🇺🇬 Police, troops seal off Ugandan opposition headquarters ahead of protest
Soldiers and police sealed off the headquarters of Uganda's biggest opposition party on Monday in what a police spokesperson called a precautionary move ahead of planned anti-government protests on Tuesday.
In a post on social media platform X, National Unity Platform party chief Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said security personnel had surrounded NUP headquarters in the capital Kampala, barring anyone from entering or exiting.
He showed pictures of military personnel at the premises alongside parked army trucks.
"Ahead of our scheduled press conference this morning, the military and police have raided and surrounded the National Unity Platform offices..." Wine said. "The cowardly regime is so afraid of the people because they know how much they have wronged them!"
Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has in recent years emerged as the biggest challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has led the East African nation since 1986.
#Uganda
@africaintel
Soldiers and police sealed off the headquarters of Uganda's biggest opposition party on Monday in what a police spokesperson called a precautionary move ahead of planned anti-government protests on Tuesday.
In a post on social media platform X, National Unity Platform party chief Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said security personnel had surrounded NUP headquarters in the capital Kampala, barring anyone from entering or exiting.
He showed pictures of military personnel at the premises alongside parked army trucks.
"Ahead of our scheduled press conference this morning, the military and police have raided and surrounded the National Unity Platform offices..." Wine said. "The cowardly regime is so afraid of the people because they know how much they have wronged them!"
Wine, 42, a pop star turned politician, has in recent years emerged as the biggest challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, 79, who has led the East African nation since 1986.
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬 Ugandan security forces detain young protesters marching in Kampala
Ugandan security forces detained a number of young people on Tuesday in downtown Kampala who were taking part in a banned rally against what the protesters say are rampant corruption and human rights abuses by the country's rulers.
A Reuters witness saw the detentions being made, while a video posted by NTV Uganda on the X social media platform also showed a small group of young people being intercepted and detained by police while they were marching.
The protesters were holding placards and shouting slogans denouncing corruption. One wore a T-shirt bearing the words "Speaker Must Resign".
A police spokesman was not immediately available to say how many people had been detained.
Authorities banned the planned protest, citing intelligence they said showed criminally-minded youths might hijack it in order to loot and vandalise.
Soldiers and police have been deployed around the parliament building and in the centre of the Ugandan capital with the aim of deterring any protesters.
#Uganda
@africaintel
Ugandan security forces detained a number of young people on Tuesday in downtown Kampala who were taking part in a banned rally against what the protesters say are rampant corruption and human rights abuses by the country's rulers.
A Reuters witness saw the detentions being made, while a video posted by NTV Uganda on the X social media platform also showed a small group of young people being intercepted and detained by police while they were marching.
The protesters were holding placards and shouting slogans denouncing corruption. One wore a T-shirt bearing the words "Speaker Must Resign".
A police spokesman was not immediately available to say how many people had been detained.
Authorities banned the planned protest, citing intelligence they said showed criminally-minded youths might hijack it in order to loot and vandalise.
Soldiers and police have been deployed around the parliament building and in the centre of the Ugandan capital with the aim of deterring any protesters.
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬 Anti-Corruption Activists' Press Briefing Raided by Uganda Police
The activists were transported to an unknown destination.
Police had also made scores of arrests during protests in Kampala after the demonstrators defied the government ban by marching to Parliament. The organizers made several demands, including the resignation of Parliament Speaker Anita Among.
President Yoweri Museveni had warned protest organizers that they were "playing with fire", and said the government wouldn't allow anyone to "tramp upon people's properties in the name of protests".
#Uganda
@africaintel
The activists were transported to an unknown destination.
Police had also made scores of arrests during protests in Kampala after the demonstrators defied the government ban by marching to Parliament. The organizers made several demands, including the resignation of Parliament Speaker Anita Among.
President Yoweri Museveni had warned protest organizers that they were "playing with fire", and said the government wouldn't allow anyone to "tramp upon people's properties in the name of protests".
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇬🇧🇺🇬The British bank Standard Chartered is interested in financing the construction of a standard gauge railway in Uganda.
“We are currently working on $1.3 billion worth of projects,” said Sanjay Rugani, chief executive officer of the bank’s Uganda unit.
#UK #Uganda
@africaintel
“We are currently working on $1.3 billion worth of projects,” said Sanjay Rugani, chief executive officer of the bank’s Uganda unit.
#UK #Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬 Ugandan police say 104 people were arrested in anti-corruption protests
Police in Uganda arrested 104 people during anti-corruption protests this week and almost all of them have been charged with public order offences, a police statement said late on Friday.
The government's response to the street protests drew criticism from rights campaigners and the United States, which said it was "concerned" by the arrests of dozens of protesters who were "peacefully demonstrating".
Young Ugandans took to the streets on Tuesday and Thursday to protest alleged graft by elected leaders in the East African country, drawing inspiration from weeks of youth-led protests in neighbouring Kenya that led the president there to scrap proposed tax hikes.
#Uganda
@africaintel
Police in Uganda arrested 104 people during anti-corruption protests this week and almost all of them have been charged with public order offences, a police statement said late on Friday.
The government's response to the street protests drew criticism from rights campaigners and the United States, which said it was "concerned" by the arrests of dozens of protesters who were "peacefully demonstrating".
Young Ugandans took to the streets on Tuesday and Thursday to protest alleged graft by elected leaders in the East African country, drawing inspiration from weeks of youth-led protests in neighbouring Kenya that led the president there to scrap proposed tax hikes.
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬🇰🇪 Uganda court charges 36 opposition supporters with terrorism-related offences
A Ugandan court charged 36 opposition supporters on Monday with terrorism-related offences after they were deported from neighbouring Kenya where they had travelled to attend a training course, court papers seen by Reuters showed.
The 36 people, who are members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), one of Uganda's biggest opposition parties, deny the charges. Their lawyer, Erias Lukwago, told reporters outside the magistrates' court in Kampala the charges were "ridiculous".
The case comes amid protests by young people in both Uganda and Kenya against corruption, high taxes and other grievances.
Kenyan authorities detained and then deported the 36 people after they had travelled to the western Kenyan city of Kisumu on July 23 to take part in a leadership and governance training course, their lawyer and party officials said.
During their detention in Kenya "their properties were confiscated, including computers and phones. They were tortured and several injured," Kiiza Besigye, a key figure in the FDC and a veteran opponent of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, said in a post on the X platform on Sunday.
#Uganda #Kenya
@africaintel
A Ugandan court charged 36 opposition supporters on Monday with terrorism-related offences after they were deported from neighbouring Kenya where they had travelled to attend a training course, court papers seen by Reuters showed.
The 36 people, who are members of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), one of Uganda's biggest opposition parties, deny the charges. Their lawyer, Erias Lukwago, told reporters outside the magistrates' court in Kampala the charges were "ridiculous".
The case comes amid protests by young people in both Uganda and Kenya against corruption, high taxes and other grievances.
Kenyan authorities detained and then deported the 36 people after they had travelled to the western Kenyan city of Kisumu on July 23 to take part in a leadership and governance training course, their lawyer and party officials said.
During their detention in Kenya "their properties were confiscated, including computers and phones. They were tortured and several injured," Kiiza Besigye, a key figure in the FDC and a veteran opponent of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, said in a post on the X platform on Sunday.
#Uganda #Kenya
@africaintel
🇺🇬On the territory of the sanctuary near the city of Mpigi in Uganda, 17 human skulls were discovered buried in metal boxes.
The alleged owner of the sanctuary is on the run as a suspect in a brutal murder, and local residents told that people had previously gathered at the site to worship.
#Uganda
@africaintel
The alleged owner of the sanctuary is on the run as a suspect in a brutal murder, and local residents told that people had previously gathered at the site to worship.
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇨🇩🇺🇬 Congolese police officers flee to Uganda as fighting intensifies
Nearly 100 police officers from the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to neighbouring Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the military in Congo's east intensified, a Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday.
The officers arrived via the Ishasha border crossing in Kanungu district in southwestern Uganda, Major Kiconco Tabaro, a regional spokesperson for the Uganda People's Defence Forces, said.
"They were fleeing fighting by M23 and other militias and the Congo military, there's a lot of violence there and then there's also hunger," Tabaro said.
Over the past four days at least 2,500 more Congolese refugees have arrived in Uganda fleeing the raging violence across the border, he said.
"The main push factor is the intensifying violence and insecurity," Tabaro said, adding that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children were among the refugees.
#DRCongo #Uganda
@africaintel
Nearly 100 police officers from the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to neighbouring Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the military in Congo's east intensified, a Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday.
The officers arrived via the Ishasha border crossing in Kanungu district in southwestern Uganda, Major Kiconco Tabaro, a regional spokesperson for the Uganda People's Defence Forces, said.
"They were fleeing fighting by M23 and other militias and the Congo military, there's a lot of violence there and then there's also hunger," Tabaro said.
Over the past four days at least 2,500 more Congolese refugees have arrived in Uganda fleeing the raging violence across the border, he said.
"The main push factor is the intensifying violence and insecurity," Tabaro said, adding that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children were among the refugees.
#DRCongo #Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬 Team of developers from Uganda create a Blind Assistant app
A team of developers from Uganda created the Blind Assistant app, which can read texts out loud to help visually impaired students. Many educational institutions in Africa do not have Braille teaching materials, so visually impaired high school students are regularly expelled due to poor academic performance.
According to Uganda's 2014 national census, there are approximately 250,000 visually impaired people in the country, of which about 1,500 are schoolchildren.
#Uganda
@africaintel
A team of developers from Uganda created the Blind Assistant app, which can read texts out loud to help visually impaired students. Many educational institutions in Africa do not have Braille teaching materials, so visually impaired high school students are regularly expelled due to poor academic performance.
According to Uganda's 2014 national census, there are approximately 250,000 visually impaired people in the country, of which about 1,500 are schoolchildren.
#Uganda
@africaintel
🇺🇬 Landfill collapse in Uganda kills at least eight people, including two children
The incident took place north of the capital Kampala according to local authorities.
People, animals and houses were swallowed by the landslide caused by heavy rains. 14 people had been rescued and taken to hospital.
#Uganda
@africaintel
The incident took place north of the capital Kampala according to local authorities.
People, animals and houses were swallowed by the landslide caused by heavy rains. 14 people had been rescued and taken to hospital.
#Uganda
@africaintel