New Vision (Kampala)

France Wants Death Sentence Abolished

April 18, 2002

Kikonyogo Ngatya

THE French government wants Uganda to abolish the death penalty, Jean-Bernard Thiant, the French ambassador, said on Tuesday.

He said whereas the penalty was "normal and constitutional" in Uganda, his government was encouraging all countries that still use the death penalty to stop.

 Thiant was responding to the hasty execution by firing squad of two UPDF soldiers for the murder of the Rev. Fr. Michael Otoole Declan, an Irish priest in Karamoja.

 Cpl. James Omidio and Pte. Abdalla Mohammed were convicted by a field court martial and executed last month.

 Thiant was at a cocktail party he organised in honour of delegates at the launch of the Agricultural Consultation and Sector Structuring in Uganda.

 He told The New Vision that the three-year project worth sh1.8b was meant to streamline different agricultural policies and empower farmers to increase productivity and alleviate poverty.

 "Our problem is not the killing of the soldiers. We, together with the European Union (EU) are against the death penalty as a means of punishment," Thiant said.

 "When president Yoweri Museveni invited the EU delegates to his camp in Moroto after the executions, we (France) expressed our unease over the death penalty," he added.

 However, Thiant said the decision on whether to maintain or lift the penalty rested with Ugandans. He praised the growing good relationship between Uganda and the Sudan.

 Thiant said the mending of the icy relations was "a new link" that aimed at improving the lives of the people.