Emeutes de Kampala – novembre 2005
Kampala chaos
15 November 2005
Ugandan riot police clash with protestors for a second day as the opposition leader appears in court.
Uganda used to be seen as an African country making progress – its president Yoweri Museveni a leader who transformed a country ruined by war and fought the first great African crusade against AIDS.
But the appearance in court this morning of Uganda’s main opposition politician may further tarnish President Museveni’s once heroic image.
Kizza Besigye was arrested yesterday for rape and treason, charges many critics believe are politically motivated.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets outside the Kampala courthouse for a second day, as riot police fired tear gas and live rounds into the air.
Opposition supporters were protesting the treason charges laid against their leader Dr Kiiza Besigye. Dozens are reported to have been arrested while many businesses remained closed.
Some demonstrators looted shops and smashed windows, several people were injured in the clashes.
Dr Besigye appeared before the magistrate after a night in Luzira prison. She referred him to a higher court to be tried for treason and rape.
Kampala’s diplomatic corps was there – many suspecting that these charges are political – after all, Dr Besigye challenged President Museveni in the last election and will do so again next year.
The charge of raping a friend’s daughter has raised eyebrows.
Uganda police shoot rioter dead
Tuesday, 15 November 2005
Police in Uganda have shot dead at least one rioter on the second day of protests over the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye.
As police fired bullets and tear gas, charges of rape and treason were read out to Dr Besigye in the High Court.
The protesters believe the charges are designed to stop him challenging the president in elections next year.
The BBC’s Will Ross in Kampala says there is a growing concern about the political climate in Uganda.
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Earlier this year, the UK and other donors withheld some aid to Uganda after the constitution was amended to allow President Yoweri Museveni to run for a third term.
His National Resistance Movement is meeting this week and is expected to endorse Mr Museveni as its presidential candidate.
‘Emperor’s clothes’
Our correspondent says some of the protesters became violent – burning and looting – while battling police and soldiers. The man shot dead was allegedly trying to steal goods.
Just a few hundred metres from the riots, Dr Besigye was charged with treason along with 22 other alleged rebels.
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The courthouse was packed with onlookers, including several diplomats.
Dr Besigye’s case was referred to the High Court, where his lawyers are expected to ask for bail.
In a national address, Mr Museveni said the case was a chance for Dr Besigye to prove his innocence « if he is innocent ».
Police chief Major General Kale Kayihura vehemently denied that the charges were designed to stop Dr Besigye contesting the elections.
« That is absolute rubbish. This has nothing to do with partisan politics, » he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
Dr Besigye returned from four years of exile last month to huge crowds of cheering supporters.
If found guilty of treason, he and 22 co-accused could face the death penalty.
Dr Besigye has previously denied allegations that he is linked to rebel groups.
The rape charge dates from an incident in 1997, allegedly involving the daughter of a friend.
Geoffrey Ekanya, an MP for Dr Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change, told Reuters news agency that the international community should put pressure on Uganda’s government.
« Museveni has spent billions on his international image. Now they are seeing the nakedness of the emperor. »
‘Political prisoner’
His wife and former MP Winnie Byanyima dismissed the charges as « laughable ».
« Besigye is, in my view is, a political prisoner. I demand that he be released unconditionally and immediately. The government would be responsible for anything that happens to him, » she told the AFP news agency.
United States-based pressure group Human Rights Watch has urged the courts to grant Dr Besigye bail to show the arrest is not « politically motivated ».
« If the government denies him bail, it will reinforce the perception that it has pressed capital charges against him to prevent him from campaigning for president, » said Jemera Rone, HRW’s Uganda researcher.
Maj Kayihura insisted that the People’s Redemption Army, a rebel group allegedly based in the lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, does exist even though it has never staged any attacks.
He said that new allegations linking Dr Besigye to the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army which operates in northern Uganda came from ex-rebels, who said he had sought an alliance to topple the government.
Once Mr Museveni’s doctor, Dr Besigye ran against the president in 2001 before fleeing after the elections, saying his life was in danger.
Kampala Riots
mariejavins.blogspot.com
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Last week in Kampala, students « rioted » over increases in fees at the university.
Monday, the « riot » was because the President had the opposition leader arrested.
I’m on the Kampala outskirts and have no intention of going into the center. There are a lot of police visible and business as usual is going on around me. It seems that these « riots » were protests first-and-foremost, but some overzealous angry people got a few rocks involved. Bullets and tear gas followed. « Riot » makes it sounds like the entire population of the town is tearing each other’s hair out, which is far from the truth. Children are in school, people are going grocery-shopping, and life goes on. Okay, a uniformed guy with a really big machine gun demanded to know if I was carrying a gun into the shopping mall today, but when I told him no, he accepted that and allowed me to proceed to the money-changer.
No one seems real impressed with the arrest. Me included.
The real issue as far as movement is that Kampala has totally outgrown its infrastructure and downtown is a clogged-up mess. There’s one main road and lots of tiny roads where traffic crawls on any given day. Add some protesters and some rocks–boom–instant paralysis.
After a unpleasant night in a shabby budget room at the Blue Mango, I’ve splurged and gotten an a/c room with an ethernet connection at Fang Fang Hotel. It’s not a splurge on the level of the Sheraton, but by my standards, it’s a little slice of paradise.
anthropologie du présent 