DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

………Special Report; Abridged testimony……. Militarized land administration is promoting violence against poor landowners; an experience of one of the tortured defenders.

Published

3 years ago

May 17, 2021

From extreme right, Bakaleke Joseph the former Kiryandongo Police commander together with other police officers during a visit on a contested land.

By witnessradio.org Team

A quiet and peaceful mood defines what used to be a busy community of smallholder farmers whose entire lifestyle depended on farming fields. During the rainy season, the entire family coupled with young, youths and the old would spend the entire time in the garden and they would return when it turns dark. Tea, lunch, and supper meals would be cooked and taken from there as a family targets to plant more acre of land using ordinary farm tools (hand-hoes) for a big harvest.

What used to be grazing fields for animals, gardens of cassava, sweet potatoes, maize, bananas, or burial grounds, among others, are now sugar plantation farms and some shrubs that have almost closed what used to be the feeder roads.

The village is called Kikungulu, Kitwara Sub-County, and 40 km deep in Kiryandongo district, which is bordered by Nwoya District to the north side, Oyam District to the northeast, Apac District to the eastern side, and Masindi District to the south and western side.

With almost all roads closed and the available ones being bushy, thorny, and impassable, it is easier for one to assume no families live in the village.

Deep down in the village is the home of Atyaluk David Richard a land rights defender trapped in the middle of a large sugarcane plantation owned by a multinational company, Kiryandongo sugar limited.

Kiryandongo Sugar Limited is one of the many companies owned by the Rai Group of Mauritius. The dynasty owns several other companies in DR Congo, Kenya and Malawi, and Uganda. They own companies such as West Kenya Sugar (which owns Kabras Sugar), Timsales Limited, Menengai Oil Refineries, RaiPly, and Webuye Panpaper.

In Uganda, the Rai Group of Mauritius owns Nile Ply limited, Kinyara Sugar Limited, and Masindi Sugar Limited among others.

Atyaluk’s problems stem from 2017 when he “refused” to surrender his land to the company. His actions attracted severe torment from the company and its agents to give way to large-scale sugarcane projects.

Then came a role of mobilizing and empowering his community to resist land grabs by the same multinational company. The latter brought real-life threats including torture and abductions that almost led to death. A selfless defender has faced more than 4 times of arbitrary arrests and torture for his work.

Before the violent eviction in 2017, Atyaluk and over 35000 villagers lived and cultivated peacefully on the land their parents and relatives occupied since the 1930s.

Out of his 50 acres of land he owned, Atyaluk now farms on less than an acre. The rest were forcefully grabbed by the sugar company at a gunpoint.

He is currently leading some families that have resisted surrendering their land also have withstood all the violent actions of the company being guarded by soldiers from the 4th Division of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).

UPDF is a national army whose constitutional obligations to the people living in Uganda is to; Article 209 (a) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda mentions four functions of UPDF namely;

(a) to preserve and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Uganda;
(b) to cooperate with the civilian authority in emergency situations and in cases of natural disasters;
(c) to foster harmony and understanding between the defense forces and civilians; and

(d) to engage in productive activities for the development of Uganda.

However, the narrative that the force depicts is different. One of the most recent violent attacks on the defender was on 25 March 2020 when company workers, accompanied by four soldiers of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), entered his property with a tractor and plowed his maize fields. When he tried to stop the tractor from destroying his crops, the soldiers grabbed him, and was severely assaulted

According to Atyaluk, he was alerted by his neighbor that his maize farm was being destroyed, he rushed to talk to them but instead he was arbitrary arrested and taken to an unknown detention center and tortured.

He claims he was able to identify one of the soldiers as Captain Omoro, who was one of the commandants at the military detach where he was held incommunicado and tortured…” When they took me inside, Captain Omoro came and shouted at me, said they are trained to kill, that whoever disturbs them he/she will not like the repercussions, he vowed to torture me until I leave the land,” Said Atyaluk

Omoro’s statements were also reechoed by a 52-year-old and a mother of 11, Janet Akiru. She said similar threats and intimidatory statements led her and the family to painfully leaving their land as precaution measures.

According to Akiru, she relocated to her relatives in Bugiri District, the Eastern part of Uganda.

“When soldiers kidnapped Atyaluk, my husband abandoned me and my family. All our gardens got destroyed and houses demolished and I couldn’t take care of my family. These are the people who could come to our home, without explanation, beat up everyone. Because of fear of our dear lives, we had to abandon the invaluable heritage,” Said Akiru.

In a description of the Ndoi military detach where Atyaluk was illegally kept, the place is fenced with barbed wires and polls. It has many small houses and a slightly bigger house where villagers are illegally detained and tortured. According to Atyaluk, soldiers can only stop torturing upon seeing blood fussing from one’s body, which soldiers call a lesson to villagers that can be shared with others.

For Atyaluk, after being tortured, he was taken to Kiryandongo district Central Police Station, without any treatment and he was detained for seven days before being charged with criminal trespass and released on police bond.

According to Atyaluk’s medical reports from Kiryandongo hospital, the defender sustained severe injuries on one of his legs, libs, and back.

While on police bond, early this year, Atyaluk was attacked again, because he was constructing a house on his small piece of land left for him by the company.

He reports that with no explanations he was kidnapped from his home at around 8:00 am local time on 12th March 2021.

“We saw three armed soldiers in full army uniform coming to our home. As soon as they got into our compound, they announced that we’re taking him. We asked them who, they replied that Atyaluk. He was immediately arrested and ordered to sit down. A few minutes, later, Atyaluk was ordered to get up and walk. The soldiers walked with him up to Ndoi village, where he was ordered to enter into a car labeled with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) banners, car registration No. UAW 796Z” Said Olupot James, a brother to Atyaluk.

According to Olupot, upon Atyaluk’s abduction, he followed the car until it was seen entering a military detach at Kamusenene village where he was severely beaten and flogged by Uganda People Defense Forces soldiers.

“While in there I was badly beaten before police intervention. A police pick-up double cabin car registration number UP 7684 with 8 police officers commanded by the Kiryandongo district police commander, SP Odonga Tonny came and picked me from the military camp at 3:00 pm local time on the day of kidnap. I was later taken to the Kiryandongo Central Police Station,” Said Atyaluk.

Atyaluk, 41, and breadwinner of 8 children, was illegally detained at Kiryandongo for five (5) days before he was charged with setting fire to the crops and released on bond.

In this and countless other cases, soldiers resorted to arbitrary arrest, and torture as methods to intimidate those who amplify voices for the communities in resistance to violent land grabs.

What hurts the defender and other residents is that attempts to open up charges against the multinational company workers, guards, and individual security officers for their violent acts are curtailed.

“We are not accepted to register complaints of locals against the multinational companies, why, these are orders from above,” Said a police officer at Deyle police post who preferred anonymity.

However the Kiryandongo district police commander SP Odonga Tonny, said no actions of violence against the defenders and the project-affected persons have been reported.

“Some residents are arrested for being violent but have not been tortured. If there allegations of abductions and torture, I and my team will investigate the matter,” he added.

However, he denied allegations of providing security to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited and other multinationals to arbitrary arrest and harm defenders.

But the Kiryandongo sugar limited maintains it never evicted any person on the land and denies the allegations of torture, and arbitrary arrests against the locals in the area where they are operating. They rather claim that they worked with community leaders to develop a humanitarian compensation and resettlement plan for all of the illegal occupants.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Mityana district police rounded up and arbitrarily arrested over 50 Kikuube PAPs to block them from meeting Uganda’s Prime Minister.

Published

2 months ago

March 10, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team

Two (2) community land rights defenders and 68 projects-affected persons from Kikuube district including children have been rounded up and arrested by Mityana district Police, Witness Radio has learned.

The community group led by Fred Mbambali and Ahumuza Busingye, were arrested from City Healing Church in Mityana Municipality, Mityana district. They were arrested on the orders of Mityana District Police Commander, Mr. Hasunira Ahmed, without being informed of the reasons for the arrest.

To seek justice and reclaim their grabbed land, the community decided to journey from the Kikuube district on Saturday, 2nd March 2024. Their objective was to petition Uganda’s Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabanja, to intervene in grievances concerning forced evictions from their land and their unsuccessful attempts to regain ownership of their land that was grabbed by the officials of the Prime minister’s office for Kyangwali resettlement camp.

“On Friday, we departed from Kikuube district to Kakumiro intending to meet the Prime Minister. We aimed to convey the challenges we are facing following the unlawful seizure of our land. We sought her intervention to help us regain ownership, especially since many offices that were approached have not helped end our misery. Unfortunately, upon our arrival, we discovered she was in preparations to leave her residence. Instead, she instructed her private security team to escort us to her party’s offices (National Resistance Movement, NRM) in the Kakumiro district, assuring us that she would meet with us there. But she did not come back.” Mr. Mbambali Fred, one of the group leaders told Witness Radio.

Little did the affected community members know that their stay at the offices would be short-lived. Initially, they were welcomed by the security officers at the party offices, but their situation took a turn when the District security committee of Kakumiro led by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr. Matovu David and the District Police Commander (DPC) in the area Mr. Niyonzima Morris visited and questioned them about the reasons for their visit.

Subsequently, PAPs explained that they had been directed to wait at the offices by the Prime Minister. Despite their explanation, the Committee was skeptical and held an emergency meeting to resolve that Kikuube PAPs should leave the premises. The committee stated that the issue raised was not within the mandate of the Kakumiro district and thereafter, were asked to relocate to a different location, not within Kakumiro.

The stern Kakumiro district leaders directed the group to depart and proceed to the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala for their meeting with her.

Shortly after being chased, they proceeded to Kampala via Mityana road, but PAPs sought to rest at one of the churches in the Mityana district. As soon as they occupied the church, Mityana district raided the premises, arrested all of them, and took them to Mityana Central Police Station, claiming that PAPs were posing a threat to the community.

“We were rounded up and arrested without being given any opportunity to explain ourselves. They didn’t even inform us of the reason for our arrest. We were kept at the police for nearly 12 hours without food. Both children and elders were starving, and the children even reached the point of crying because we were not allowed to move. It’s a double punishment to us because we haven’t committed any offense,” Ahumuza Busingye, another defender, told Witness Radio.

They were cautioned and later released without charges.

The Mityana District Police Commander, Mr. Hasunira Ahmed confirmed the arrest, stating that people neighboring the church had lodged complaints with the police about unknown individuals with a large amount of luggage occupying their premises. This led the police to arrest them.

“We received complaints about these individuals occupying a particular church, which posed a potential threat because they hadn’t obtained permission to stay there and didn’t possess a letter authorizing their movement to their destination. That’s why we intervened with an arrest, as many of them looked like rebels,” stated the Mityana District Police Commander.

PAPs arrested are part of the larger group of over 90,000 people evicted between 2013 and 2019 in 29 villagers by the office of the Prime minister (OPM) to give their land to the refugees in Katikala and Bukinda in Kyangwali district.

The community was evicted by officials led by Charles Bafaki from the Office of the Prime Minister, accompanied by the police and Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF), from their land measuring 36 square kilometers located in various villages, including Bukinda A and B, Bukinda 2, Kavule, Bwizibwera A and B, Kyeya A and B, Nyaruhanga, Kabirizi, Nyamigisa A and B, and Katoma, all in Kyangwali sub-county for the Kyangwali refugee resettlement camp.

Despite receiving various directives, including two from the President, instructing the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) officials to facilitate the return of the residents to their land, they have chosen to turn a deaf ear and disregard the implementation of these directives.

In 2016 and 2018, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni issued directives to resettle PAPs back to their ancestral land, but unfortunately, these directives remained unimplemented.

In 2021, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja visited the victims and promised action, which, as of the time of writing this article, it’s yet to be realized.

On March 1, 2022, Minister of Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees, Mr. Hilary Onek, accused the victims of encroaching on government land. He also criticized local leaders and officials for potential involvement in stage-managed evictions.

In 2022, approximately 1,000 of the evictees camped at the office of the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner, Amlan Tumusiime, demanding his intervention to help them return to their land. Unfortunately, this intervention did not materialize. Some of the evictees sought shelter in temporary shelters provided by Florence Natumanya, the Kikuube Woman MP, and Francis Kazini, the Buhaguzi Member of Parliament, while others continued to search for livelihoods in other parts of the country.

“People are suffering immensely, and we are witnessing deaths without having a proper place to bury our loved ones. No one is coming to our rescue, and it’s heartbreaking to see our children deprived of education, as they are the future of tomorrow,” expressed the community members in an interview with Witness Radio.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Breaking: A community land rights defender in the Kiryandongo district is charged with assault and released on a cash bail.

Published

2 months ago

March 8, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

Magistrate Court sitting in Kiryandongo district has released a community land rights defender on a cash bail. He was arbitrarily arrested, and detained Thursday, February 29th, 2024, for attempting to open a criminal case against Great Seasons SMC Limited workers for erasing his 3 acres of land with ready-to-harvest cash crops.

Mwawula Fred’s release came after spending five (5) days in detention. Mr. Mwawula is a community land rights defender based in Kisalanda village, Mutunda parish, Kiryandongo district help to mobilize communities to resist forced land grabbing by multinational companies in Kiryandongo district.

The prosecution alleges that Mwawula assaulted workers of the Great Seasons SMC Company Limited who were in his garden.

The Penal Code Act, Cap 120, states that any person who commits an assault occasioning actual bodily harm commits a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for five years on conviction.

On February 22nd, 2024, Witness Radio ran an article about four Great Seasons SMC Limited Company workers with a numberless tractor who had invaded and erased Mwawula’s garden with crops ready for harvest such as maize, green pepper, and tomatoes in Kisalanda village.

When he (Mwawula) went to Kiryandongo Central Police Station to open up criminal cases against the company, he was instead arbitrarily arrested, detained by local police, and preferred an assault charge before appearing before the court.

While granting the defender bail, Her Worship Amweno Hellen released Mr. Mwawula on a cash bail of 700,000 Ugx (Equivalent to 178.47 USD) while the sureties conditioned a non-cash bail.

The defender will report back to Court on the 13th/March/ 2024.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Breaking: A community land rights defender in Kiryandongo, who was arrested for attempting to open a case against company workers at Kiryandongo Central police for erasing his garden, is facing assault charges.

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

Kiryandongo Central police have preferred an assault charge against a community land rights defender who was arbitrarily arrested and detained Thursday, February 29th, 2024, for attempting to open a criminal charge against workers of Great Seasons SMC Limited.

On February 22nd, 2024, four Great Seasons SMC Limited Company workers with a tractor invaded and erased Mr. Mwawula Fred’s garden with crops ready for harvest such as maize, green pepper, and tomatoes. The workers used a numberless company tractor to destroy the defender’s 3 acres of crops.

According to the police charge sheet, Mwawula allegedly assaulted workers of the Great Seasons SMC Company Limited who were in his garden.

Defender’s lawyers said Mwawula bravely tried to intervene to stop the destruction of his crops by company workers, but they (workers) callously persisted with their destructive actions, disregarding the defender’s pleas.

The lawyers also stated that company workers made off with sacks full of maize belonging to their client.

The Penal Code Act, Cap 120, states that any person who commits an assault occasioning actual bodily harm commits a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for five years on conviction.

Mwawula, on several occasions, has been in and out of prison on several charges over eight times for mobilizing local communities to resist land grabbing and forceful evictions by multinational companies in the Kiryandongo district. However, the court has dismissed all of them for want of prosecution.

Frequently, the gardens belonging to smallholder farmers, activists, and defenders have been targeted and vandalized by Great Seasons SMC Company Limited, demanding that the local community should vacate what the company asserts as its land. In a distressing incident last December 2023, many defenders’ gardens were set ablaze by workers of the company, resulting in a prolonged famine within projected affected families.

The defender is yet to be produced in court to answer to assault charges.