In Uganda: War on terror American style?

By Brian E. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Oct 14, 2010 - 10:29:43 AM

(FinalCall.com) - The aftermath of twin bombs in Kampala, Uganda that killed 76 people on July 11 has taken a new turn reminiscent of post Sept. 11, 2001 reactions by the United States government, when civil liberties and due process were discarded to seek and apprehend those responsible for the attack in which nearly 3,000 people died.

Since Kampala's 7/11 attacks, Thirty-Eight persons of different nationalities have been arrested for alleged complicity in the act. However, the September 15 arrest in Kampala of a prominent Kenyan human rights advocate, Al-Amin Kimathi has raised the question, has Uganda like America adopted a policy of justice, by any means necessary that includes breaking international and Ugandan laws?

Mr. Kimathi was detained along with Mbugua Mureithi, a Kenyan attorney, and was in Kampala to observe a hearing of Kenyans accused of terrorism by the Ugandan authorities. Mr. Mureithi is legal counsel to some of the Kenyan nationals, and was released after three days, then deported to Kenya; however Mr. Kimathi, who heads the Kenyan based Muslim Human Rights Forum, was held incommunicado for six days before being charged on September 21 with terrorism and murder, according to a joint press release issued by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

A letter to the Kenyan Foreign Minister read, “Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch recognize that Kenya seeks to support the government of Uganda in its effort to investigate, prosecute and bring to justice those responsible for the July 2010 Kampala bombings, and welcome your commitment to meet this responsibility,” but called on both governments to act within the framework of international law.

“All states must ensure full respect for human rights and the rule of law, including during counter-terrorism operations,” said Rona Peligal, Africa Director at Human Rights Watch in a joint statement.

Human rights advocates said both Mr. Kimathi and Mr. Mureithi were retained by the families of at least three of the Kenyans confined. At the time of the arrest, the outspoken Muslim Human Rights Forum was investigating whether the legal process was followed by the Kenyan government in extraditing its nationals to Uganda adding to the suspicion around what was really behind Mr. Kimathi's arrest?

“Al-Amin Kimathi seems to have been arbitrarily arrested for carrying out his legitimate human rights work—providing legal support to the suspects charged in connection with the bomb attack,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International's Africa Program director. “Al-Amin Kimathi's arrest will not silence the questions raised by Kenya's apparent unlawful transfer of its own citizens, in violation of their rights.”

“Many Kenyans are angered by the way their government has extradited Kenyan nationals to Uganda, alleging proper judicial procedures weren't followed. Kimathi, a prominent Muslim activist, was among the most critical in public,” said a Reuters report.

Correspondences to the Kenyan and Ugandan Governments by the rights organizations appealed for Mr. Kimathi's release or for clarity of his actual charges.

Meanwhile, Kenyan intelligence services have pointed the finger at Mr. Kimathi insisting that he's the “center piece” in al-Qaeda's regional propaganda wing, tasked with garnering sympathy for “hard-line Islamists” in the media, legal fraternity and human rights groups, according to Reuters.

However, critics maintain the Ugandan charge sheet contains no details or allegations about Mr. Kimathi's conduct that would implicate him for the crimes described and perhaps his activism for human rights and unpopular Muslim causes may be the real motivation for his detention.

Some analysts opine the activist's incarceration is part of a Ugandan power play in the Somali conflict. It was widely reported that the Somali opposition group Al-Shabab—said to have alleged ties to Al-Qaida—took responsibility for the 7/11 bombings which was a protest of Ugandan troops serving with the African Union forces in Mogadishu. Uganda's post 7/11 actions can be seen as its stamp as a willing African partner in the U.S. war on terror.

According to some observers, others associated the attack with Islam because most of those in custody after the bomb blasts are Muslims, but Islam is not the reason behind the act.

“It wasn't for Islam that they helped the Somalis orchestrate their plans,” said Ugandan Aboud Idris from Libya in response to an e-mailed inquiry by The Final Call. He added, “But for some economical reasons—as the saying goes the ‘end justifies the means', some saw this as a means of getting some money.”

Al-Shabab is at war with the transitional federal government (TFG)—the fragile U.S. backed government in Mogadishu-and is opposed to foreign military forces in Somalia. Uganda also hosts a European Union run training camp for Somali soldiers combating Al-Shabab.

“It was crystal clear that they were revenging because Uganda, as they claim, had attacked them in their soil,” said Mr. Idris.

From its inception, the response to 7/11 was highly volatile, attributed to forceful words from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a former bush fighter who came to power by a 1989 coup. In the immediate days following the attacks, media reports quoted Pres. Museveni vowing to crush and eliminate the perpetrators.

“Let us now act in concert and sweep them out of Africa,” Pres. Museveni said in published reports, adding, “Let them go back to Asia or the Middle East where I understand some come from.”

President Museveni spoke as if the Somali problem that allegedly brought on the 7/11 attacks was an extension of “Asia or the Middle East,” code words for Islam. It appears Mr. Museveni has adopted an American style “war on terror” marked by disregarding the rule of law and fundamental principles of justice, redolent of former Pres. George W. Bush after 9/11.

What's more Mr. Museveni has been a reliable proxy of the U.S.-whose hands are deep in Somalia. The U.S. backed and supported Uganda and Rwanda invasions of the Congo that killed over 6-million people from 1997-2003. A scornful UN report accused Ugandan troops of war crimes in the conflicts, that Museveni called “lies” and dismissed the authors as “fiction writers” at a recent press conference.

For Uganda and Kenya, both suffered terrorist bombings in their capitols and few will argue against implementing protections; however the Somali conflict raised the bar.

“With the escalation of the war in Somalia, the influx of Somali refugees and the clamp down on members of the Muslim community in the name of the “war on terror”, rendition became the key issue,” said Front Line, a Dublin based foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders on their Web site, www.Frontlinedefenders.org.

The Web site said, Kenyan and Somali Muslims were randomly detained, held in secret Kenyan prisons or “rendered” to Somalia. The Muslim Human rights Forum documented 152 such arrests and tracked where they were being detained.

Mr. Kimathi has been harassed, intimidated and threatened for monitoring arrests, conditions of detention and giving assistance to those who were released. His arrest appears to be the expansion of the strong armed approach of President Museveni against Muslims, perhaps for his American handler who is providing logistical and financial support to fight terrorism in East Africa.

It can't be denied that President Museveni has the right and obligation to protect Ugandan citizens and exact justice on anyone involved in such violence; however the watchdog organizations are calling on him to also safe-guard the process of justice dictated by international statutes, even for a Muslim activist.

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