When Babylon USA pretends to sanction mercenary soldiers from its neo-liberal slave states: US sanctions Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, the commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI): US sanctions can't stop Gen Kandiho from violating human rights

 

Kandiho: Opposition welcomes US sanctions as UPDF demands fairness

https://observer.ug/news/headlines/72128-kandiho-opposition-welcomes-us-sanctions-as-updf-demands-fairness 

December 9, 2021

 

Written by URN

 

 

The leader of opposition in parliament (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga has welcomed US sanctions against Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, the commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).  

On Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury implicated Kandiho and other CMI officers for the arrest, detention and physical abuse of people in Uganda. The statement shows that the CMI targeted individuals due to their nationality, political views, or critique of the Uganda government.

"Individuals were taken into custody and held, often without legal proceedings, at CMI detention facilities where they were subjected to horrific beatings and other egregious acts by CMI officials including sexual abuse and electrocutions, often resulting in significant long-term injury and even death," the US statement read in part.

The statement further read that during these incarcerations, victims were kept in solitary confinement and unable to contact friends, family or legal support. In some cases, Kandiho was personally involved leading interrogations of detained individuals. The sanctions come just days after US-based social media giant Twitter, shut down nearly 500 pro-government accounts for posting what they termed as regime propaganda content. 

Now, Mpuuga has welcomed the sanctions as a strong message to other security chiefs who misuse their offices to cause suffering to Ugandans because of their political beliefs. He says that such targeted sanctions should be extended to other duty bearers implicated in killings and kidnaps that were witnessed before, during, and after the 2021 elections.

He pointed out that justice shall be served when the perpetrators are prosecuted and the victims compensated. However, the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) protested the US sanctions, saying they were levied without considering the due process.

A press statement issued by UPDF spokesperson Brig Flavia Byekwaso on Tuesday expressed disappointment that the US could take such a decision without due process. 

“As a country and UPDF in particular, a reputable government institution, we are disappointed such a decision could be made by a country we consider friends, a partner and a great ally, without due process and in total disregard of the principle of fair hearing coupled with failure to make necessary consultations,” reads the statement.

Byekwaso disclosed that they will seek clarification from the US government to harmonize the decision. Kandiho in a statement scoffed at the sanctions saying he has no interest in travelling to the US and warned the US of turning its allies into new enemies. 

The sanctions mean that all property and interests in property or entities owned directly or indirectly by Kandiho in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to authorities.

The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

US sanctions show day of reckoning inevitable

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/editorial/us-sanctions-show-day-of-reckoning-inevitable-3647000 

Thursday, December 09, 2021 

 

 

What you need to know:

• The issue: US sanctions
• Our view: Government leaders should watch their actions because the day of reckoning, however delayed, shall arrive.

 The United States Department for Treasury on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on 15 top security and political officials in Uganda, Syria, and Yemen.

 

At home, the only sanctioned individual is the Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI), Maj Gen Abel Kandiho.

His crime, according to Washington, among others, includes superintending an organisation whose officers illegally held incommunicado and tortured critics and political opponents of President Museveni’s government.

The US Treasury noted that other suspects were targeted due to their nationality and many, once in CMI custody, were beaten or electrocuted, leading often to life-time injuries and in extreme cases death. 

Maj Gen Kandiho was in some instances directly involved in the torture, allegations he has since denied. The sanctions are inconsequential, the top military spymaster told this newspaper. Why? He owns no assets in the United States, is concentrating on his work to secure Uganda and America’s meddling and unilateral imposition of punishment on key officials of other governments, without fair hearing, risks alienating allies.

It is not our remit to pass a guilty verdict against the two-star general because the United States did not immediately provide incriminating evidence to support its allegations. In addition, it is the court’s call to inquire into such allegations and determine whether the accused is innocent or guilty.

The conundrum in Uganda’s situation has been that, up until yesterday, and hours after the sanction list was made public, the government had appeared to ignore domestic demands for accountability for lives lost or missing persons in the run up to, during and after the January 2020 elections.

 

In which case, the largely unpunished shooting dead of 54 civilians by motley state security operatives sticks out like a sore thump to signpost the erosion of human security, which is ironical because this government consistently prides in restoration of peace and security.  

Thus, five inferences are possible from the US sanctions.First, that the big brother from yonder is watching and documenting the excesses by state actors against citizens.

Second, that the international community can at its choosing punish individuals that governments employing them are unable or unwilling to bring to order.

Third, one’s high office can provide protection from justice, but that safeguard is temporary, meaning holders require to be conscientious with power. Fourth, the sanctions by a foreign government for a crime allegedly committed by Ugandan forces against Ugandans is an indictment of Uganda’s accountability institutions for failing citizens.

And, fifth, ordinary Ugandans can get from elsewhere justice and accountability for lives taken away by those by law required to protect it.

We, therefore, demand of government leaders to watch their actions because the day of reckoning, however delayed, shall arrive.

 

US sanctions politically-motivated, inconsequential, says spymaster Kandiho

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/us-sanctions-politically-motivated-inconsequential-says-spymaster-kandiho--3645438 

Wednesday, December 08, 2021 

 

 

What you need to know:

• The two-star general yesterday dismissed the financial sanction as politically-motivated and inconsequential, and warned that unilateral punishments imposed by the US, which accuses him of superintending torture of government’s political enemies, risked alienating its allies.

 The Ministry of Defence yesterday pre-empted an expected United States sanction announcement targeting, among others, Uganda’s military spymaster.
Diplomatic sources earlier told this publication that filings by the United States Mission in Kampala implicated Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, the commander of the Chieftancy of Military Intelligence (CMI), of superintending grotesque violations of the rights of political opponents of President Museveni’s government.
Sources said Washington DC picked on the two-star general in line with previous US pronouncement that it would sanction individuals who undermined Uganda’s democracy in the run up to, and after, the January elections.

 

Dozens of supporters of mainly the National Unity Platform (NUP) party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, were abducted by armed states operatives and driven away in vans, nicknamed for their speed as Drones, to unknown locations from where they emerged quietly or in court with torture wounds.
Just as we went to press, the Treasury Department issued a press release confirming a blockade on assets of 15 political and military actors in Syria, Yemen and Uganda, several hours after Uganda’s Defence ministry outed a statement condemning the intended sanctions.

In the statement, the US alleges that Maj Gen Kandiho, and other CMI officers that he leads, targeted people for arrest and torture based on their nationality, political affiliation and critique of the government and that he personally directed torture of some of the suspects.
“Individuals were taken into custody and held, often without legal proceedings, at CMI detention facilities where they were subjected to horrific beatings and other egregious acts by CMI officials, including sexual abuse and electrocutions, often resulting in significant long-term injury and even death. During these incarcerations, victims were kept in solitary confinement and unable to contact friends, family, or legal support,” the Treasury statement reads in part.

 In a swift rejoinder to this newspaper’s inquiries, Maj Gen Kandiho last night dismissed the financial sanction against him as politically-motivated and inconsequential, and warned that unilateral punishments imposed by the US risked alienating its allies.
“I am not bothered by the so-called sanctions. I have no business with the US.  I’m concentrating on my work. The threats we have in the region need more concentration. I will not allow to be diverted,” he noted.

 

The general added: “It [sanction] is political and I’m not a politician. They should just be careful not to create unnecessary enemies and losing allies. At the moment, I am too occupied with more important operations.”
According to the general, a veteran of the Bush War that brought President Museveni to power in 1986, Washington is needlessly involving itself in myriad counts and becoming “more and more irrelevant and with no effect” through their interferences.
The sanctions announcement was targeted by the US to precede this week’s democracy summit, convened by President Joe Biden, and to which Uganda was not invited.

“As part of a whole-of-government commitment to democracy, Treasury (Department) is taking a number of actions aimed at promoting accountability for those who undermine trust in democratic institutions,” officials noted in the statement announcing the sanctions.
Western government, particularly the United States, ratcheted up pressure on Ugandan authorities by demanding justice and prosecution of suspected killers of 54 civilians as a combined security force subdued the November 2020 rioters triggered by the arrest of Bobi Wine, then a presidential candidate, in the eastern Luuka District.

No one has been arrested or charged over the shootings, a year after President Museveni demanded inquiry into the “phenomenon of stray bullets” and accountability for lives lost.
In a tweet yesterday, Bobi Wine noted that “The CMI headed by Maj Gen Kandiho has presided over the vilest human rights violations. They have abducted, tortured and murdered Ugandan with impunity. The financial sanctions [against Kandiho] are welcome...”
However, many government supporters took to social media to condemn the US sanctions, saying they are intended to bring regime change in Uganda.
Human rights lawyer Isaac Ssemakadde, who incidentally represented several people detained by CMI, told this newspaper by telephone yesterday that he opposed the sanctions against Maj Gen Kandiho because he (Kandiho) isn’t the only person in the chain of rights violation.

 

“They (sanctions) come too little too late. He isn’t solely culpable. There is a chain of culpability running above him and below him that is overshadowed by these sanctions,” he said.
Mr Ssemakadde said he wants a statutory commission of inquiry that will investigate State operatives who have been involved in extrajudicial killing and human rights violations.
The sanctions targeting 15 top political and security officials in Syria, Iran and Uganda have been issued under Executive Order 13818.

The Executive Order issued by then President Donald Trump on December 20, 2017 targets any foreign person determined by the US Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, to “be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse”.
The impact is that the United States automatically blocks assets of a sanctioned person that is under America’s jurisdiction or transiting through it.

No other Ugandan official is on the sanction list.
Maj Gen Kandiho was thrust into the public limelight for leading operations that Uganda said disrupted and dismantled Rwanda’s infiltration and espionage, while Kigali accused him of superintending illegal CMI abduction of Rwandan citizens who would be held incommunicado for long periods or tortured.
He denied any wrongdoing and said his official actions were to secure Uganda.
In recent months, the military outfit he heads, alongside other State security and intelligence agencies, have spearheaded the arrest and incarceration of suspected rebels and members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a US-designated terror group that Uganda is fighting to remove from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

In Kampala yesterday, the Defence ministry in a move that appeared calculated to pre-empt Washington, issued a statement in which it condemned America’s unilateral listing of Maj Gen Kandiho for sanctions without providing an iota of evidence.
“As a country, and UPDF in particular, a reputable government institution, we are disappointed that such a decision could be made by a country (US) we consider friendly, a partner and a great ally, without due process and in total disregard of the principle of fair hearing coupled with failure to make the necessary consultations,” UPDF spokesperson Brig Flavia Byekwaso noted.

The Department of State lists Uganda as a “key ally” of the US and Washington each year gives Uganda about $1b (about Shs3.5 trillion), with health and security being biggest budget takers.
Uganda and the US are close partners in fighting terrorism in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa. For instance, the UPDF provides the largest troop contingent for the African UN Peace-Keeping Mission in Somalia (Amison) that the US supports by providing intelligence, equipment supply and training.

Maj Gen Kandiho is the second top Ugandan military officer to be sanctioned by the US within years after the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, since September 2019. Gen Kayihura was accused of human rights abuses, corruption and bribery while he was the police chief.
The latest sanction related to the fall-out from the January vote is unsurprising.
On February 11, the European Union Parliament recommended sanctions against Ugandan individuals and organisations they claim are responsible for the human rights violations during the recent general elections, which it said wasn’t democratic and transparent.

FOOLISH SYCOPHANT MUSEVENI'S DEPUTY RDC DARES THE USA

 

  Sam Evidence Orikunda

US sanctions can't stop Gen Kandiho from executing his duties

https://observer.ug/viewpoint/72129-us-sanctions-can-t-stop-gen-kandiho-from-executing-his-duties 

December 9, 2021

 

Written by Sam Evidence Orikunda

 

 

Social media is awash with posts about the sanctioning of Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, the commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) by the US government.

 

As usual Uganda's opposition and other enemies of Uganda's progress are celebrating thinking this is a breakthrough to their evil plans of throwing Uganda to the dogs. They forget that the Republic of Uganda is a sovereign state and can survive with or without the United States of America which always wants to prove to the world that they're an international "police" or the rulers of the world.

This is not the first time the so-called sanctions have been slapped on security officials in our country. I think last time, even some politicians were sanctioned. I actually, remember a time when some individuals were denied visas and it also turned into the talk of town.

 

One wonders, if we can't survive when we don't go to the US, it's actually laughable. It is like someone stopping you from going to his home as if that will kill you or stop you from doing your work and making yourself better.  Kandiho is a patriotic Ugandan general who has done tremendous work in as far as keeping Uganda safe and secure is concerned.

 

Even when he has been doing all that work, he has never been before the camera maybe for debates or anything to do with news. He keeps a low profile!  However his name continue to be mentioned everywhere and everyday, that's an evidence that he is a thorn in the fresh of the enemy. He doesn't like cheap popularity like most of the people in Uganda even when he is a tremendous work.

 

His spirit of patriotism is unmatched and his way of doing things is admirable. I think our country would have crumbled already if he didn't step in and do professional work in as far as providing intelligence to the commander in chief is concerned. Just imagine, it didn't take us even a month to solve the security issues in Masaka region and other organised crimes that we have defeated.

 

Zimbabwe was sanctioned by the US and other European countries a long time ago but this didn't delete Zimbabwe from the world map. They've continued to survive and exist as a country, I guess they're also trying to boost their economy and get their citizens out of poverty and that's possible whether they're under sanctions or not.

 

They actually, successfully got a new president who started from where President Robert Mugabe had stopped and no cases of bloodshed or uprisings were reported. Which other stability or democracy do people want? I think that's what everyone strives for, to peacefully choose leaders without bloodshed as the work of building the country continue.

 

We, appreciate the cooperation, the goodwill and the support Uganda has received from her friend the US but they should give us room to put things right because if we were under chaos and bloodshed there wouldn't be any chance of receiving that support.

 

Besides, the people who are the beneficiaries of that assistance would either be dead or displaced. But because of the peace and stability, they can ably receive that assistance and a number of other projects can be sponsored and success recorded. Even the agents who are sent as supervisors and special envoys perform their duty well because Uganda is peaceful.

 

I think the people who thought and declared sanctions against Maj Gen Kandiho should be told about the principle of the National Resistance Movement government which is pan Africanism. They should be explained to, what it means and they should know that we have never deviated from it.

 

Why would anybody be bothered if they're stopped from going to a foreign country? Uganda is gifted by nature, there's nothing one misses if they don't go to foreign countries. In any case, the people in the world flock into Uganda to enjoy the natural treasures that the almighty God gifted us with.

 

I think a holiday spent in Uganda is much better than any holiday spent in any foreign country. What the US did should energize Gen Kandiho and other patriotic Ugandans who hold different security positions to keep doing a wonderful job, to be committed to saving the lives of Ugandans and dealing with the enemies of our progress without any mercy.

 

Because nobody would survive if they declared themselves as enemies of the US.  Those who tried to attack the US have been forcefully sent to God, so why don't they want us to defend ourselves as well? That kind of imperialism and egocentrism should stop. May God protect Maj Gen Abel Kandiho and give him more wisdom to execute his duties and continue making Uganda proud.

 

The writer is a deputy RDC Kyenjojo district

 

 

US sanctions blow veil off Gen Kayihura family

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/us-sanctions-blow-veil-off-gen-kayihura-family-1848814 

Friday, September 20, 2019 — updated on September 14, 2020 

 

 The US Treasury Department travel sanctions on former Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura has blown the veil off his family, sucking in his wife Angela Umurisa Gabuka, daughter Tesi Uwibambe and son Kale Rudahigwa. 

 

 

The US government slapped sanctions on Gen Kayihura over alleged corruption and human rights abuse during his reign as head of Uganda Police Force.
Until the sanctions, Gen Kayihura’s family had been out of the limelight and very little or nothing was known about them.

Angela Umurisa Gabuka Kayihura
She was born in Kenya. She is a relative of the late Mutara III Rudahigwa, the king of Rwanda in the 1950s.
Ms Kayihura is a teacher by profession but a source who lived with her said she is preoccupied with housework and looking after her family.

 

The source described her as a woman of reserved character, but frank and forceful. She said Ms Kayihura is generous to vulnerable children in the Muyenga neighbourhood, Makindye Division where they live. 

 

Ms Uwibambe went to International School of Uganda. She completed high school on May 27, 2011.

She joined Seattle University in Washington, where she studied public affairs specialising in health policy. She completed her undergraduate studies in 2016, according to Seattle University alumni list.

In an article about leaders for Africa, Ms Uwibambe said right from childhood, she knew community service was her thing.
“All I knew very early in life was that I wanted to help people in some way. My peers often questioned me on why I did not have the ambition for making a lot of money, becoming rich and famous. I always felt drawn to serving others, especially those less fortunate than I, as opposed to earning heaps of money to spend on myself,” Ms Uwibambe wrote.

She added: “This, together with my love for Uganda, led me to choose between being a soldier in the Ugandan army to defend my country, or to work in the medical field. Since I am not sure of my physical strength, I have chosen to follow the path of medicine where I can find ways to improve the health sector in my country.”

It is her love for health issues that could have influenced her parents to rehabilitate Kisoro Referral Hospital’s children ward, donate incubators, beds, beddings and oxygen concentrator in 2017.

While in the United States, Uwibambe was an ardent writer and human rights activist regularly contributing articles to Seattle University newspaper.

Many of her articles advocated rights of women and minorities such as black people and gays.
She also did research in police and vigilante violence towards communities of colour and the dynamics that play into the systems that perpetuate such violence in Seattle.

 

The close family source said Ms Kayihura is feared by everyone at home as she prefers things done her way to perfection and any dissent or divergence attracts a prompt fallout.

Her known public appearance was in the High Court about five years ago when her sister Jacqueline Uwera Nsenga was on trial for murder of her husband Juvenal Nsenga.

She appeared in court often until her sister was convicted in September 2014.
Ms Kayihura is a member of an association of wives of Uganda army generals.

Ms Tesi Uwibambe
Ms Uwibambe, like her mother, is a quiet and reserved person, according to those she has worked closely with her.
She compensates her oratory shortfalls with written expressions and her views have been published by several media houses, especially in the United States.

On September 22, 2016, she authored in Seattle Times an article titled: “Why ‘whitesplaining’ is hurtful to people of color”, defending protests in the US by African American against police violence.

After returning to Uganda in 2017, she joined the World Food Programme in Rwanda where she worked on health policy issues. It is alleged that she returned to Uganda after the Rwanda-Uganda icy relations last year.

When her father was taken to the General Court Martial last year, she attended the proceedings in the military court at Makindye and was often overcome by emotion and cried.
It is not clear what she does currently.

Mr Rudahigwa

He holds a degree in Law from University of Buckingham, UK. Rudahigwa went to St Mary’s College Kisubi for secondary education between 2003 and 2008, the same school his father attended in 1970s.

He inherited his father’s Marxist ideas. He even wore T-shirts with Ernesto Che Guevara photographs and kept a long beard and hair in his youthful years. He went to UK for his tertiary education where he studied a course in oil and later joined University of Buckingham from 2013 to 2016. He returned in 2017 and became his father’s aide, the duty he has maintained to-date.