Ugandan opposition vows to boycott referendum on multi-party democracy
Uganda's six main opposition groups said they would boycott a planned June referendum on whether to restore multi-party politics in the country which were banned nearly 20 years ago. The groups said the referendum was no more than an attempt to legitimize and consolidate the power now held by Movement, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's organization, now the country's only fully functioning political entity. "We condemn the passing of a referendum law in parliament and, as we did in 2000, we shall not participate in this exercise that aims at entrenchment of a one-party state," they said in a statement issued under the name of the opposition umbrella group known as the "G6." "This is the epitome of the highest kind of dictatorship," the group said. The opposition boycotted a similar referendum in 2000 in which Ugandans voted to maintain the so-called "No-Party" system that Museveni imposed after storming to power in 1986. At the time, he said political parties were responsible for the country's violent past and contributed to religious and ethnic lines division. Under the current rules, parties are allowed to exist but other than Movement none are allowed to field candidates in elections or operate offices other than a central headquarters. Earlier this week, Ugandan lawmakers voted to put the system to voters again on June 30 as part of broader plans to amend the constitution to allow Museveni to stand for a third term in office next year. But the G6 decried the parliament's decision and Damiano Lubega, a member of the opposition Democratic Party, said the group wanted real options for democratic reforms to be considered. "We want government to bring to parliament another bill that will exclusively address the transition and withdraw the two bills it has presented that instead seek to entrench Museveni's hold on power," he told AFP. Museveni has come under increasing criticism for the slow pace of democratic reform and last week Britain, Uganda's former colonial master, announced it had withheld five million pounds (9.5 million dollars, 7.4 million euros) of a 40 million pound (76 million dollar, 59 million euro) grant for that reason. The opposition groups maintain that Museveni has no desire to truly open up the political process and complained that the millions of dollars required to hold a referendum would be better spent on more pressing needs. "To spend 17 million dollars (on this referendum is to negate and indeed it is a betrayal of the suffering people of Uganda..We must get our priorities right, the statement adds. The G6 is comprised of the Conservative Party, the Democratic Party, the Forum for Democratic Change, Free Movement, Justice Forum and the Uganda People's Congress of exiled former president Milton Obote. Meanwhile, twenty people were killed and 15 others wounded when insurgents from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked displaced people and a passenger bus in northern Uganda, army and church officials said. "The death toll of the attack at Koc Goma has risen to 16. Today afternoon, all the bodies were buried at Koc Goma camp," in northern Gulu district, army spokesman Lieutenant Kiconco Tabaro told AFP by phone from Gulu. "Fifteen 15 others were wounded," he added. In the bloodbath on Thursday, the insurgents "used machetes, axes and hoes that the people were using to dig in their garden to kill them, while those who ran away were shot," he said, adding that the wounded were admitted in Lacor Mission hospital in "critical condition". Catholic church officials said the people had gone to dig in farming fields near their IDP (displaced people's) camp, when the rebels attacked them. In a separate incident, four other people were killed when rebels ambushed a passenger bus between Patongo and Kalongo in Pader district on Thursday evening, Tabaro said, adding "we are yet to get full details." The LRA, which operates from bases in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, has been fighting President Yoweri Museveni's secular government since 1988, vowing to replace it with one based on the biblical ten commandments. Several attempts to sign a truce and launch formal peace talks have failed amid growing mistrust between the warring sides, and in April, the International Crisis Group said the peace proccess was in critical condition and required sustained international resuscitation. The army spokesman said the military operations have weakened the rebellion and that the latest attack was an attempt by the rebels to show that the movement was still strong. Government troops have reported 84 insurgents were killed, 25 captured and 12 surrendered. Ninety-five children were also rescued from captivity and 40 guns and ammunition were recovered in April, the army said. More than 1.6 million people have been displaced from their homes and are living in squalid camps in northern Uganda. The rebel group swells its ranks by raiding camps for displaced people and kidnapping children living there, forcing the boys into combat and the girls into sexual slavery. |
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