Two charged with attempted assassination of Ugandan minister

Two suspects involved in the attempted assassination of Uganda’s Minister of Works and Transport appeared before the chief magistrate’s court on Monday.

CAPE TOWN, June 29 (ANA) – Two suspects involved in the attempted assassination of Uganda’s Minister of Works and Transport appeared before the chief magistrate’s court on Monday.

The Uganda Police Force (UPF) revealed on social media that Ssembuba Husein Ismail and Nyanzi Yusufu Siraji have been charged with two separate counts of murder in addition to two accounts of attempted murder.

The two suspects have been imprisoned at Kitalya Prison until Tuesday, August 3.

Kitalya Prison is roughly 50km north-west of the capital Kampala.

On June 1 in Kampala the retired high-ranking general of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and Minister of Works and Transport General Edward Katumba Wamala’s life was threatened by four assailants driving two motorcycles, according to Daily Monitor.

The assailants opened fire on Katumba’s vehicle, killing his 26-year-old daughter Brenda Nantongo and his driver Haruna Kayondo, according to the UPF’s statement at the time.

Katumba and his bodyguard Sergeant Khalid Koboyoit survived the shooting.

On the night of the attack, the UPF released CCTV footage of the alleged assailants.

Brenda was laid to rest on June 2, according to NTV Uganda.

On June 4, during Uganda’s State of the Nation address, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni stated that the authorities involved in the investigation of the shooting had “some good leads”, according to Parliament of Uganda.

Katumba was reappointed as the Minister of Works and Transport on June 16.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher