Witnesses tell of murder

Press, 18 April 1979, Page 8

Witnesses tell of murder

NZPA-Reuter Stockholm Libyan troops and Ugandan police executed four European journalists as they presented identification papers after crossing into Uganda to cover the battle of Kampala, Swedish press reports have said. The reports, published tn the Stockholm evening newspapers “Expressen” and “Aftonbladet,” said hopes of finding the two Swedes and two West Germans alive had been virtually abandoned after eye-witness reports of the men's execution on April 6, by a patrol of Ugandan and Libyan troops and police. According to eye-witness reports, the four, who took a fisherman’s boat across Lake Victoria and landed near Katosi, some 48 km east of Kampala, were asked for their documents by a security patrol which arrived on the spot an hour or two after they came ashore.

As these were being inspected by two Ugandan soldiers, a voice from inside a Land Rover shouted: “shoot them,” and the troops immediately opened fire with pistols. Two fell immediately. a third who tried to run away was shot in the back, and a fourth who raised his hands was also shot. The execution took place near the shore of Lake Victoria. Swedish diplomats had continued to hope the four were still alive long after first reports surfaced 10 days ago of four whites being shot near Lake Victoria.