A model of the Virunga Mountains, Gorillas in the Mist' nature preserve, straddling the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.The elevation data is from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which was designed to produce the first detailed near-global elevation model. The SRTM data was acquired in February 2000 during a flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.







We thought the Marathon project would be a very interesting experiment: No one knows how this Clandestine radio project might become. Recycling green technology, Kisoro anarchists came-up with this idea that new-media could be recycled into a clandestine radio stream and we could broadcast a people's radio from Muhavura(Virunga) mountains.

Project proposal: Alluta
24hr Live radio

Project Duration: 1 month

Content:Global community magazine, political sound-bites & Music

Participants: Open to all freedom fighters Mail:

Cost: energy & dedication

After Week 1
Free itunes download:
After Week 2





Week three: An experiment with a tabloid newspaper

By Cyprian Musoke
MAJOR Roland Kakooza Mutale’s Kalangala Action Plan (KAP) and other soldiers have been warned not to get involved in land evictions that have rocked Kiboga district, leaving a number of people dead.
State minister for lands Baguma Isoke said it is the duty of the Police, LCs and the district security committee to oversee eviction of any unlawful occupants.
Addressing Kiboga district leaders at the council hall over the land matters yesterday, Baguma said land disputes were a civil not a military matter.
“Kakooza Mutale comes here yet you (pointing at Police officers) are here? What is your role? Have you failed to protect the citizens and their property? This nonsense and abuse of office must stop. They (Mutale’s group) have caused disorder and breach of peace. My heart is bleeding!” said Baguma passionately.
The meeting had earlier been informed by the Kiboga district chairman, Siraje Nkugwa, that Mutale and ‘men in military uniform’ were to blame for the vicious land upheavals in the district.
“Kakooza Mutale came here, purporting to solve land disputes. Men from his office have come twice to my office, asking to intervene in land disputes and I told them to proceed only if the law covers them,” Nkugwa said.
He said he later heard that the ‘army men’ were causing havoc and that when the civil
ians realised that the Police was not protecting them, they picked their machetes (pangas) to wage war.
He said there was a group of notorious rich land dealers in Kampala who forge court orders, buy military and private security groups in town and pay area LCs to allow them evict people.
He pointed out a man only identified as Ssanyu, now in Luzira prison, who was arrested with a fake court order while enforcing an eviction.
Speaking in a mixture of Runyoro and English, a visibly vexed Baguma, who called the leaders by their first names, repeatedly banged the table to express disgust at the anarchy in his mother district.
“In Uganda, Kiboga is number one in being disorderly. You don’t know the rule of law and you don’t follow hierarchy. Nowhere in Uganda is such anarchy as is in your district, my mother district,” he said, looking at the chairman Nkugwa (right) and the RDC behind him.
He said while Kibaale district had more land cases, there was no anarchy as was the case in Kiboga.
“Your district does not have a good name in government. The President yesterday showed me files and files. When I told him that this meeting would try to solve some cases, he reluctantly said ‘may be’,” Baguma said.
He criticised the district leaders for not making the land a priority, by obtaining land titles that they could use to acquire credit to develop themselves.
He said they were sleeping on their riches while the people in western Uganda, who acquired titles to every piece of land, have left them behind.
The minister said he was shocked to learn that the district lacks a valuer, a physical planner and a land committee.
“Why are you sleeping here? I want you to become rich. Does any one of you here have a full suit?” he asked, looking around the room in which no one wore a suit or looked exquisitely dressed

Human Rights Watch

Detainees Must Not Be Held in Clandestine 'Safe Houses'

The Ugandan government must prosecute perpetrators of torture, said Human Rights Watch and the Ugandan-based Foundation for Human Rights Initiative today.

Last week during its session in Geneva, the United Nations Committee Against Torture reviewed Uganda's initial report. In its report, the Ugandan government explained measures it has taken against torture to comply with its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. On Friday this week, the U.N. committee is scheduled to publish its conclusions and recommendations to Uganda.

In a 14 dossier
submitted to the U.N. committee, Human Rights Watch and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative documented recent cases of torture by Ugandan security forces against political opponents, alleged rebels and criminal suspects.

"Torture persists in Uganda because no one is investigated or punished for it," said Livingstone Sewanyana, director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, based in the capital Kampala. "If the government were serious about stopping torture, it would end this state of impunity."

The briefing paper shows that torture frequently occurs when suspects are held by agencies other than the regular police. These bodies notably include the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JAT), the army, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU).

"Suspects are sometimes held in 'safe houses' by military and intelligence agents," said Juliane Kippenberg, researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The use of such shadowy, unofficial places of detention makes torture much more likely."

Human Rights Watch said that the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force uses a large house in Kampala's upscale Kololo neighborhood for interrogating and torturing detainees. This clandestine "safe house" is located next to an ambassador's residence.

Last week, in the presentation of its report to the Committee Against Torture, the Ugandan government described current legislation and administrative measures on arrest and detention. However, the report made little reference to how Ugandan security forces apply these laws in practice.

"Practices of torture erode government credibility, traumatize society and cause fear," said Sewanyana. "The United Nations should urge the Ugandan government to tackle the roots of torture head-on."

In a written response to Human Rights Watch and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, the Ugandan government denied allegations that its security agents practice torture and stated:

"Allegations concerning mistreatment of opposition politicians, e.g. FDC and Reform Agenda are unfounded."

"The alleged JAT detention centre in Kololo is actually an office block used by the JAT and is neither used for torture nor detention of suspects."

"Access to prison and military facilities has often been granted to the Uganda Human Rights Commission, the ICRC and Parliamentary Committees whenever they have expressed interest in visiting. However, there are regulations world-wide on visits to security installations due to the nature of activities in such places."

"There is no confusing array of security organs in Uganda as alleged by the report. Different security organs have different roles and responsibilities as defined under their statutes Under Ugandan laws it is not only the police that have powers to arrest and even private citizens may arrest and hand over culprits to the police."

"We believe that dialogue with the Ugandan government about torture is critical to ending it," said Juliane Kippenberg. "However, we take issue with the government's denial of the fact that torture is widely practiced by Ugandan security forces."

Human Rights Watch and the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative called on the Ugandan government to enact legislation to punish perpetrators of torture and those who maintain and use "safe houses" and to change legal provisions that mandate detention of treason and terrorism suspects for 360 days after preliminary charges are filed, without bail.

"The Ugandan authorities need to close down unofficial places of detention and make criminal prosecution of torture a priority," Kippenberg said.

Uganda should also ratify the U.N. Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which allows national and international monitors to conduct regular visits to all places of detention.

By Nick Grace

Radio Tajdeed, a satellite program targeting Saudi Arabia and run by a man with extensive al Qaeda ties, is claiming that British authorities have raided its studios. In an exclusive report for Global Crisis Watch (GCW), Egyptian signals monitor Marwan Soliman said on Sunday that the station disappeared from the airwaves on May 6 but returned on May 11 with a repeated announcement of the raid. He also reported hearing audio of the raid broadcast repeatedly on the station.

"The transmission... was offline for almost a couple of days. But suddenly they are back with a station announcement saying that the British police and the MI6 (British intelligence) dashed into their studio while they were having a live program interviewing Dr Mohammad al-Massari, who is the man behind the station. As a matter of fact, you can hear the British police go into the studio, talking in English, and they were trying to tell them 'We are live on the air so can you talk about that later' and stuff like that. Then they say the British police took all the PCs and asked them to stop transmitting so they can get a copy of each and every thing (that was broadcast). That's why they were offline for a couple of days."

Radio Tajdeed, he said, also announced that it would return to its normal broadcast schedule on Sunday at 9 pm Mecca time. According to Soliman, the station did return to the air as promised and broadcast a program called "Tajdeed Forum." Al-Massari said during the program that they would no longer discuss the raid but that British police suspect his group's involvement with the kidnapping of Douglas Wood, an Australian enigneer who was taken hostage in Iraq in late April. A video of Wood, clearly beaten and bruised, was exclusively posted on the Tajdeed Web site message board on May 1. Al-Massari denied involvement with the kidnapping during Tajdeed Forum and instead said that it was a "joke" being pushed by the Saudi government to get the U.K. to silence his voice.

The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that al-Massari's home and office had been raided by police. The report incorrectly stated that Radio Tajdeed had been closed. It had, in fact, been broadcasting a 10-to-15 minute loop recording that aired audio of the raid and extremist Islamist music.

When asked by GCW about the nature of Radio Tajdeed's programming, Soliman said that the content is militant, sympathetic with al Qaeda and "Sheik" Usama bin Laden and that its music clearly promotes violence against kaffir (non-Muslims) and is clearly hate speech.

Freelance Jordanian journalist Tamara Aqrabawe, who also listened to the broadcast, told Clandestine Radio Watch that one song in particular calls for a global Jihad against the West and kaffir (non-Muslims). She said that its lyrics call on Muslim youth to raise weapons and the Koran in this violent struggle.

Radio Tajdeed broadcasts on Eutelsat's Hotbird satellite. Eutelsat, a French company, also broadcast Radio Islah, whose sponsor, Saad al-Faqih was designated by the U.S. and E.U. as a sponsor of terrorism last year, and al-Manar TV, the Hezbollah mouthpiece that was pulled off the air after global condemnation of its hate speech against Jews.

People's Media:

Over 3000 people in Durban (SA) marched on their councillor, Yacoob Baig, demanding his resignation


People's demands
1.For too long have our communities survived in substandard and informal housing, and for too long have we been promised land, only to be betrayed. Therefore, we demand adequate land and housing to live in dignity.
2.Our communities are ravaged by poverty, and we demand that the government create the jobs that we so desperately need. Therefore, we demand the creation of well-paying and dignified jobs.
3. In addition to providing substandard housing, the council charges rents way in excess of our communities' ability to pay. Therefore, we demand the writing-off of all rental arrears.
4.The government treats us with contempt, believing that because we are not rich, we have not earned their respect. Therefore, we demand participation in genuinely democratic processes of consultation and citizenship.
Our communities are affected by crime, police racism and environmental hazards. Therefore, we demand safe and secure environments in which we can work, play and live without intimidation from the authorities.
5.Many in our communities suffer from illness, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS affects us all. Therefore, we demand well-resourced and staffed health facilities.
6.Our young people are the future of our community, yet they have very few choices. Therefore, we demand attention to the needs of our communities' youth.
7.The council charges unaffordable rates in our flats. Therefore, we demand lower rates in flat buildings.
We are entitled to decent social services in our communities. Therefore we demand these services, including proper sanitation, a community garden for our poor, and free education to our communities' orphans.

Finally, for his failure to deliver these needs to his constituents, and for putting local business interests ahead of those of the poor, we therefore demand that Councillor Yacoob Baig, a career-politician since apartheid, submit his resignation.

The Long March

Baig Must Go

Joram Jojo:

This radio Program was produced last year in UK on radio Resonance

Displaced People