{UAH} A detailed account of the 1979 massacre of Muslims in western Uganda
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June 1979
The month of June marked the climax of the atrocities committed against the Muslims of the area. By this time Lule's government had been in power for two months. Nothing had been done to the offenders, so the same crime could be committed again with impunity.
The bloodbath was fuelled by people like Edward Rurangaranga who addressed meetings in the area, in which he would make it clear that the people he was addressing were in two categories: Amin's men and rest. The old Sheikh Abdulmanaf quotes Rurangaranga as saying to the non-Muslim members at the gathering thus, "We have finished the stem (Amin); the branches (Muslims) are yours."
The Protestants got more hostile and started harassing Muslims verbally. They told them they would get them, sooner or later. A plan was hatched and all the non-Muslims were alerted. Some of them were not in favor of the proposed action, so they leaked the information to their Muslim friends. But most non-Muslims agreed to the plan, and they waited for an opportunity to implement it.
The spark came on 25, June 1979. Fenekansi Kamisha, a Christian, was murdered in his house by assailants that have not been identified up to now. The Christians accused the Muslims of the murder, and proceeded to execute "justice". Kamisha was one of the people that had led teams of Christians to harass Muslims and collect ransom from them.
On the morning of 26, June 1979, a mob of Christians armed with spears, knives and ropes, rounded up Muslims and tied their hands behind their backs. They said that they were doing it on the orders of Yoweri Museveni, the then minister of defense. They were led by Bankutaha, and included Machote, Buchuku, Yoram, Kamugish, Rweizire, Rwanuma, Kategaya, Nyamugurusi, Eridadi and others.
They gathered the Muslims in the home of Abdallah Segululigmba from where they marched them to River Rwizi for execution one after the other. At the river Muslims were butchered in the most horrifying manner. There was one whose head was cut into three pieces before being finally thrown into the river. Other cases included those whose hands or legs were cut off, then thrown into the river to drown.
The imam Abdallah Segululigamba was mercilessly hacked in the middle with a panga and thrown into the river. The most memorable of these cases of cruelty is the 27-year-old Madiya Natende who was seven months pregnant. Her stomach was ripped open with a machete and the fetus crudely torn out. Needlessly to add that she died soon after. Madiya's mother watched all this, and she would retell it to the end of her earthly days. She herself survived as if by a miracle – she jumped into the water before being cut.
We shall never learn the full story of the manner of the death and the nature of the suffering that the dead people went through because it could only be told by them. The following were the people who were killed at River Rwizi in June 1979.
Adult males
1. Abdallah Segluligamba
2. Abubaker Katongole
3. Abdu Ishangabashaija
4. Nashir Semwogerere
5. Ismail Sempa
6. Bruhane Sentende
7. Idris Serujunge
8. Umar Nsamba
9. Hussein Serunjogi
Adult females
1. Hayrat Namakula
2. Hadija Namayanja
3. Aisha Kasule
4. Hadija Mukibi
5. Sania Nalubega
6. HaliimaNabatanzi
7. Hadija Nanteza
8. Zuhra Namakula
9. Naira Nabunya
10. Mariam Tibanagwa
11. Bint Juma Nakayenga
12. Mastula Nakato
13. Layusa Bakazibaguma
14. Nafsi Nabatanzi
15. Nuliat Mbabazi
16. Aisha Nalongo
17. Zaituna Namakula
18. Zaina Namakula
19. Aidat Kenyana
20. Amana Nantande
21. Nuliat Kaweesa
22. Hadija Kayinda
Children
1. Nuliat Namakula
2. Abdu Katende
3. Madina Nabukalu
4. Luuba Namakula
5. Zainab Nakayinda
6. Aisha Nantende
7. Madia Namakula
8. Taha Habyalimana
9. Mariam Nabukalu
10. Madina Nakawesa
11. Hamida Nansamba
12. Naziru Nsamba
13. Muzida Nsamba
14. Ibrahim Kabuye
15. Zinab Nabunya
16. Rehema Nakachwa
17. Luub Magala
18. Muzaphar Kabuye
19. Ismail Kato
20. Khamiyat Nabukalu
21. Hadija Nassaka
22. Haliima Nbatanzi
23. Bitijuma Nakayanja
It cannot be proclaimed that these atrocities in anyway took a form of political struggle. It was pure murder because some of the people killed were very old men and women and others were children and babies. Abubaker Katongole was 80 years, Segululigamba was 75, Haliima Nbatanzi was 80, Aisha Katende was 85, Nuliat Namakula was 2, Hamida Nansamba was 18 months. Most of the children were below 5 years.
It should also be noted that the list here includes only those people from one county, and not all of them were recorded. The names of the rest of the people who died throughout Ankole District are not available to us. In addition, it was not even possible to recover all the bodies of the people known to have died.
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