05 Dec 11 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A Rawandan journalist has been shot dead at point blank range in the Ugandan capital Kampala, where he was exiled. Charles Ingabire, editor of the Inyenyeri News website, was fatally shot twice in the chest by unidentified assailants on 1 December at around 2am outside a bar in Kampala. The journalist, who was an outspoken critic of the Rwandan government, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ingabire was exiled from Rwanda in 2007, and had been threatened previously. In an attack teo months ago his computer was stolen and he was pressured to shut down Inyenyeri.
25 Nov 11 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
Unidentified assailants raided the offices of a Ugandan newspaper and killed a security guard in the early hours of Thursday morning. 80 computers, worth millions of Ugandan shillings were stolen from the Kyengera based offices of bi-weekly newspaper “Eddoboozi” and security guard Fred Mabonga was killed by the intruders. The editor of the pro-Buganda paper, Eddie Mukwaba Katende, said he could not rule out the fact that the paper may have been targeted because of its reports on corruption, politics and human rights abuses. Police are investigating the incident, but no arrests have been made.
19 Oct 11 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
The Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was arrested during a protest against surging consumer prices and wasteful government spending yesterday. Besigye was arrested during the “Walk to work” protest on the outskirts of the capital Kampala. Opposition youths threw rocks at passing vehicles and smashing windscreens, following Besigye’s “preventative” arrest. Police say the politician was later released and taken to his home in the Kasangati suburb. In April, the country experienced deadly protests over the high costs of basic commodities and transport.
22 Sep 11 | Index Index, minipost
Ugandan writer Vincent Nzaramba was arrested from his home on 17 September, after penning a book critical of President Yoweri Museveni. According to eyewitnesses, two police vehicles were waiting at Nzaramba’s home, and after searching his home for two hours and confiscating 106 copies of the controversial book, he was taken to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) headquarters. Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala, programme coordinator for Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda), said that Nzaramba is being “illegally detained” by police forces, because he has refused to retract his calls for the removal of the Ugandan president.
