American held on 'trumped-up' charges

Family and friends of an American businessman say he has been arrested in Uganda on trumped-up charges in retaliation for his reporting on riots in the African nation.

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Peter Waldron was arrested Feb. 21 after police searched the home he rented in Kampala. Police found nothing after the initial search, Waldron said, then returned and claimed to have found illegal weapons and ammunition in his garage.

Waldron insists he did not own or store guns of any kinds.

A police spokesman later alleged Waldron is a terrorist who conspired to create a Christian political party in Uganda.

The charges stem from the publication last year of Waldron's newsletter, The African Digest, which can be viewed here.

In the digest, Waldron gives his view of riots that occurred in Kampala in late 2005.

Dave Racer, who issued a press release on the arrest, says he encouraged Waldron to write the digest and edited it for him.

Racer said he has known Waldron for 20 years and began working with him during the last six months of 2005. Never in their conversations, he maintained, was there any talk of political plans for Uganda, beyond rewriting Waldron's book, "Rebuilding the Walls," to apply to Ugandan life.

"Peter Waldron has been arrested under false pretenses and charged with serious crimes because he exercised the rights of a journalist, to freely and factually describe the Kampala riots," Racer said. "No journalist anywhere in any country that purports to advocate constitutional, democratic government should have to be so treated."

Racer said it's essential that American media become engaged in this story and "that our diplomatic corps immediately bring Peter Waldron safely back home."

Waldron, 59, first went to Africa in 1969 as a consultant to the East African Development Bank and served as a liaison between the newly independent governments of sub-Saharan Africa and multi-national corporations in Europe, North America and Asia.

Since 2002, Waldron has worked fulltime in Uganda in an effort to facilitate the delivery of anti-retroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS infected patients.

He currently supervises a pilot study at three Kampala hospitals representing a software application that developers believe will become the premier patient and pharmaceutical information management system of its kind.

Racer said Waldron has worked closely with the office of President Yoweri Museveni on HIV/AIDS issues and in discussions about the country's political infrastructure.

Waldron conducts his work through a company called Contact America Group, Inc. He has journalism experience, including in-depth research on a variety of issues developed into special reports for the Washington Times. In the 1980s, Waldron hosted a national talk radio show heard in 300 cities and eight foreign countries. His national media appearances include "Nightline," "Charlie Rose," "Crossfire," "Maury Povich," and "Sally Jesse Raphael."

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