Ugandan former intelligence officer exposes alleged army abuses

On September the 30th, on camera, Lieutenant Herbert Matanda Mabonga delivered a half-hour testimony. After 15 years in military intelligence, he describes how special forces took him to a house near Kampala, supposedly to wait for a meeting with President Museveni. He says he was kept there for six months, long enough to realize the house was actually a secret prison for political opponents. To back up his claims, he also released footage filmed inside the building. The clips show former opposition lawmaker Muhammad Muanga Kivumbi being examined by a man in military uniform. But it's the appearance of Sam Mugumia, a close aide to veteran opposition leader Kisa Besidje, that has shocked the country. Barely recognisable, he appears frail and malnourished malnourished and struggles to walk According to the ex-officer, dozens of opponents are locked up there for months or even years without trial or formal charges. It was inhuman to always listen to the tears of very big people crying in the night being tortured. And the system of torture is that they could increase the volume, they could put a disco, a disco music that sounds louder than anybody could hear the outcries of a person being tortured. But the outside people outside the neighborhood, they would not hear. Because they would think it is the music, it is the pattern within the house. These revelations echo a 2022 Human Rights Watch investigation. Former detainees held in these unauthorized facilities had already described beatings and electric shocks. For its part, the Ugandan army has dismissed the videos as fabricated footage and labeled the whistleblower a deserter.