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Uganda

Caught in political teargas battle

01/02/2007: Two Danish and three local employees were caught in a teargas battle when an allegedly illegal demonstration was dispersed with teargas by Ugandan Police on January 26th. The group was returning from a workshop outside Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

"The flow of traffic came to a complete standstill close to three hours," tells Abura Vincent, who is Programme Officer in DanChurchAid. "The battle disrupted businesses when supporters of the Democratic Party tried to hold a political rally, which is said by police to be unauthorized on the ground that Friday the 26th was the National Resistant Movement (the current ruling party) victory day and national celebrations were taking place in Kampala."

Barricades of burning tires and garbage

Anti-Riot Police attempted to disperse the crowd, who had barricaded the road with burning tires and garbage, but the attempts bore little fruit, as the angry DP supporters pelted police with stones and regrouped at various locations to hold rallies. Smoke of teargas could be seen at different locations.

Curiosity is dangerous!

Abura Vincent continues: "As the battle intensified, we drove off the road into a compound. We didn’t know the landlord, but we were hiding to protect our lives. It is said that curiosity kills the cat, and the curious staff members who wanted to know what was going on came into contact with fumes of the teargas. They had to rush back because the teargas makes your eyes and nose hurt."

Limited political space and freedom of speech

A total of 18 people were arrested on Friday on charges of illegal demonstration and malicious damage. This kind of political battle is one of the indicators of limited political space and freedom of speech.

The dispersement of political rallies has recently been common practice in Uganda. It is a deliberate means of weakening the political opposition parties. The arrest and detention of rival political supporters confirms that Uganda has not yet opened political space to allow for freedom of association.

DanChurchAid works actively to revert this situation by supporting local civil society movements. Read more about DanChurchAid's work in Uganda .

Report by:
Abura Vincent, ( va.uganda@dca.dk ) DanChurchAid Programme Officer