Broadcasters under their umbrella association of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have tasked security forces to charge all officers that were involved in beating journalists at the UN Human Rights office in Kololo, Wednesday afternoon.
At least 8 journalists are still nursing wounds after being beaten yesterday by military officers while covering the delivery of National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine’s petition to the UN offices.
On Thursday, CDF of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Gen. David Muhoozi apologized for the incident and said that going forward, the military will be trained on how to handle journalists.
In a statement issued by NAB chairman Kin Kariisa however, broadcasters, although they acknowledged the CDF’s apology, want the forces to not only apologize but take action on proprietors of violence.
“We demand that the engagement shall warrant; investigation into the matter and have all the errant officers involved to be brought to book. We have been promised several times that the responsible officers shall be held accountable but the investigations have never yielded results,” Kariisa said in a statement.
NAB also demanded that the security forces take on the compensation and treatment of the victims and all journalists be protected while on duty.
NAB condemned the continuous assault of journalists while on duty and said that they stand in solidarity with their journalists and all media practitioners in the country.
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