The Tabliq sect: activities, political affiliation, treatment by government, particularly wives who do not belong to the sect, since amnesty [UGA34897.E]

According to Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), the Tabliqs contain a sect of puritanical Muslims whose members portray themselves as "Moslem evangelists." In Uganda, the Tabliqs claimed Moslems were being marginalized by the government. Together with the obscure and largely defunct National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), the Tabliqs moved to western Uganda to start the rebellion under the [Allied Democratic Forces] ADF umbrella. They set up rear bases in neighbouring Congo where they began recruiting and training fighters with the promise of money and education. It was easier to recruit in the Congo where people were not hostile to the ADF (8 Dec. 1999).

Detailed information on the activities of the ADF, relationship with the government, and treatment of its members is contained in UGA34727.E of 4 July 2000; UGA33471.E of 17 January 2000; and UGA31284.E of 15 March 1999.

A 12 July 2000 report in The New Vision, a pro-government daily, states that sect founders, Sheikh Muhammad Yunus Kamoga, who had fled to Kenya following the 1991 attack on Old Kampala Mosque reportedly returned to Uganda "under the government amnesty to rebels." According to the report Sheikh Kamoga and Sheikh Jamil Mukulu, led the youths who twice stormed the Old Kampala Mosque, to take over the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) offices. During the second attack in March 1991, four policemen were killed. Four hundred and thirty one Tabliqs including Jamil Mukulu were reportedly arrested and "unsuccessfully" charged with murder (ibid.). Kamoga, who fled to Nairobi, reportedly "denied any connections with the ADF" (ibid.).

Sheikh Mohammed Kiggundu, also a leader of the Tabliqs, and allegedly associated with the 1991 Old Kampala Mosque incident, also returned to Kampala from Nairobi under the same amnesty (ibid., 19 July 2000). He was reportedly received by Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs, Hajat Anuna Omari, who claimed that the return of Kamoga and Kiggundu was a sign of the government's serious commitment to the amnesty (ibid.).

On March 15 2000, 56 Tabliqs who had been indicted for the murder of two policemen in Masindi in 1995 were freed by the High Court "after the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges" (ibid., 16 Mar. 2000; 4 June 2000). According to The New Vision, they were part of 110 Tabliqs "acquitted by Lady Justice Ssebutinde at Nsambya Youth Sharing Centre in 1998." The 56 had then been immediately re-arrested and and charged with the murder of the two policemen" (ibid. 16 Mar. 2000). Over 150 wives of the released Tabliqs reportedly "passed a resolution saying that the businesses of the arrested men had collapsed during their imprisonment" and appealed to the government to provide funds to enable their husbands to engage in income-generating activities (4 June 2000).

According to the Monitor, an independent Ugandan daily, 12 leaders of the ADF reportedly held a meeting at the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in Kampala (21 July 2000). The purpose of the meeting was to "make suggestions to the DMI on how to improve their working and living conditions" (ibid.). According to the DMI political commissar, quoted by The Monitor, the ADF are given first priority for re-integration in order to encourage the other rebels to respond to the government amnesty. "For the sake of peace in this country and the region, we are ignoring the atrocities most of them committed," he stated (ibid.).

However, Country Reports states that in 1999, "Muslim groups complained of extensive mistreatment by security officials in Kampala and in the west. There were unconfirmed reports that some Muslims suspected of being ADF rebel collaborators or involved in terrorist activities died as a result of torture by DMI officials" (Feb. 2000). Country Reports also states that ADF "killed, tortured, maimed, and abducted many persons, including children" (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1999. 2000. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/uganda.html [Accessed 21 July 2000]

IRIN. 8 December 1999. "Uganda: IRIN Special Report on the ADF Rebellion [19991208." http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Hornet/irin-120899c.html [Accessed 21 July 2000]

The Monitor [Kampala]. William Tayeebwa. 21 July 2000. "Former ADF Rebels Want Aid From the Government." http://ww.africanews....ries/20000721/20000721_feat16.html [Accessed 21 July 2000]

New Vision [Kampala]. 19 July 2000. John Kakande. "Tabliq Sheikh Kiggundu Back." http://www.newvision.co.ug/07_21_st5.htm [Accessed 19 July 2000]

_____. 12 July 2000. "Exiled Tabliq Leader is Back. " http://www.newvision.co.ug/07_21_stl.htm [Accessed 12 July 2000]

_____. 4 June 2000. "Uganda: Tabliq Wives Demand Welfare Funds." (NEXIS)

_____. 16 March 2000. Hillary Nsambu. "Uganda: Court Frees 56 Tabliqs." (NEXIS)