Act against Museveni’s repression in Uganda
Dear International Leaders and Human Rights Organisations,
We demand immediate, coordinated action against the systematic repression under dictator Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
For four decades, despot Museveni has held power while presenting Uganda as stable. But stability built on fear, military intimidation and political imprisonment is not democracy.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other credible sources document a sustained pattern of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, extra-judicial killings, torture, attacks on journalists and members of opposition parties.
Urgent cases:
• Dr Kizza Besigye: opposition leader, in custody since his abduction in Nairobi in November 2024
• Haji Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya: Besigye’s aide, abducted alongside him
• Eron Kiiza: human-rights lawyer sentenced by a military court after representing Besigye and Lutale
• Eddie Ssebuufu (Eddie Mutwe): bodyguard of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, reportedly abducted and brought to court showing signs of torture
• Sam Mugumya: opposition youth leader, whereabouts undisclosed despite a High Court order to produce him
Amnesty reported more than 400 National Unity Platform supporters detained at opposition rallies. Human Rights Watch reports at least 44 civilians were imprisoned through military proceedings after the 2021 elections.
This is not a normal political dispute. It is a human-rights crisis.
WE CALL FOR:
1. Immediate Release of all Ugandans detained solely for peacefully exercising their political rights
2. Disclose the whereabouts of all forcibly disappeared people, including Sam Mugumya
3. Guarantee medical care and legal access for Kizza Besigye, including family, doctors and lawyers, or release him if no credible charges exist
4. End military trials of civilians and release or lawfully retry those convicted unfairly
5. Support independent investigations into torture, abduction, disappearance and unlawful killings
6. Impose targeted sanctions and travel bans on implicated officials
7. Suspend or condition military assistance until unlawful detentions end
8. Deploy international observers to trials, detention facilities and opposition events
9. Refer Uganda’s abuses to the UN Working Groups and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
10. Protect journalists, lawyers and human-rights defenders facing retaliation
The international community must stop rewarding Museveni’s government with diplomatic praise while treating repression as an internal matter. You cannot support democracy while cooperating with a regime that imprisons its opponents.
A dictator who has ruled for over four decades should not fear a rally, a lawyer, a journalist or a citizen’s criticism. That is not strength. It is authoritarian fear backed by state violence.
Move beyond expressions of concern. Issue public demands. Send observers, Investigate, Sanction, Make security cooperation conditional on human rights.
Release Uganda’s political prisoners.
End enforced disappearances.
Stop torture and military trials of civilians.
Hold perpetrators accountable.
Stand with the people of Uganda, not with the machinery of repression.