Ugandan citizens 'tortured and killed by secretive unit'

The Garda college in Templemore, Co Tipperary, where Ugandan police officers have received training in public order management

JODY CLARKE in Nairobi

THE UGANDAN government is involved in the torture, illegal detention and extrajudicial killings of its citizens, according to a report released by an international rights group yesterday.
The Human Rights Watch report found that the secretive Rapid Response Unit, which has become closely involved with efforts by the United States to tackle terrorism, has repeatedly broken the law, killing at least six people in 2010.
Known for “for practices that flout basic legal safeguards in Ugandan and international law”, the unit and its officers have carried out a wide range of crimes, from petty theft to terrorism, since its establishment in 2002 as Operation Wembley, the report said.
The unit’s name was changed in 2007, but according to Human Rights Watch, this makes no difference to the people it tortures, detains, or in some cases kills.
“The authorities and the donors who fund the police need to get serious about holding abusive officers of this unit accountable,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
“No police force is going to be respected and trusted by the people it exists to protect if it flouts the law, tortures detainees, and disregards due process.”
Ugandan police spokeswoman Capt Judith Nabakooba called the report unfair, accusing the rights group of exaggerating cases of police misconduct.
“Human Rights Watch take [took] the statement of criminals for granted and published them in the report,” she said.
The author of the report spoke to 77 detainees of the unit, 60 of whom said they were severely beaten by plain-clothes police officers.
“Detainees were beaten on the joints with batons over the course of several days while handcuffed in stress positions with their hands under their legs,” the report said.
Ms Nabakooba said members of the Ugandan police force travelled to the Garda Síochána training college in Templemore, Co Tipperary, last year to be trained in different areas, including public order management and community policing, in preparation for last month’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda.
Thirty officers are preparing to travel to Templemore over the next two months.