CSO Executive survives assassination attempt

14 July 2014 -

Written by Laspnet

The Coordinator of Soroti Development Association and NGO’s Network (SODANN), Mr. Omiat Moses and one other staff narrowly survived death when unknown assailants attacked them with a gun.The incident took place on May 7 2004 between 2:30pm and 3:00pm at the organization’s premises on Harridas road in Northern Division of Soroti Municipality. In a case filed at the Soroti Central Police Station under file number SD/19/08/05/2014, Phillip Echodu, a volunteer with SODANN narrated that two men walked into the reception of the office demanding for the coordinator, who had been away from office for a week.

Sensing that all demands for Mr. Omiat and his assistant’s whereabouts were proving to be futile, one assailant pulled an SMG gun from a bag, aimed it straight at the volunteer while the other grabbed him by the belt and pinned him on the table and commanded to shut his eyes while pointing the gun at his head.

“At this moment, my spirit had left my body. I knew I was finished”, laments Echodu. The other staff who had noticed the fracas from another room only froze in one place because she had been warned if she made any slightest move, her colleague would be killed. “These people are highly professional and well trained. Nobody would even realize that we have been killed inside. They seemed to be many as they had parked their motorcycle outside the gate”, said Echodu.

At around 6:00pm when some police officers were still at the premises, another unknown person riding a motor cycle claimed to have been sent to pick an old woman at the office. The police had to incarcerate him when they couldn’t ascertain his claims. That morning, the Coordinator, Mr. Omiat had organized a consultative meeting on Transitional Justice with the traditional leaders, religious leaders, civil society and political leaders to take place in the organization’s boardroom but when the assailants struck in what seemed to have been a well-orchestrated move, he had to take the meeting to a near-by guest house. I kept getting calls during the meeting but when I picked, I did not get any answer”, narrated Omiat.

Previously, in 2013, the office of SODANN was broken into and one of the staff’s residences was vandalized, money was robbed and property looted. Mr. Omiat’s residence was also broken into in February 2014. The other person whose home was broken into was the driver, whose property was taken while he was on duty. All these incidences were reported to police but no serious action was taken. Some suspects were arrested with the aid of sniffer dogs, but they were released on grounds that the dogs merely provide circumstantial evidence which is not sufficient to prove the case according to the OC CID Soroti. Some of the legal experts detest this assertion and question the logic and the intensions behind it where persistent threats have been directed to an organisation and its staff.

In March 2014, a new SMG gun was recovered with 30 live ammunitions wrapped in a jacket opposite the residence in which one of the staff of SODANN was residing. Later on it was found to belong to one of the serving UPDF officers. The said army officer was arrested along with other suspects and remanded in prison.

SODANN is located in the central town of Soroti; the office is about 70 meters from the CMI operatives who are conducting operations to remove guns in Teso. Behind the office, there is a Flying school manned by police officers and the army. A number of people have questioned how such incidences can repeatedly occur without any serious action or restraint by the security.

One of the security operatives who declined to be named said that incident had been earlier orchestrated by the assailants who would implicate the coordinator to have a hand in it, or that it was due to internal organizational wrangles. This was similar to the earlier deaths of some human rights activists. “How can police and some individuals know about the course of attacks and possible murder but fail to detect them prevent them only to wait for a bad scenario to occur, and to state what they believe is the course?”, one of the elders wondered. There seems to be other plans to frame SODANN staff with some offences. This is yet to be seen or heard.

When some of the security officers were contacted for a comment of what had happened most of them feigned ignorance or said they would get back later. However, according to some reliable sources, the security minister Hon. Mukasa Muruli is said to have swiftly intervened on the night of May 7, 2014 directing the police officers in Soroti to respond to the situation appropriately.

The Coordinator has since been provided with a security guard at his residence. This followed a tip off from polices who had been secretly following these events, that the several anonymous calls to him and other staff in the organisation were likely to lead to his abduction and murder. When the security Officer was contacted for more information, he affirmed these fears but declined to be named for fear of his job and his life. “That matter is complicated and the people involved are of high profile that is why we have to take caution when following up the various incidences that have occurred. We need to keep in constant denial of what is happening and faulting the people who are in danger when everything is very clear”, said the officer. He also blamed some organizations for blindly misinforming the public about the situation at SODANN.

SODANN is one of the outstanding human rights organizations in Teso that has been monitoring, documenting and reporting the various human rights violations thereby exposing and seeking for accountability on the various human rights violations by the law enforcement agencies and institutions of government. Its work has enabled several victims to claim their rights and has also brought the perpetrators to account. Previously, the organization carried out capacity building drives to various stakeholders including the police, army, local government officials, journalists and civil societies on human rights protection.

Many people believe that the threats to SODANN staff are as a result of their aggressive work on human rights. Others believe that SODANN could be having critical information regarding gross violations of human rights in Teso that are likely to affect some highly placed individuals from Teso & in government to which SODANN denies that they do not merely keep information but pass it to the relevant institutions that are mandated to take necessary actions on specific violations of human rights. The coordinator and the other staff movements have been restricted completely in fear of the worst situation.

Recently, there has been increase of threats and attacks as well as robberies of human rights NGOs in the country; however these attacks vary from place to place. Most human rights defenders up country are threatened with death and have minimum attention on what happens to them and most often the attacks directed to them are ignored or underestimated leading to their death.