kilam
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 5, 2011
- 2,092
- 2,128
Rajab Daudi Ongoma had been fishing in Lake Victoria for four decades until two months ago when Uganda security officers brutally halted his only source of livelihood.
The 60-year-old resident of Port Victoria, Budalang’i Constituency, was in the company of five colleagues in the lake when he was arrested.
Men in military gear seized their boat and towed it to Dolwe Island where the six men endured torture. “They told us the punishment for engaging in illegal fishing in their waters was 100 strokes of the cane. They whipped us and left us hungry in the waters for 12 hours.
When we complained, they made us eat raw fish after which they beat us again,” the elderly man said.
They were put on a Ugandan boat 24 hours later and taken to Budalang’i with a warning never to be seen in Uganda again “if you value your lives”
Mr Ongoma is part of the statistics of fishermen who have been brutalised by Ugandan security officials.
They are whipped, made to eat raw fish, their boats seized, and forced to pay hefty fines while some spend weeks or months in filthy police cells.
The 60-year-old resident of Port Victoria, Budalang’i Constituency, was in the company of five colleagues in the lake when he was arrested.
Men in military gear seized their boat and towed it to Dolwe Island where the six men endured torture. “They told us the punishment for engaging in illegal fishing in their waters was 100 strokes of the cane. They whipped us and left us hungry in the waters for 12 hours.
When we complained, they made us eat raw fish after which they beat us again,” the elderly man said.
They were put on a Ugandan boat 24 hours later and taken to Budalang’i with a warning never to be seen in Uganda again “if you value your lives”
Mr Ongoma is part of the statistics of fishermen who have been brutalised by Ugandan security officials.
They are whipped, made to eat raw fish, their boats seized, and forced to pay hefty fines while some spend weeks or months in filthy police cells.
Ugandan soldiers brutalise Kenyan fishermen
The fishermen are whipped, forced to eat raw fish and pay hefty fines.