Horror tales from Uganda
NZPA-Reuter London Hundreds of prisoners have been murdered, tortured and sexually abused in “death houses” and detention ■centres in the Ugandan capital of Kampala since President Milton Obote was officially returned to power in December last year, according to eye-witnesses and Western diplomatic sources.
Red Cross officials in Uganda estimate that at least 2000 political prisoners have been held in prisons, military barracks and other detention centres run by Government security organisations in the last 10 months.
It is impossible to make an accurate count of prisoners killed while in detention, but one man who escaped said that, “five or six people were taken nightly for execution” during the five months he was held prisoner in Makindye military barracks in Kampala. The escapee from Makindye military barracks and four others who either escaped or were released from the detention centres were interviewed inside Uganda and in neighbouring Kenya. They declined to be identified for fear of their own safety and the safety of their families in Uganda. They said they were beaten and whipped by Ugandan soldiers and saw other prisoners being bayoneted, burned, raped and shot.
“They would baydnet people in: the stomach or chest and force you to talk,”
the escapee, who is a member of the opposition Uganda Patriotic Movement, said. “They would shoot at the ankles or at the knees just to leave you in pain.”
He.said male and female prisoners were sexually abused. A woman interviewed in Kampala said plain clothes security men seized her from her office and took her to a military barracks outside the city. She said soldiers kicked and punched her and beat her with sticks, leaving her with a broken arm and other injuries. “There were about 20 of them,” said the woman, whose arm was in a plaster cast, “And any of them passing by would just beat you if they wanted.” She said synthetic cloth was placed on prisoners, set alight and allowed to melt onto their skin.
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Press, 23 November 1981, Page 8
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334Horror tales from Uganda Press, 23 November 1981, Page 8
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