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The following was written by Dee Allimadi. Dee is a Ugandan living in exile in London and she recently attended A Brilliant Genocide‘s U.K Premiere at the Raindance Film Festival. This is what Allimadi had to say after seeing our film:

‘The hammering on the door continued and by this time Aparu was on the floor with her head in her hands rocking back and forth like a patient in a mental asylum. She lamented in her native Acholi, ‘lubanga na’, ‘lubanga na’ (my God, my God). Lanyero quietly prayed that it was government soldiers and not the LRA rebels. With government soldiers their fate might be rape, torture and either killing on the spot or huddled into “protective camps”. Your fate would be decided very quickly but with the rebels, abduction was a virtual certainty. The rape and torture would become part and parcel of your life.’ (Excerpt from ‘Abducted‘ by Doris Allimadi).

D. Allimadi Cont:
‘This was the life in Acholi Land following Museveni’s ‘liberation’ of Uganda in 1986 and promise of fundamental change. Homesteads were regularly attacked by both rebels and government troops, young men and women abducted and food stolen. Whilst the rest of Uganda begun to somewhat prosper, Gulu and other parts of North Uganda were left to languish in absolute poverty.

On 30th September, I had the privilege of watching the very harrowing and heart-breaking docu-film, A Brilliant Genocide directed and produced by the very talented film maker, Ebony Butler. Ms Butler spent many years researching and corroborating her findings before making this docu-film.

The docu-film had a very balanced and extensively researched view of the atrocities in Gulu and North Uganda with contributions by Milton Allimadi, Editor and Publisher at Blackstarnews, former ambassador and UN Special Representative Olara Otunnu, Adam Branch, a professor at Cambridge University and Vincent Magombe, a journalist.

When one thinks of the atrocities perpetrated against the Acholi people, the name Joseph Kony immediately springs to mind. Kony and his LRA were responsible for countless abductions, killing, maiming and displacing families in Gulu and other parts of North Uganda. Abducted children were forced to become rebels, turning on their own families, friends and neighbours, or child brides with objections leading to repercussions. Whilst Kony’s actions were deplorable, inexcusable and indefensible, A Brilliant Genocide tells us that his crimes are only but a tip of the iceberg. Thousands of Acholi’s in fact perished at the hands of Museveni’s planned and systematic silent genocide whilst the rest of Uganda and the international community turned a blind eye. According to Olara Otunnu, there was a conspiracy of silence.

How could they have not known? The nightmare in the North of Uganda was well documented. Women and men were raped, sometimes brutally gang raped and deliberately infected with HIV/Aids, murdered in cold blood, forced into ‘protective camps’ where they starved to death and according to the WHO, about 1000 people a week died from treatable and preventable disease.

The docu-film was hard to watch. To see such grave suffering of innocent people, especially children and pregnant women. Harder still, because some of the witnesses were in the audience and were given the opportunity to speak to us afterwards. The scars were still visible in their voices, so to speak.

Why is the world still silent?
Friends of Acholis and Uganda, end the silence. Hear the cries of the mother who has lost her own, the father stripped of all dignity and the child robbed of its innocence.

A Brilliant Genocide exposes the extent of murderous intent of Museveni towards the Acholi, whom he has previously, allegedly referred to as biological substances. Witness statements reveal that people were put into mass graves, covered with earth and set on fire, that villages were attacked and citizens shot at will and yet, no one said a word. There was no condemnation from the international community, not even from our closest neighbours and friends Kenya and Tanzania. The sun rose and set whilst blood of the Acholi’s run free.’

The next screening of A Brilliant Genocide will be on October 21 at the Document International Human Rights Film Festival in Glasgow, followed by an expert panel and key note address and also on October 22nd and 23rd at the 36th Cambridge International Film Festival. 

Fore more info or ticket sales please go to: www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk and www.documentfilmfestival.org

You can help. Your signature alone can make a difference.

Please sign the petition on Change.Org: www.bit.ly/STOPM7

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#ENDIMPUNITY     #ENDTHESILENCE

Take a stance against injustice and impunity by sharing this petition and helping reach the audience deserves. #JusticeNow http://bit.ly/STOPM7

Dear U.S. President,

I just saw the harrowing documentary “A Brilliant Genocide” which exposes how for three decades, successive U.S. administrations have supported the Uganda dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni with billions of dollars in financial and military assistance. Gen. Museveni has used this money to entrench his regime in power and commit crimes against the Acholi people in northern Uganda that we maintain amount to genocide and minorities outside of Uganda. Museveni has for 3 decades embarked on a campaign of terror against the Majority Acholi People and also the destabilization of countries outside of his own nation’ borders.

The whole world is familiar with the atrocities committed in northern Uganda by Joseph Kony and his notorious Lord’s Resistance Army. These include killings, rapes, mutilations and the abduction of children who were turned into sex slaves and child soldiers. “A Brilliant Genocide” exposes how Gen. Museveni diabolically exploited the LRA atrocities as cover for his own crimes against the Acholi people.

In “A Brilliant Genocide” we learn that many of the crimes committed by the Ugandan army were just as brutal as those of the LRA, if not more so. These included the rape of women and men, facial mutilations and burying people alive in large pits which were then covered with earth and grass and set on fire to roast the victims alive. In some cases, these atrocities were committed by U.S. trained officers and soldiers carrying U.S. supplied weapons. Humans Rights Groups estimate that more than a million people have perished through massacres and displacements over this period. The atrocities continue.

“A Brilliant Genocide” exposes how Gen. Museveni ordered his army to evict two million Acholis from their homes and confine them in concentration camps where women and girls were victims of sexual assault by Museveni’s soldiers and roughly 1000 people died each week, mostly from starvation and disease, according to a 2005 World Health Organization report. This went on for 20 years, during which time more than one million people may have perished. Museveni seized power in 1986, during the administration of Ronald Reagan. Since then, he has been re-elected five times in elections deemed not free or fair by both international observers and the Ugandan Supreme Court. How can the U.S. continue to aid such a criminal regime?

Dear U.S. President, I demand that:

  1. The U.S. immediately cut off arms supplies and any military and non-humanitarian support for Gen. Yoweri Museveni’s regime.
  2. That the U.S. take steps to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes committed by the Museveni regime, including Gen. Museveni himself, face justice, just as the U.S. has demanded of Joseph Kony and his associates face justice.
  3. That the U.S. use diplomatic pressure and sanctions to force the Ugandan government to compensate victims of all atrocities committed by Museveni’s regime, including the killing of relatives and loss of property such as land and livestock throughout Uganda, not just in the north.
  4. That the U.S. support the Ugandan opposition and all those fighting for justice in their demand for an independent audit of the Feb. 18, 2016 presidential election. This would be similar to the UN sponsored audit carried out after the disputed election of Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan.

Please see the film trailer for “A Brilliant Genocide” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE-a-fbv_CM

#ENDIMPUNITY     #ENDTHESILENCE

Take a stance against injustice and impunity by sharing this petition and helping reach the audience deserves. #JusticeNow http://bit.ly/STOPM7

 

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ABG POSTER 1b black LIFF2016 NEW 02 sat 11 june.jpg

We are honoured to be included in the year’s official selection at the Lighthouse International Film Festival, on Longbeach Island, New Jersey.

This will be the last screening until late August in Moscow. Don’t miss out.

We also have an expert panel joining us after the screening to answer any questions and to offer their expert views.

PANELISTS INCLUDE:

Milton Allimadi
Allimadi who is also featured in ‘A Brilliant Genocide’ is the Ugandan born editor of www.blackstarnews.com and www.burkinastyle.com and also writes a column for www.huffingtonpost.com His late father was a Ugandan politician and his family fled from Idi Amin’s and then Yoweri Museveni’s reigns of terror.

Kiwanuka Lawrence Nsereko
Nsereko is a Ugandan journalist, political activist, freedom fighter and now U.S.-based professor. He was incarcerated and tortured by the Yoweri Museveni dictatorship before escaping the country.
Helen Epstein
Epstein’s articles on human rights and public health in Uganda and other African countries have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Lancet and other publications. She is the author of The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight against AIDS in Africa (Picador 2008) and has conducted research for Human Rights Watch, UNICEF and other organizations. She teaches at Bard College in Annandale, New York.

 

Info and tickets at : http://liff.festivalgenius.com/2016/films/abrilliantgenocide0_ebonybutler_LIFF2016

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Our documentary A Brilliant Genocide  which exposes the  Museveni‬ government for atrocities in Northern Uganda is screening next week in Los Angeles.

A Brilliant Genocide was chosen with another 60 films to be included in the Official Selection for this years Cinema at the Edge Independent Film Festival.

The screening will take place on Saturday the 21st of May at 9pm, in Santa Monica’s Edgar Centre for the Arts. Change is coming to ‪#‎Uganda‬ and justice is too. Join us.

ABG POSTER 1a CATE16

The Cinema at the Edge in Santa Monica, CA is one of the “Top 10 destination film festivals in the world,” Our film festival screens over 60 films, mostly by new filmmakers and rising stars. Come and join this Los Angeles film festival.

Cinema at the Edge Film Festival (CATE) celebrates independent films of all genres that feature a distinct vision, a unique voice, or a challenge to what is expected and accepted in the medium. Submit your film and join us for great movies, panels, parties, and more!

TICKETS    Click Here  

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Presidential candidate and contested winner of the 2006 and 2016 Presidential Elections in Uganda, Dr. Kizza Besigye (Forum for Democratic Change) in the groundbreaking feature documentary, A Brilliant Genocide. 

[PREVIEW] Dr. Kizza Besigye in A Brilliant Genocide from Ebony Butler on Vimeo.

Photo of Kizza Besiege Courtesy of Echwalu Photography.

[May 8, 2016 Kampala, Uganda] THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT, Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Uganda features in the groundbreaking feature documentary “A Brilliant Genocide“. Besigye discusses Ugandan dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni’s 30 years of brutal repression with a military-style regime to entrench himself in power permanently.

Many people, including international observers, argue that Kizza Besigye was the actually winner of the controversial 2006 and 2016 elections in Uganda. Besigye is currently conducting a defiance campaign against the regime despite being under house arrest in Kampala.

Watch this space and the political climate in Uganda heats up with the people finally standing up to the regime despite the potential dangers involved.

See this clip at www.vimeo.com/atlanticstar/abgbesigye 

More pre-release clips at www.vimeo.com/channels/abgmedia

Join the conversation and share the stories on ABG on Twitter or Facebook!

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SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Cut Off U.S. Weapons To Gen Museveni Uganda’s Murderous Dictator:

Dear President Obama,

As you know on Feb. 18 Uganda held elections that were universally condemned by credible observers including by the U.S. as flawed and having not been free, fair or credible; they were also marred by violence against opposition leaders and their supporters by state security agents.

The Ugandan military has since escalated its human rights abuses by inflicting brutal repression against civilians.

The U.S., which is a major security partner of the Ugandan regime, providing arms and training for its army – in addition to $700 million in financial support — must at the very least suspend this relationship as required by the Leahy Amendment which “prohibits the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.”

With respect to the Feb. 18 vote, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the Ugandan regimes’ vote suppression in opposition strongholds; he said the delays in delivery of election material were “inexcusable.”

Yoweri_Museveni_with_Obamas_2014
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet His Excellency Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda, in the Blue Room during a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit dinner at the White House, Aug. 5, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

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[UPDATE] GREAT NEWS, WE WON BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM AT THE LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL! 

A Brilliant Genocide is screening this Sunday in L.A as a part of the LA Women’s International Film Festival! (see details below)

The next opportunity to see the film will not be until the 7th and 14th of April in Florida at the Palm Beach International Film Festival – Which the festival is promoting the film as their strongest and most powerful documentary this year!

If you care about human rights, about Uganda, Africa… about people, about truth, about justice…about humanity, and if you are in the California or Los Angeles area over Easter – then please attend the screening of A Brilliant Genocide this Sunday the 27th at 3.30pm at L.A Live Cinemas Hollywood.

Tickets $10 at http://www.lawomensfest.com or at the door at L.A Live, 9. (read about the festival below!)

#SpeakTruthToEmpower
#ABrilliantGenocide

ABG_LA_Invite_March27

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It is with pleasure and excitement that I announce the new title of our feature documentary… ‘A Brilliant Genocide‘.

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Pre-release teaser video from A Brilliant Genocide (scroll down) 

After 6 years filming, researching and editing this film, it has naturally evolved and transformed into a much different film that we set out to make in 2009 when it all began. 

We spent 3 years on the Joseph Kony / child soldier path – and the issue of children / child soldiers and other related  human rights abuses that are of much interest to us – we condemn the use of children in war, and the abuse of any child in any way, in any part of the world. 

However, the film is no longer 100% focused on the issue of children at war and Joseph Kony’s war in northern Uganda. The film remains very much connected with Kony and his use of child soldiers- but along our 6 year journey we found some completely untold ‘hidden’ stories that we felt were even more important to bring to light.

What we discovered and continue to discover, is that the world has been fooled, as I was 6 years ago, about Joseph Kony and his war in northern Uganda. There’s another side to this story that has never been told, and we have been on a journey for the past few years to find out the truth and the backstory that has received zero media attention – and even worse than that – the people responsible for these concealed human rights abuses, are those who have been supported by the west for 30 years, and who are still in office today. And the West is still today supporting the regime, while the regime continues to enjoy complete impunity for their crimes. 

We have discovered that Kony, although blamed for the war and the suffering, is just the tip of the ice-berg. We have found that Kony did have a reason, a very legitimate reason, for his rebellion, and although his acts of violence and child abductions are deplorable, and in no way justified – he has a reason for what he has done, and in his mind his actions are justified. The truth that no one who knows will admit – will bring many people – the bigger criminals and the puppeteers who have orchestrated this war and allowed it to continue – to account. The people we have spoken with call the situation in Uganda ‘a global conspiracy of silence’. And what we will be showing in our film is that indeed it has been, and sadly continues to be so today. 

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What’s the difference between the actions of a WARMONGER & WARLORD?

Take Uganda‘s President Yoweri Museveni & LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) leader Joseph Kony for example… One’s totally MAD and the other’s just plain BAD… And both are BRUTAL despots and responsible for horrific crimes against humanity. (although Museveni has full impunity whereas Kony isn’t so privileged)

People would assume that the President (also known as M7) is the lesser of the two evils, but we are not so easily convinced. What are your thoughts?

So who’s worse? It’s a classic case of Mad Vs Bad…

& Please join our exciting new Facebook Group for some really interesting & controversial postings at: Mad Vs Bad. 

You can also join the conversation on Twitter by following @madvsbad and @atlanticstar233 – PEACE OUT, EB x

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Otunnu Pins Museveni to Serious War Crimes

By Norman S. Miwambo

26th March 2012:

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Dr. Olara Otunnu in London, 2012

UPC Party President Dr. Olara Otunnu, who is on a working visit to the United Kingdom, has established a contributory link between President Yoweri Museveni’s role and the war crimes for which Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was convicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court [ICC].

In an exclusive interview with this news paper, Dr Otunnu started by welcoming the conviction of Thomas Lubanga.  “I am happy with the conviction.  Actually, it’s the first conviction of the ICC since it was established in 2002,” Dr Otunnu said in reference to the March 14 judgement.

Commenting on the specific charge of recruiting child soldiers for which Lubanga was convicted, Otunnu, a former UN Under Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict, also highlighted his role in framing the war crimes offence.

“The three charges against him were all to do with the recruitment and abuse of children,” said Otunnu, adding that:  “In fact, the particular provision in the Rome Statute under which Thomas Lubagnga was convicted is something I drafted myself.” Otunnu said.

The UPC leader also wasted no time in establishing a firm link between Lubanga’s crimes and Uganda’s role in aiding and abetting those war crimes.  “Lubanga was a relatively small player in the DR Congo.  What gave Luganga his power and sway in the Congo was actually sponsorship by Ugandan leaders,” Otunnu said.

He added:  “As you know, this is not Olara making things up.  There is a very thick Judgement that was delivered…not by the ICC…but by the International Court of Justice.  Numerous charges of crimes committed by Uganda in the Congo are in that Judgement.  Aggression, crimes of war, crimes against humanity, it is all those things.”

Dr Otunnu, a Harvard trained Lawyer, also said he believes that Ugandan leaders and commanders are legitimate suspects for prosecution under the Rome Statute. “The little fellow [Lubanga] who was manipulated from Uganda been charged, but the real fellows who were in charge of his crimes are walking scot-free.  That is what is wrong with the application of the Rome Statue.” Otunnu charged.

He said he told ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo that the ICC’s process and choice of those to be indicted has been highly politicised and highly selective.  “I still very much hope that what was done inside Uganda, on Ugandan territory and elsewhere in Congo will be punished.  I hope to see a day of reckoning when the ICC will investigate and bring them to book for what they did.” said Otunnu.

“Thomas Lubanga was not a hugely significant player in the overall scheme of things.” Otunnu maintained.  END.  Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.

http://www.ugandacorrespondent.com/articles/2012/03/otunnu-pins-museveni-to-serious-war-crimes/