Politics

Ugandan opposition groups call for release of political prisoners

Published

4 months ago

December 23, 2023

Prominent members of Uganda’s main opposition political parties denounced the lack of justice for those who have been detained, kidnapped, or killed due to their political beliefs.

Leaders of the Katonga faction of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), and the Conservative Party (CP) pledged support for the National Unity Platform (NUP) in its pursuit of justice for victims of political persecution during the joint end-of-year prayers held at the NUP headquarters in Kampala.

The victims include the 18 NUP supporters who have gone missing, the inmates detained without charge or trial, and the over 54 people who died in the violent demonstrations on November 18, 2020 against the arrest of NUP presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi.

Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, the leader of ANT, stated during the ceremony that “it is very absurd” that issues pertaining to human rights had been reduced to a purely political matter, with victims being defined by their political party affiliation.

“We want to tell all Ugandans that the issue of human rights violations is not a NUP affair. Human rights violations have been going through a vicious cycle for decades, and it’s up to us to either break this cycle or allow the regime to legalise the abnormal into normal,” he said.

“It is not by accident that we have people who were abducted, arrested, or killed; it is deliberate and part of the dictator’s toolbox. Dictatorial regimes use all the methods to instill fear in the people, strategically to keep themselves in power,” he added.

Uganda is one of the African countries with the longest-serving heads of state; its president, Yoweri Museveni, has been president since January 1986, and opposition voices have been stifled under him. A referendum was held in July 2005 which launched a return to multiparty politics.

Related Topics:Featured President Yoweri Museveni Uganda

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Politics

African leaders want record World Bank financing to address climate change

Published

16 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Ahead of a World Bank conference scheduled for later this year, African leaders on Monday called for rich countries to commit to record contributions to a low-interest World Bank facility for developing nations.

The leaders stressed that most African countries depend on the fund to sponsor development and combat climate change.

At a meeting in Japan in December, donors will promise to give money to the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank organization that gives loans with low-interest rates and long terms.

“We call on our partners to meet us at this historic moment of solidarity and respond effectively by increasing their IDA contributions… to at least $120 billion,” Kenya’s President William Ruto told a meeting of African leaders and the World Bank to discuss IDA funding.

African economies were facing a “deepening development and debt crisis that threatens our economic stability, and urgent climate emergencies that demand immediate and collective action for our planet’s survival,” Ruto said.

He talked about the terrible floods in Kenya and the serious drought in Southern African countries like Malawi. If donors promise the least amount that African leaders have asked for, it will be a new high.

The previous high was $93 billion, which was raised in 2021. IDA loans are given out every three years, and donors usually give their money at a world meeting before the loan is given out.

The World Bank said that IDA lends money to 75 poor countries around the world at low interest rates. More than half of these countries are in Africa. Governments use the money to improve access to healthcare and energy, put money into farms, and build important things like roads.

The president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, promised to cut down on the “burdensome” rules that guide lending to countries under the IDA. This would make the process more efficient and get money to countries that need it more quickly.

“We believe a simpler and reimagined IDA can be deployed with more focus to make a meaningful impact,” he said.

Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

2 days ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.