Thread by @BBCAfrica

THREAD

On Nov 18, 2020, a Ugandan police truck sped down Kampala Road.

In the space of a minute or so, 7 people were shot.

At least 4 of them died.

Who were they?
Who shot them?
And why has no one been charged with their deaths?

#BBCAfricaEye investigates.

Let’s start with some background.

These killings happened in the run-up to Uganda’s elections.

President @KagutaMuseveni was facing the most serious political challenge of his 35-years in power: a young opposition leader called @HEBobiwine.

Raised in the slums of Kampala, @HEBobiwine became a music star and then an MP before running for president.

He is channeling the hopes of many young Ugandans who say they’re tired of poverty, corruption, and of an old guard who has been in power for decades.

Just before noon on Nov 18 2020 @HEbobiwine is arrested in Luuka, ostensibly for holding rallies that break Uganda’s Covid-19 rules on mass gatherings.

The arrest, say his supporters, is politically motivated.

Within the hour, young people are protesting.

Some are peaceful. Others set roadblocks on fire.

Immediately, the police and army are deployed across Kampala.

Tear gas is fired, followed by live ammunition.

Over the next two days, more than 50 people are shot dead in the crackdown.

Days later, Uganda’s Minister of Security, Elly Tumwine, leads a fierce defence of the security forces, saying they have restored order in the face of riots.

Tumwine also asks a question:

“Those people who were shot, who shot them, and under what circumstances? That’s a matter of investigation.”

But 6 months later, no public enquiry has been held and no investigation has been published by the Ugandan govt.

In the meantime, #BBCAfricaEye has conducted its own investigation into the killings of Nov 18th and 19th.

We’ve looked at more than 400 videos of the violence, and spoken with over 30 eyewitnesses.

This is what we’ve found...

Warning - this thread contains distressing images of violence.

One of the first people to be shot in Kampala was this woman in the red skirt.

Her name was Kamuyat Nangobi.

She was 28 years old and a mother to four children.

Kamuyat worked on Kampala road, delivering food to businesses in the neighbourhood.
Just before 2pm, she went to take lunch to a customer: her grandfather, Muslimu Musimami, who was waiting for her in this building.

This is Kamuyat.

Hearing gunfire, she runs for cover.

Seconds after this clip ends, a bullet hit her in the back of the head.

Muslimu heard the shots.

He ran to the balcony in time to see his granddaughter’s body being carried into the road.

All he could do was take this photo.

Who shot Kamuyat?

The video we’ve already seen—the one that shows the final moments of her life—was filmed from here.

If we look more closely, we can see a truck coming at speed down Kampala Road.

This video, taken at exactly the same moment from the other side of the street, shows us more.

It was a police truck marked with the identification number 17.

The flash of red is Kamuyat’s skirt.

As police truck 17 drives past, we hear a gunshot…
...and Kamuyat falls to the ground.

[Sound on]
#Truck17

Although we can’t see her face, we know for sure this is Kamuyat because a 3rd video shows her body lying in exactly the same place where she fell.

The plates she was carrying are smashed on the ground in front of her.

Multiple eyewitnesses told the BBC that a police truck drove down Kampala Road firing live ammunition indiscriminately into the crowd.

The visual evidence, as well as their testimony, indicates that someone on the left side of that truck killed Kamuyat.

The videos we’ve seen so far don’t show the faces of the men seated on that side.

But they’re not the only videos filmed that day.

At around 2pm—immediately before Kamuyat was shot and just 300 metres away—a Ugandan TV crew filmed these images of the same police patrol, truck 17, heading straight for Kampala Road.

The license plate is UP 5564.

And if we pause the video and sharpen the image, we can see the faces of four men, all carrying rifles, seated on the left-hand side of police truck 17.

#Truck17

All the evidence indicates that moments after this footage was recorded, one of these 4 men killed Kamuyat Nangobi.

And Kamuyat was not the only person shot on Kampala Road.

Just 75 metres from where Kamuyat fell, a bullet passed through the door of the Little Bee restaurant, maiming the cashier, Deo, as well as this woman, who asked not to be named.

Both were shot in the feet.

Sixty metres further along, John Amera, a 31-year-old father of two, was killed by a bullet to the chest.

Seconds later, Abbas Kalule, a local man who was closing the shop where he worked, was hit in the upper leg.

Abbas was taken to hospital but died four days later.
He was just 23.

At the end of the road, eyewitnesses said, the truck turned. But the killing was not over.

John Kitobe, a 72 year-old retired accountant, had gone into town to change money.

As he stood in this doorway, he was shot in the neck, and died at the scene.

Another man was also shot on these steps, the only one of these victims we cannot yet identify. He was hit in the pelvis.

One eyewitness told us he survived. Another said he died on the way to hospital.

Police truck 17 drove on.

30 minutes later, carrying what looks like the same crew, it was still patrolling.

In the space of a minute or so, seven people were shot along this road.

At least four, perhaps five of them died.

There is no evidence to suggest any of these people were rioting.

The 4 men on the left of police truck 17 should be identifiable by the Ugandan authorities, who claim to be investigating these shootings.

But 6 months after Kamuyat and at least 3 other people were killed, no one has been charged with their deaths.

In her village in eastern Uganda, Kamuyat’s mother, Zikaje, is now caring for the four children orphaned by this killing.

The story of Kamuyat and the Kampala Road killing spree is told in Part One of #BBCAfricaEye’s new film “Three Killings in Kampala.”

You can watch the whole documentary here >

But Kampala Road was not the only place where the crackdown ended in bloodshed.

The second part of the film investigates the shooting of two young women on Jinja Road on the same day, November 18th.

They were sisters, Shamim and Shakira.

Shakira was the mother of a newborn baby. Shamim was pregnant with triplets.

Both women survived. The triplets did not.

The third and final part of our film presents new evidence in the most disturbing case of all: that of Amos Ssegawa, a 15-year-old boy who was walking home with his mother when he was shot in the mouth.

Amos was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

His mother, Hajarah Nakitto, has always said that the Ugandan military killed her son.

#BBCAfricaEye has found two new eyewitnesses who corroborate that claim.

Neither feels safe enough to speak on camera.

Hajarah is now taking legal action. She wants the government to identify and charge the soldier who shot Amos, and to declare that his killing was arbitrary and illegal.

#BBCAfricaEye put the allegations contained in this report to the government of Uganda.

This is what they said...

A week after these shootings, Security Minister Elly Tumwine congratulated Ugandan security forces for restoring order to the capital.

The rioters, he said, were set on burning Kampala and causing mayhem.

But according to the evidence we’ve gathered, Kamuyat, and the other people shot by police truck 17, were not rioting.

The sisters Shamim and Shakira were not armed or dangerous.

The boy Amos had not “reached a certain level of violence.”

These victims were mothers and fathers, locals and passers-by, children and unborn babies...

...shot and killed by the same security forces whose job it is to protect the citizens of Uganda.

Here’s the link to the full film >

Produced & investigated by @bertram_hill1 @danielsilas Video editing by Loic Kessler
Investigated by @yaolri @Mabl2K @edward_the6
+ team @cathkemi @SVanhooymissen @Amuthengi Sarah Clarke @AnnaPayton2 @AnushaKumar09 @simonjfrost & Africa Eye editor > @marcperky

#Truck17 #ThreeKillingsInKampala

#NothingStaysHiddenForever