III. INTRODUCTION

When Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army/Movement (NRA/M) took the reigns of power in Uganda after a five-year-long guerrilla war, Uganda was a country infamous for massive civilian killings and other human rights abuses on an enormous scale. During the military dictatorship of Idi Amin (1971-1979) and after the return to power of Milton Obote in 1980, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and many more were subjected to arbitrary arrest, beatings, torture, and other abuse.

The NRA/NRM took power in 1986 on a platform promising a "fundamental revolution" and not "a mere change of the guard."2 Since then, the NRM has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on political power in Uganda. Through a carefully managed political system, the NRM has been able to effectively neutralize political opposition which it characterizes as sectarian, divisive, and at odds with national unity.

In some areas, the human rights record of Uganda has improved significantly since the NRM took power. Although police and army abuse persist, the NRM has forged an army which is more disciplined and more conscious of the rights of civilians than its predecessors. Relative stability has returned to some areas of the country, but violent conflicts continue in the west and north of Uganda. The empowerment of women has been a key goal of the NRM administration, and the NRM administration has significantly increased the voice of women in government. The Uganda Human Rights Commission, established in 1996, has taken its mandate seriously and has investigated many human rights abuses. The change which has taken place in these and other areas is indisputable, and much appreciated by the majority of the Ugandan population. The steps taken by the Ugandan government to improve its human rights record deserve praise, and show more than a cosmetic commitment to human rights.

But the progressive policies pursued by the NRM in some areas of human rights protection contrast sharply with its policies in the political arena. Organized political activity has been outlawed in Uganda for the past twelve years, and the NRM government has not hesitated to resort to repressive measures when these legal restrictions on political activity are challenged. Numerous political rallies have been halted, some through force. Political activists who have challenged the NRM's hold on political power are frequently harassed and sometimes arbitrarily arrested. The NRM has demonized political parties, blaming them for all theabuses of the past in Uganda, although

it is itself to any outsider just that-a political party.

Human Rights Watch researchers traveled to Uganda in April and May 1998 to assess the human rights dimensions of the NRM's "no-party" or "movement" system of government and to document human rights abuses associated with the NRM's long monopoly of government. Abuses by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group operating in northern Uganda, were documented in Human Rights Watch's 1997 report, Scars of Death. This report focuses on the "movement" political system, analyzing its legal structures and actual operation against international human rights standards.