Truth Commission in Uganda
Uganda is one of the few countries to have established two Truth Commissions under the sponsorship of its own government. It is a well known fact that for a period of more than twenty years the unfortunate people of Uganda were subjected to diverse forms of human rights violations, breaches of the rule of law, and excessive abuse of power in flagrant contravention of the provisions of the country’s Constitution and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Uganda is a signatory party.
The first Commission was set up in 1978 and the second in 1986. Although the two Commissions were very close in points of time, they operated in a backdrop of very different political realities, under dissimilar governments and were focused on very distinct but overlapping periods.
The history of 20th century Uganda has been somewhat eventful and complex. The country gained independence in 1962 under Edward Muteesa 11 who became its President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, with Milton Obote as Prime Minister. In 1966, Obote overthrew Muteesa and declared himself President, thereby setting in motion an era of coups d’état and counter coups which was to last until the middle of the eighties. His socialist regime made him very unpopular with the West and it was rapidly destabilised by the military. In 1971, Obote was overthrown by his army chief, Idi Amin, who ruled the country with the military for a period of about ten years. Initially, Idi Amin was welcomed with open arms both in Uganda itself and by the international community. He released a large number of political prisoners and disbanded the secret police set up by Obote. However, little by little, Amin reinstated his own security agencies in order to eradicate any political opposition. These agencies specifically targeted all of Amin’s opponents in addition to any other groups which he felt could not be trusted. It is estimated that more than 300’000 people lost their lives in Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin. His rule came to an end with the start of the Ugandan-Tanzanian war in 1979 in which the Tanzanian forces with the help of Ugandan exiles, invaded Uganda. At that time, Milton Obote came back into power at the head of the UPC, staying there until 1985. The fact that Obote had come back into power triggered a rebellion between the UPC and the National Resistance Army (NRA) led by Yoweri Museveni. Five years later, he was in turn overthrown by General Tito Okello who remained in power for six months until he in turn was overthrown, after the bush war, by the National Resistance Army under its Commander, Yoweri Museveni, the current President of Uganda. The conflict between the Ugandan National Liberation Army (UNLA) and the rebel groups was characterised by massive violations of human rights on the part of the National Army, and resulted in more than 100’000 deaths.
Uganda 1974
Historical perspective
The “Commission of Inquiry into the Disappearances of People in Uganda since 25 January 1971” was set up by President Idi Amin in June 1974. This Commission was the first in the world to be set up to document violations and to make recommendations.
At the end of the seventies, the regime of Idi Amin was considered to be one of the world’s worst. Several hundreds of thousands of civilians had been killed by the security forces. The Commission had been established by Presidential decree on the basis of the 1914 Commission of Inquiries Act, in reaction to strong public opinion which demanded that inquiries be conducted into disappearances which had occurred during the early years of the Amin government. The fact that this Commission had carried out its work and made its recommendations under the same government into which it was conducting inquiries, made it rather unique, since its priority was to try to prevent future abuse of power on the part of the same government’s forces. Unfortunately, however, this goal was not to be realised, since the Commission had been set up without any real political will or any credible commitment to change the policies and practices related to human rights in the country.
Mandate
The mandate of the Commission was to enquire into the disappearances attributed to the armed forces during the early years of the government of President Amin, being the period from 25 January 1971 to July 1974. This Presidential decree gave the Commission full power to force witnesses to give evidence and to obtain information from official sources. However, in the event, access to required information was restricted by very many government departments including, amongst other departments, that of the police and military intelligence.
Composition
The Commission was composed of four members. An expatriate Pakistani judge held the post of President and two Ugandan police superintendents and a Ugandan army officer completed the quorum.
Operations
Since it had no official legal function, in the strict sense, this Commission saw its role as being limited only to enquiring into and reporting on the disappearances. Despite the difficulties referred to above , the Commission, after only one year in operation, had heard 545 witnesses and had documented 308 cases of disappearances. The hearings in general were held in public except when it had been specifically requested otherwise. Despite the considerable practical difficulties with which the Commission was confronted, as well as the very unfavourable political climate within which it operated, the Commission chalked up a remarkable success in terms of shedding light over a great number of disappearances.
Report
The Commission published a report entitled “Commission of Inquiry into the Disappearances of People in Uganda since 25 January 1971” It concluded in this report that the Public Security Unit and the National Investigation Bureau, both of which had been set up by President Amin, bore the main responsibility for the disappearances. The report also criticised army officers for abuse of power as well as the involvement of the military police and the intelligence service in countless cases of disappearances.
The Commission concluded its task by making specific recommendations concerning reform of the police and intelligence services and the training of government officials on the application of the law as it relates to citizens rights.
Postscript
It is important to note that President Amin never made public the Commission’s report and that none of its recommendations were ever adopted. Moreover, this report had very little impact on the Amin government’s practices. Furthermore, according to Richard Carver, a researcher who made a detailed study of this Commission, after the report was submitted, the four commissioners were singled out by the State in apparent retaliation for the work they had carried out. The Pakistani judge reportedly lost his government job; another of the commissioners was accused of murder and sentenced to death. A third fled the country to avoid being arrested. In conclusion, therefore, the Commission did not put a stop to the abuses being carried out by Idi Amin’s forces. Such abuses increased dramatically in the following years with Amin being designated as a result with the nickname of the “butcher of Uganda”. However, the work of this Commission was essential in that it established an historical truth which had been treated with disdain by the revisionist allies of Amin both in Uganda and internationally. Nevertheless, it clearly failed in putting a stop to the violent practices of the Idi Amin government and to the abuses which continued throughout the period of the Milton Obote government which immediately followed. It would appear therefore that, far from being a sincere attempt at correcting the past, that this Commission had only been a weak attempt at putting down international pressure.
Uganda 1986
Historical perspective
By the time the rebel forces led by Yoweri Museveni overthrew Obote in 1986, the country had just lived through twenty years of terror and brutality perpetrated by government forces. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had lost their lives under the military dictatorship of Idi Amin (1971-79) and under the second government of Milton Obote (1980-85). Many others had been victims of arbitrary arrest, severe beatings, torture and other human rights infringements. struggle
In 1986, Museveni took it upon himself to improve the reputation of Uganda concerning human rights. To attain this goal, the National Resistance Army arrested and put on trial soldiers and civilians for the crimes that had been committed and the government worked hard at improving its reputation. There are many who believe that this preoccupation with human rights violations played a decisive role in overthrowing the Obote government. This effort on the part of Museveni’s National Resistance Army was seen in Uganda and internationally, as having as its main aim to put an end to the abuses committed under the governments of Idi Amin and Milton Obote. Shortly after gaining power in 1986, the Museveni government set up a Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights, which was set up by the Justice Ministry. Its mandate was to conduct inquiries into infringements of human rights committed under previous governments from the time of independence up until Museveni came into power. This Commission was often at the centre of public debate in Uganda. At the outset it benefited from huge public support, but as time passed it became the target of much criticism and the population began to lose faith in the work of the Commission.
However, for the most part the hearings were held in public and some were even broadcast over the national radio and television thereby allowing the public to be highly aware of its operations.
Mandate
The Commission was assigned the task of enquiring into the human rights violations which had taken place since the independence of Uganda on 9 October 1962 up until 25 January 1986, the date at which Museveni came to power. By means of a “Legal Notice ” dated 16 May 1986, the Justice Minister, Joseph Nyamihana Mulenga, established the Commission conferring on it a mandate to inquire into all aspects of violation of human rights, breaches of the rule of law and excessive abuses of power, committed against persons in Uganda by the regimes in government, their servants, agents or agencies. In particular the Commission was to inquire into:
the causes and circumstances surrounding the mass murders and all acts or omissions resulting in the arbitrary deprivation of human life, committed in various parts of Uganda;
the causes and circumstances surrounding the numerous arbitrary arrests, consequent detentions without trial, arbitrary imprisonment and abuse of the powers of detention and restriction under the Public Order and Security Act, 1967;
the denial of any person of a fair and public trial before an independent and impartial court established by law;
the subjection of any person to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment;
the manner in which the law enforcement agents and the state security agencies executed their functions, the extent to which the practices and procedures employed in the execution of such functions may have violated the human rights of any person and the extent to which the state security agencies may have interfered with the functioning of the law-enforcement agents;
the causes and circumstances surrounding the massive displacement of persons and expulsion of people including Uganda citizens from Uganda and the consequent disappearance or presumed death of some of them;
the subjection of any person to discriminatory treatment by virtue of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, creed or sex, by any person acting under any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or public authority;
the denial to any person of any other fundamental freedoms and rights prescribed under Chapter III of the Constitution of Uganda or the un-lawful interference with the enjoyment by any person in Uganda of the said freedoms and rights;
the protection by act or omission of any person that perpetrated any of the aforesaid things, from due process of law;
any other matter connected with or incidental to the matters aforesaid which the Commission may wish to examine and recommend.
The mandate of this Commission was therefore very widespread. However, in the event it concentrated its efforts on arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, torture and murders committed by government security forces. The Legal Notice setting up this Commission also requested that it look into all possible ways of preventing the recurrence of the abuses indicated above.
Composition
This Commission was presided over by Hon. Mr. Justice Arthur Oder and had five other commissionaires including Ben B. Oluka as Secretary of the Commission. The four other commissioners were Mr. Edward Khiddu-Makubuya, Mr. Jack Luyombya, Mr. John Kawanga and Mr. John Nagenda.
Operations
The period covered by this Commission of Inquiry is strikingly long-24 years beginning with 9 October 1962 up until 25 January 1986, the date at which the Commission began its work. The Commission was confronted with major constraints due to lack of funds, which considerably restricted and slowed down its operations. Indeed it had to bring its work to a complete stop in its second year of operations until such time as the Ford Foundation made a donation of USD 93’000 to the Ugandan government to allow the Commission to continue its work. Nevertheless, at the beginning of 1991, the Commission again ran into financial problems.
Report
Despite a considerable delay resulting from insufficient means combined with a certain instability ruling in some regions of the country, the Commission of Inquiry published its final report containing 720 pages in 1994. This report offered an insight into infringements of human rights in Uganda between 1962 and 1986 and made recommendations concerning the incorporation of human rights education into the curricula of schools and universities and into the training programs of the army and security forces.
Nevertheless, many people assert that the Commission only served as a political strategy to provide legitimacy to the current government.
Postscript
In conclusion, the 1986 Commission of Enquiry, is typical of other truth commissions set up with the sole aim of discrediting previous regimes, in this case those preceding Museveni.
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