Uganda
Soldiers occupy Uganda's leading newspaper

afrol News, 11 October - International protest is growing after the Ugandan army occupied the premises of the country's leading independent daily, 'The Monitor', in Kampala yesterday. The newspaper has not been able to publish for two days as its premises remain under investigation by the army.

An estimated 50 soldiers and police searched the newspaper's offices without a warrant on 10 October after publication of an article saying the LRA rebels in the north of the country had shot down an army helicopter. The authorities denied that the crash had happened. Some of the officers were in uniform and others in civilian dress.

Police were looking for the article's author, Frank Nyakairu, and any material concerning the report. Mr Nyakairu was kidnapped by army troops in the north today, the paper's staff said. 

In the Kampala premises of 'The Monitor', officers are searching electronic and written material. They ordered staff to leave and disconnected the telephones. At present, police continue to guard the office and 'The Monitor' has not been published today. 

The war in northern Uganda, involving government forces and the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has escalated dramatically in recent months. Large numbers of civilians have been killed, and tens of thousands were ordered by the army to leave their homes last week. 

According to the French media watchdog Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), "press freedom has deteriorated in Uganda since the beginning of this year." A journalism student was killed by police during an opposition demonstration in January and the strict new anti-terrorist law was "likely to lead to abuses." 

Also the US-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns against increasing "suppression" of the Ugandan press. In May, the new draconian anti-terrorism law came into force providing a possible death sentence for anyone publishing news "likely to promote terrorism." 

Terrorism is broadly defined as the "use of violence or threat of violence with intent to promote or achieve political, religious, economic, and cultural or social ends in an unlawful manner." According to HRW, it was "not known if the government intends to make 'The Monitor' its first test case under the new law." 

RSF today condemned Uganda's security forces for its attack on 'The Monitor'. The group also expressed concern about the army's reported kidnapping of Mr Nyakairu and called for his immediate release. 

- The attitude of the security forces is a serious threat to press freedom, said RSF Secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to President Yoweri Museveni. He urged the President to "ensure such incidents were not repeated and that journalists were free to do their job without threats and arbitrary searches."

Also HRW forcefully protested the army's and police's actions. "The Ugandan government should immediately end its suppression of the Monitor and allow the paper to publish again," HRW said in a statement today. 

- Just when independent reporting is most necessary - in war time - the Ugandan government has silenced one of the country's most respected journals, said HRW researcher Juliane Kippenberg. "This is a blatant attack on freedom of the press," she added.

Sources: Based on RSF, HRW and afrol archives

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