{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7991-2", "2020-12-31", 116, 2, null, null, "UGANDA", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S7991", "S7992", "[{\"name\": \"Robert Menendez\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"116\", \"type\": \"SRES\", \"number\": \"807\"}]", "166 Cong. Rec. S7991", "Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S7991-S7992]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                                 UGANDA\n\n  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise with grave concern to speak about\nthe troubling political situation in Uganda in the runup to that\ncountry's elections on January 14 and to call on President Museveni to\ntake immediate action to stop the country's downward political spiral.\n  Uganda has been an important if not critical security and\ncounterterrorism partner to the United States for well over a decade,\nplaying a prominent role in the African Union's Mission to Somalia and\nhosting over 1.4 million refugees. Its leadership and influence in East\nAfrica and the African continent writ large is difficult to overstate.\nHowever, these are troubling times in Uganda, and longstanding efforts\nto advance its democracy are now in peril.\n  National elections in Uganda have not met internationally accepted\nstandards for free and fair polls since 1996, when they were held for\nthe first time after a long-running conflict that brought President\nMuseveni to power. For decades, Museveni's ruling National Resistance\nParty, NRM, has leveraged access to and influence over\n\n[[Page S7992]]\n\nstate resources and institutions to tilt the electoral balance in its\nfavor. These efforts are not new. Under President Museveni's\nleadership, the NRM successfully moved to change the Ugandan\nConstitution in 2005 to remove Presidential term limits and again in\nand 2017 to lift age limits. These changes allow President Museveni,\nwho has been in power since 1986, to remain in office indefinitely. Not\nonly have Museveni and the NRM engineered a constitutional coup, they\nhave undertaken a campaign of political repression that has only become\nworse since the last general elections. Ugandan authorities have\nincreasingly used coercive measures, including arbitrary arrests and\ndetentions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and intrusive surveillance\ntechnology to intimidate and silence critics, place a strangle hold on\nmedia, and stifle political opposition in the country.\n  Leading opposition figures have been targeted in brazen and shocking\nways. Members of Parliament have been arrested and detained on numerous\noccasions, and there is strong evidence to support their claims of\nbeing tortured by President Museveni's security forces while in\ncustody. Last week, prominent human rights attorney Nicholas Opiyo,\nalong with several other attorneys, was arrested in what appears to be\na blatant act of intimidation for their investigation into killings\nthat occurred as a result of the arrest of rival Presidential candidate\nRobert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu in November. Just this past weekend, one of\nKyagulanyi's bodyguards was killed by security forces in a violent\nconfrontation that also saw two journalists injured. Imagine that\nhappening to any political candidate here in the United States to one\nof our colleagues as they were out on the campaign trail this fall. We\nshould all be outraged by such acts.\n  To date there have been no meaningful investigations into these\nincidents and no accountability for these abuses. The question we must\nask ourselves is, Why? Why has President Museveni failed to take swift\nand decisive action to ensure the safety and security of members of the\nUgandan Parliament and other opposition figures, and bring those\nresponsible to justice? Is President Museveni protecting particular\nindividuals? Or perhaps direct responsibility for the violence against\nthe Uganda opposition lies even further up the chain of command?\n  Journalists and nongovernmental organizations have been under\npressure as well. Ugandan authorities continue to use a range of\nrestrictive and onerous administrative measures against NGOs, including\nderegistration of more than 12,000 mostly local NGOs in November 2019.\nEarlier this month, Ugandan authorities froze the bank accounts of some\nNGOs, and in the past, the Museveni administration has denied entry and\ndeported some leaders of international NGOs in what were clear acts of\nintimidation. Journalists working for foreign media outlets are now\nrequired to reregister with Ugandan authorities or risk criminal\npenalties, and some foreign journalists have also been deported from\nthe country.\n  Government has also attacked digital rights and academic freedoms.\nIndividuals with large social media followings are subject to onerous\nadministrative regulation. Burdensome taxes have been imposed on social\nmedia users, and some individuals who have criticized the Museveni\nadministration on social media platforms have even been prosecuted.\nUgandan authorities have taken repeated action to suppress academic\nfreedom and intimidate students and faculty who have been critical of\nthe Museveni administration, including by firing and jailing professors\nwho criticize the regime.\n  In short, the longstanding effort to build democracy in Uganda is\nunder grave threat, and we must take action in support of those\ndefending political freedoms in the country. That is why I introduced\nS. Res 807. It not only condemns the actions of the Museveni\nadministration, it calls on the Secretary of State and the heads of\nrelevant departments and agencies of the U.S. Government to undertake\nthree essential actions: first, to consider the imposition of targeted\nsanctions and visa restrictions on actors involved in undermining\ncredible, transparent elections, and those who have perpetrated or\nabetted human rights abuses; second, to work with African partners,\nlike-minded countries, and international institutions and organizations\nto develop and implement strategies and actions to promote and defend\nhuman, civil, and political rights and multiparty democracy in Uganda;\nand third, to immediately conduct a review of U.S. assistance and\ncooperation with Uganda for the purposes of reprioritizing such\nassistance should neutral observers determine that the January 2021\npolls do not meet internationally accepted standards for credible\nelections.\n  If the outcome of the elections in Uganda does not reflect the will\nof the people, I will be calling for the Biden administration to\nreevaluate our relationship with the Museveni administration, and I\nplan to pursue binding legislation in the 117th Congress that builds on\nS Res 807. Uganda's stature and importance as a security partner should\nnot prevent the United States from speaking out in support of democracy\nand taking action in support of those Ugandans fighting for democratic\nfreedoms.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7991-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6476670280098915, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}