Kampala, Uganda
The Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Uganda has used this year’s commemoration of the brutal murder of Archbishop Janani Luwum by dictator Idi Amin to condemn the use of torture and other human rights violations.
Speaking during an event to mark Janani Luwum Day on Wednesday, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, called for thorough investigations into the torture allegations made by opposition politicians.
Anglican Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu. PICTURE: John Semakula.
Noting that President Yoweri Museveni spoke against the use of torture in one of his first addresses of the year, the Archbishop said he was “very disappointed” that reports of people being tortured were still being seen in newspapers.
“Who are these people torturing Ugandans when President Yoweri Museveni has recently condemned torture?” Kaziimba asked, adding, “If someone has committed a crime, they should be taken to the courts of law to give them the deserving punishments.”
The newly enthroned Catholic Archbishop of Kampala Diocese, Paul Ssemogerere, also recently spoke out against torture and murder, asking the perpetrators to look to God for redemption.
Speaking during his inaugural mass as Archbishop of Kampala Archdiocese at Lubaga Cathedral in Kampala on 6th February the prelate said that “those who are tortured possess a God-given dignity rising from His image as in Genesis 1.”
“Let’s implore those in civil authority to desist from encroaching on the rightful freedoms of the vulnerable especially those in detention.”
Archbishop Luwum, then the Archbishop of the Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire (now eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), was kidnapped, tortured and later shot dead by soldiers under the command of Idi Amin on 16th February, 1977. Amin’s soldiers secretly transported the Archbishop’s body to his upcountry home church at Mucwini, Kitgum District, in northern Uganda. Amin, who was president of Uganda between 1971 to 1979, suspected Luwum of supporting rebels who were plotting to overthrow his regime.
The martyrdom of the Archbishop later returned to haunt Amin, awakening the international community to the reality of the atrocities that were being perpetrated under his regime and contributing to his eventual overthrow. During Amin’s reign of terror, millions of Ugandans were tortured and murdered by his soldiers and other security personnel.
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Opposition MPs and rights activists claim hundreds of Ugandan Opposition supporters have been brutally tortured and detained without trial over the past year while others have disappeared. Among those who claim to have been tortured is award-winning author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija who was released recently from prison after a month for insulting President Yoweri Museveni’s son General Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Rukirabashaija, whose body shows evidence of what he says are torture marks, said his tormenters tore pieces of his flesh from his body using pliers until he was soaked in blood and unconscious. He has since fled the country and, according to his lawyer, will temporarily settle in an unnamed European country.
The US and EU embassies in Uganda recently issued separate statements condemning the brutal torture and human rights violations in the country.
Correction: The date of Paul Ssemogerere’s inaugural mass has been corrected.
