The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday, December 7, imposed financial sanctions on Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, head of Uganda’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), over alleged human rights abuses committed under his watch.
Washington announced the sanctions alongside measures against Iranian and Syrian officials whom it said were involved in "repression and undermining democracy” in their respective countries.
Kandiho is among the people targeted for engaging in alleged corruption, serious human rights abuses and undermining democracy.
Under Kandiho, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement, military intelligence officers arrested, detained and physically abused Ugandans "due to their nationality, political views, or critique of the Ugandan government."
As noted, people detained by CMI were held without legal proceedings, subjected to horrific beatings and other egregious acts including sexual abuse and electrocutions that led to long-term injury and even death.
"In some cases, Kandiho was personally involved, leading interrogations of detained individuals," reads part of the U.S. Treasury Department statement.
The action freezes any U.S. assets of Kandiho and generally bars Americans from dealing with him.
In April, the U.S also imposed visa bans on Ugandan government officials accused of human rights violations and repressive acts that tainted the country’s presidential elections won by President Yoweri Museveni who was re-elected for a sixth term, in January.
The election campaign was marred by violence, greater than in all previous times. Dozens of people were killed during violence and opposition politicians accused the government of harassment.
In a tweet, the Ugandan military acknowledged being notified about the sanctions on Kandiho by the US government, noting that "we are disappointed that such a decision could be made by a country we consider friendly, a partner and a great ally.”
The Ugandan military, in its own statement, indicated that it is going to seek clarification from US authorities "to be able to determine the way forward.”
For several years now, numerous Rwandans have described how they were locked up in the CMI’s secret detention facilities or "safe houses” and tortured.
The dungeons of Mbuya Military Barracks where CMI headquarters are located were other torture chambers for Rwandans, in addition to other CMI dungeons in different parts of the country.
More than 20 Rwandans were killed in various parts of Uganda, since April 2019, according to information availed from different sources including relatives of the victims by September this year. Many succumbed to the effects of torture at the hands of CMI agents.
In August last year, the forner US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on four Ugandans for their involvement in activities that victimized young children in a corrupt adoption scheme.