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                   Ugandan Police Shut Down Newspaper Offices

   by Mohammed Yusuf

   Police in Uganda's capital have closed down the offices of  the Daily
   Monitor. According to the Daily Monitor's senior correspondent, police
   have declared the premises of their publication a crime scene and are
   doing a thorough search of the building.
   Earlier this month, the Daily Monitor published a series of stories
   about Uganda's coordinator of intelligence services, General David
   Tinyefuza. The general has demanded an investigation into alleged plots
   to assassinate key military and government officials who are seen to
   oppose President Yoweri Museveni's alleged plans to install his son as
   his successor.
   Last week, the Criminal Investigation Department interrogated the
   authors of the story and the managing editor of the Monitor for three
   days, pushing them to disclose the source of their information. They
   declined.
   In response, police obtained a court order telling the journalists to
   name their source, and also authorizing police to search for a letter
   written by the general that is held in the publication's offices.
   Daily Monitor reporter Tabu Butagira told VOA about the police takeover
   of the newspaper's offices.
   "Everything is calm, but tense, very tense ...  At the moment no staff
   is allowed to leave the premises and the police have taken over the
   charge of the gate and now they are at the printing press which they
   want to disconnect it," Butagira said.
   Security forces have taken off the air the Daily Monitor's sister radio
   stations KFM and Dembe FM.  Butagira says there is a systematic search
   of drawers and lockers, and police have threatened to confiscate
   cameras and phones.
   He says the paper's refusal to disclose the source of their information
   has agitated security officials.
   "So because the paper has been ... unwilling to disclose the source of
   its information there is suddenly unexpected, high-handed response by
   [the] government by deploying the police and plain clothes security
   guards who have now besieged the Monitor head office.  They are clearly
   interested in finding out, I guess, how the newspaper acquired
   information about the spy master's letter to his subordinate," Butagira
   said.
   General Tinyefuza has not denied authoring the letter.  Part of the
   letter reads "I gave detailed intelligence information of some of those
   claims, like the so-called project of the son being fast tracked
   outside the law to hold serious positions, many of which he may not be
   qualified by the set standards, like experience in command and
   seniority."
   The letter also states that the succession issue is becoming a source
   of intrigue in the army.
   President Museveni, who is in his late 60s, has led Uganda since taking
   power in a 1986 coup.  His son, Kainerugaba Muhoozi, commands the
   special forces group responsible for presidential security.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/uganda-newspaper-closure/1664715.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/uganda-newspaper-closure/1664715.html