museveni is not, not at this point and time. Therefore he uses all tactics to oppression and harassment of the opposition. That I fear also will transpire in the coming days as the Police Force, UPDF Special Force Command and the Flying Squad will surface to violate the rights of fellow citizens of Uganda without any consideration to the violence or the extended freedoms they take away to enforce the rule of their Executive. That is the sad prospects I envision, but if the people show up on the 5th May 2016 as they did on the Presidential Nomination day in November 2015, then the Police Force cannot “kill” or dissolve the demonstration. They have to let it go, because the majority will control the streets even when the Anti-Riot Police have to lay low as they can’t brawl with every person on the street. They can only take a small piece of the population, as they are a minority, but a minority with weapons.

Kampala 16.11.15 UPF

Let’s hope that the oppressive regime will get a peaceful shock and that the preparation for the Swearing-In at Kololo Independence Ground will be shackled and feel the heave of the population tiredness of their Executive and his regime. Peace.  

Press Release: UN strongly condemns attack on Bentiu compound (28.04.2016)

South Sudan 28.04.2016

JUBA, South Sudan, April 28, 2016The United Nations strongly condemns an attack that took place on 25 April against the compound of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Bentiu, where a rocket propelled grenade landed inside the perimeter of the compound and partly damaged one of the containers located in the humanitarian hub.

Initial investigations indicate that the projectile, along with earlier small arms fire, was directly targeted at the UNMISS compound. The location of the UNMISS compound is well known and there were no known armed forces in the vicinity of the base at the time of the attack.

The United Nations takes this opportunity to remind all South Sudanese actors of the sanctity of UN staff, equipment and installations, including the Protection of Civilians sites and their residents.

This might be the reason for the delayed return of VP Dr. Riek Machar, as there reports of how the tension was created in Juba before President Kiir let him back into the Capital of South Sudan.

Machar Kiir

There here is certain report that was in sent in between the Kenyan Embassy in the South Sudan and their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As the stories and taking time to get Dr. Riek Machar the leader of SPLM in Opposition instated again as Vice President of South Sudan. That took time and was speculation already, and the commentary was at the size of the guns and the amount of men that the SPLM-IO was allowed to enter the Capital. This here reports shed some lights into the tension of the capital before he returned and to what state of affairs.

That the Government we’re prepared and even decided to put up a military barrack besides an UN POC site proves the levels of tension in the country as the steps of movement before the returning of planned TGoNU or the Government of National Unity.

Information from insider memo in February:

That the President Salva Kiir decree of making 28 states in South Sudan is initially a move that violate the newly signed peace agreement.

The Formation of the TGoNU:

The Formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity will nominate 16 ministers, 10 SPLM-IO, two former detainees becoming ministers and also two minsters from other political parties. The Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) will have President Kiir decree that nominated 50 SPLM/A-IO to the TNLA, with this will expand the ARCSS to 400 MPs with the SPLM-IO getting 50 seats, and one seat of a former detainee and also 17 seats nominated from other Political Parties.

The Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement and Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM):

Have set up a centre in Juba as a Joint Operation Centre there with the South Sudanese National Police Service; but the level forces and demilitarization have slowed down the progress as the lack of resources to function.

 

This is reports from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya 15th April:

That the SPLM-IO had been travelling in civilian clothes into Juba and under UN protection sites located in Juba. SPLM-IO is believed to have 40,000 civilians/soldiers hiding at the UN POC sites with their weapons. These have prompted the Government to have a Military Base 300 meters away. They have also deployed artillery pieces and helicopter gunships around the Jebel Hill. This intended to be close to where the SPLM-IO is located.

As well as the Tiger Battalion from the Western Barh El Ghazal State transported in to Juba on the 10th April, which was 10,000 strong. This is something that SPLA have confirmed.

With tense situations before the re-entering of Riek Machar the Juba capital was reported that the Government army was walking in civilian around the town; either as change of the uniforms of the armed men; this in the style of Prison officers, Police Officers and Wildlife Officers. But they are all heavy armed.

These reports together with Public remark of SPLA Chief of General Gen. Paul Mahong, that he would never allow Dr. Riek Machar to become President of South Sudan and that if he provokes them again he would kill him. That was reported to worsen the tense situation in the capital in other parts of the country.

john-garang

Afterthought:

As much as we can see the militarized politics is clear and the levels of tension create between the friction of President Kiir and VP Machar. These have to play with care especially if they are playing each other. This because South Sudan needs peace and need stability as the inflation is over 200% right now; the government need to be structured and save haven for rule of law. That is since the civil war between the leaders needs to rest and build the new country. Just as the country become a new member of the East African Community and have the ability to prosper if it gives itself peace and its citizen’s stability to build and regenerate the country. Peace.

Dr Kach Ononuju interviewed on Tutsi general killed in Burundi attack (Youtube-Clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7un-sd39k98

 

Press Release: UN agencies concerned about limited funding to assist South Sudanese refugees in Sudan (25.04.2016)

WFP South Sudan 2016

NEW YORK, United States of America, April 25, 2016 –  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today expressed deep concern at funding shortfalls which could affect the assistance that is being provided to South Sudanese refugees in Sudan.

 “Our resources are being stretched at a time when needs are quickly growing,” said UNHCR’s Representative in Sudan, Mohammed Adar.  “Over 50,000 South Sudanese have crossed into Sudan since the beginning of 2016, surpassing the planning figure set for the entire year. Further shortfalls in funding will hamper our ability to continue providing assistance for the existing South Sudanese refugees in Sudan while also responding to the emergency needs of new arrivals.”  UNHCR humanitarian requirements for 2016 remain 18% funded, leaving over US$128 million in unmet needs.

The heads of UNICEF and WFP have voiced similar concerns about the limited resources available to respond to the basic needs of South Sudanese seeking refuge in Sudan, including access to clean water, shelter, emergency household supplies and adequate protection.  The situation is particularly worrisome as the agencies’ funding shortages coincide with a period of heightened food insecurity in part of South Sudan. This, in addition to the ongoing violence, is driving rapidly increasing numbers of South Sudanese into Sudan.

The UNICEF Sudan Representative, Geert Cappelaere, also warns that his organisation is running out of funding for the provision of critical support to more than 100,000 children from South Sudan in dire need of urgent humanitarian assistance. “With only 11% of the total humanitarian requirement funded so far in 2016 and an estimated US$105 million shortfall, UNICEF is gravely concerned it may have to cut back on crucial lifesaving water, sanitation, nutrition, health and protection assistance to those vulnerable children”, Cappelaere emphasised.

Echoing the concern of his UNICEF and UNHCR colleagues, WFP Representative and Country Director Adnan Khan said: “We are concerned that if we do not receive sufficient funding soon enough, we will not be able to respond to the needs of South Sudanese refugees who continue to flee their country to seek food and refuge.”

WFP is currently facing a 12-month funding shortfall of US$181 million of which US$19 million will be used to meet the needs of the South Sudanese refugees through its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation.

UNICEF, UNHCR and WFP have banded together to appeal for additional funding that will be required to meet greater needs created by the rapidly increasing number of South Sudanese fleeing into Sudan.  

Conflict and food insecurity are forcing more and more South Sudanese to flee their country and cross into neighbouring countries.  A total of 678,000 South Sudanese refugees are now being hosted in the neighbouring countries with 221,000 in Sudan.

BURUNDI AFTERMATH Are Burundians deliberately silent or being silenced? (Youtube-Clip)

“The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein today warned of a “sharp increase in the use of torture and ill-treatment in Burundi” and voiced concerns about worrying reports of the existence of illegal detention facilities, both in Bujumbura and in the countryside. His Office (OHCHR) estimates that some 595 people have been ill-treated or tortured since April 2015, a figure which is likely to be an under-estimate.  Daniel Lutaaya has been speaking to the Burundian Ambassodor to Uganda H. E Jean Bosco Barege to find out the truth or otherwise to this matter” (WBS TV Uganda, 2016)

Press Release – Burundi: Government Investigations Ignore State Abuses (13.04.2016)

policiers-burundi

Independent International Inquiry Needed

NEW YORK, United States of America, April 13, 2016 –  The findings of a Burundian commission of inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces on December 11, 2015, in the capital, Bujumbura, are misleading and biased, Human Rights Watch said today. This is one of several official inquiries that have failed to properly investigate security force abuses or hold those responsible to account.
The inquiry focused on reports of abuses during the most deadly operation by the Burundian security forces since the country’s crisis began in April. Human Rights Watch found that police and military shot dead scores of people in Nyakabiga and Musaga neighborhoods, apparently in retaliation for opposition attacks on four military installations, and for heavy shooting at security forces by gunmen in these neighborhoods.

“This is the latest in a series of commissions of inquiry in Burundi that has ignored widespread abuses by the security forces,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These inquiries have covered up state abuses and have not led to justice.”

The Prosecutor General, Valentin Bagorikunda, set up an inquiry into the December 11 events on December 17, 2015. Summarizing the inquiry’s main conclusions on March 10, 2016, he did not mention killings or abuses of Bujumbura residents by the security forces. He claimed that those killed on December 11 were armed “combatants” wearing police or military uniforms.

Since 2010, there have been at least seven commissions of inquiry into allegations of killings and other abuses. Most of them have denied or downplayed serious abuses by state agents.

Human Rights Watch documented the killings of December 11 in detail and found no indications that the victims had participated in the attacks on the military installations. Some victims were found lying side by side, face down, and appeared to have been shot in the back or the head. Others survived with serious injuries. The security forces also carried out large-scale arbitrary arrests in both neighborhoods.

In March, two United Nations special rapporteurs and one from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights visited Burundi to investigate human rights abuses at the request of the UN Human Rights Council. They plan to return in June and send a small team of human rights monitors to be based in the country.

Presenting their interim report to the Human Rights Council on March 22, Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said: “The overt violence of last year seems to have subsided. At the same time covert violence, for example, in the form of disappearances, seems to have increased… There are some in [the Burundian] government who seem to be open to change. Others, however, are in denial anything is wrong.”

Given the Burundian justice system’s inability or unwillingness to conduct credible and thorough investigations, an independent, international commission of inquiry is needed to establish the truth about the grave abuses in Burundi in the past year and support the efforts of the special rapporteurs, Human Rights Watch said.

An international commission with expertise in criminal and forensic investigations would conduct in-depth inquiries with a view to establishing individual responsibility for the most serious crimes. It would probe deeper into these crimes, complementing the work of UN and African Union human rights observers in Burundi as well as the Human Rights Council’s initiatives.

Burundian government officials have repeatedly claimed there is peace and security throughout the country, despite the fact that several hundred people have been killed over the past year and many others arbitrarily arrested, tortured or disappeared. The minister of human rights, social affairs and gender, Martin Nivyabandi, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22 that, “the situation is normalizing” and that, “Burundi today couldn’t be a land where impunity reigns.”

“Contrary to the minister’s statement, impunity has been at the heart of Burundi’s political system for years and is one of the principal causes of the current human rights crisis,” Bekele said.

Serious new abuses were reported throughout March and early April. Scores of people have been arrested and others taken away to unknown destinations by the police or intelligence services. Ruling party officials, police, and members of the ruling party youth league known as Imbonerakure arrested at least 16 members of the opposition party National Liberation Forces (FNL) at a bar in Kirundo province on March 12. The police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, claimed they were conducting a political meeting without authorization.

Armed opposition groups have also been responsible for abuses. Unidentified men killed two ruling party officials in Bururi and Makamba provinces on March 15.

Since early 2016, the intelligence services have intensified surveillance of human rights activists, journalists, and other perceived critics, making it even more difficult to document and expose abuses and putting the few activists who remain at even greater risk.

Tensions were heightened on March 22, after an unidentified gunman shot dead Lt. Col. Darius Ikurakure, a military commander reportedly involved in many abuses, at the army headquarters in Bujumbura. Later that day, residents of Bujumbura reported that security forces arrested several people. That night, another military officer, Major Didier Muhimpundu, was killed in Bujumbura. An opposition group, the Republican Forces of Burundi (Forces républicaines du Burundi, FOREBU), later claimed responsibility for Ikurakure’s death.

“The government’s claims that Burundi is calm and that security is improving aren’t true,” Bekele said. “The recent killing of the military officials has heightened tensions, and many people are being arrested or simply go missing.”

Burundian Ambassador Jean Bosco Bareza Speaks Out on Burundi Crisis (Youtube-Clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UonkokbxnlA

“The United Nations Security Council has unanimously backed a resolution that lays the groundwork for deploying a UN police presence in Burundi to help calm the violence in the troubled nation. The resolution tasks UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with drawing up within 15 days a list of options for the proposed police force, in consultation with the Burundian government and the African Union. NBS’s Solomon Serwanjja spoke to the Burundian ambassador to Uganda, Jean Bosco Bareza about his government’s reaction to the possible deployment of the UN police in Bujjumbura” (NTV Uganda, 2016).

Besigye Reacts To Supreme Court Ruling (Youtube-Clip)

“Besigye reacted to the dismissal of Mbabazi’s petition saying he has been under house arrest since election day and was not able to file his petition” (NTV Uganda, 2016)