News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

‘The beating of people gathering peacefully is cruel’

Posted: 16 Jul 2016 04:16 AM PDT

Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the police beating of hundreds of opposition FDC supporters in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

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Kampala – Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the police beating of hundreds of opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters in the Ugandan capital Kampala this week.

“Amnesty International is appalled by the deliberate and senseless beating of unarmed opposition supporters, the latest episode in the now all too familiar and systematic pattern of police brutality in Uganda,” Amnesty International regional director for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes Muthoni Wanyeki said in a statement.

“The beating of people gathering peacefully is cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law, which Uganda must respect. In severe cases it may even amount to torture.

“The relevant authorities must immediately order an independent, impartial, efficient, and transparent investigation into these incidents. Where sufficient, admissible evidence points to responsibility of individuals, including command responsibility, such persons must be prosecuted in fair trials,” he said.

Police inspector general Kale Kayihura was quoted in the Ugandan press as saying the beatings were justified “because when you are beaten, you don’t die”.

Wanyeki said images and videos widely shared online and on social media showed uniformed police officers and other men in plainclothes, some on pickup trucks and others on foot, indiscriminately whipping people using canes and what appeared to be electric cables.

The beatings took place on July 12 and 13 as hundreds of FDC supporters lined the roads to cheer Kizza Besigye – the FDC’s presidential candidate in the February elections – after he was granted bail in his ongoing treason trial.

African News Agency (ANA)

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South Sudan refugees 'could pass 1 million'

Posted: 16 Jul 2016 02:26 AM PDT

There is concern about fresh outflows of refugees following military clashes in recent days in the South Sudan capital of Juba.

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London - The number of South Sudanese refugees in East Africa could pass 1 million this year, the United Nations refugee agency said, calling on armed groups to allow safe passage for people fleeing the latest fighting.

There is concern about fresh outflows of refugees following military clashes in recent days in the capital, Juba, said Ann Encontre, a UN refugee coordinator in South Sudan. She appealed for $701m in relief aid.

“They are supposed to be the generation of tomorrow, the generation that will lead and rebuild their country, but right now they are suffering enormously,” she said. “They have been deprived of a normal life.”

Even before the resurgence of violence in the past week, hundreds of thousands of refugees had been sheltering in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere since civil war began in December 2013. But there are new reports that South Sudan authorities are blocking some citizens, including those with US or Canadian dual nationality, from leaving the country.

Opposing army factions have clashed in Juba over the past week, with forces backing President Salva Kiir pushing many opposition forces out of their bases in the city and bombing the home of former rebel leader Riek Machar, who is now the country's first vice president. The fighting has threatened a peace deal reached in August to end the civil war between supporters of Kiir and Machar that left tens of thousands dead. The deal called for a transitional government that included members of both sides.

Both Kiir and Machar on Monday called for a cease-fire, which has appeared to hold. But the UN has said more than 40 000 fled their homes in the latest fighting to seek shelter at UN and other sites in Juba.

The Independent

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