Stop Genocide in Buganda!

The 700-year kingdom nation of Buganda has been a part of Uganda since October 1962 when the British granted both Buganda and Uganda independence. The native people of Buganda (the Baganda) have been peacefully demanding for autonomy within Uganda since Milton Obote and Idi Amin illegally overthrew a federal government by force of arms in 1966.

The Baganda have endured untold suffering as successive Uganda governments, especially those led by Milton Obote, Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni worked to muzzle  the persistent demands for Buganda autonomy.  The current Uganda government is overtly engaged in acts of ethnocide and cultural genocide against the Baganda.  If the Uganda government human rights abuses against the Baganda continue with impunity, a full-scale genocide similar to what happened in Congo and Rwanda might become inevitable in Buganda and Uganda.

Below is partial evidence anti-Buganda cultural genocide program by Mr. Museveni:

1. In 1995, NRM/NRA government of Uganda imposed the current national constitution on the people of Buganda after over 90% of them told the government judicial (Odoki) commission that they demanded a federal form of government. The 6 million natives of Buganda are subjected to forced political integration and assimilation into Uganda.

2. Article 237 of the NRM/NRA imposed 1995 Uganda constitution selectively converted 9,000 square miles of Baganda native lands into Ugandan public-leased lands and, in the 1998 Land Act, arbitrarily donated it to NRM/NRA supporters regardless of ethnicity. Native lands for other ethnicities in Uganda remained protected.

3. Since 2002, the Uganda government has illegally settled and partially armed over 1 million Rwandese, Banyankore, Bakiga, Sudanese Congolese and other ethnic populations on Buganda private and native lands, especially in the Gomba, Mawokota, Buwekula, Bugerere and Ssingo counties. During the same period, Uganda government senior officials, such as Matiya Kasaija, have publically encouraged other Uganda communities, especially Bunyoro, to forcibly evict Baganda residents. The result is a massive forced population transfer of impoverished Baganda from their ancestral homes to urban slums.

4. In May 2010 thousands of Baganda gathered at the kingdom's sacred Kasubi royal tombs to mourn after unknow arsonists burnt the main building down. Disregarding Buganda's cultural practices Mr. Museveni chose to visit the site before the Kabaka and ordered his army to clear the compound. The unprovoked UPDF fired at the unarmed Baganda, killing 4 and severly injuring at least 20 (see petition video).

5. In September  2010, the Uganda government started implementing a Public Order Management Bill, which requires meetings of 5 or more adults within Buganda must first get a police permit.

When Baganda protest the grossest Uganda government actions, the national police and army have unleashed disproportionate violence including shooting unarmed demonstrators, torture and indefinite detention. In 2009 alone, the UPDF army shot and killed more than 30 Baganda during demonstrations.

The impunity and human rights abuse and genocide record by Mr. Museveni and the UPDF is well documented: (1) In 2005, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Uganda guilty of grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during its military operations in the DRC between 1998 and 2003.  According to the ICJ, Mr. Museveni and his government looted Congo of between $6B and $10B worth of resources.

(2) In 2006 a highly respected French prosecutor Jean-Louis Bruguire indicted the current president of Rwanda and former intelligence chief in the Uganda UPDF of assassinating Rwandese President Habyarimana to provoke the Rwanda genocide. (3) According to a August 2010 UN Commissioner for Human Rights report titled "Report of the Mapping Exercise" (of Congo), the Uganda NRM/NRA government and its UPDF army "killed numerous civilians and committed a large number of rapes and acts of pillaging" (Page 164).

Please act now to defend the Baganda people against the current cultural genocide and the risk of mass murder, rape and pillage similar to what the Uganda UPDF did in Congo. Stop genocide in Buganda. Support  self-determination, autonomy and a permanent peace for the long-suffering people of  Buganda!