I fled Uganda in 2014 Because I am bisexual. This, like homosexuality, is forbidden in Uganda. The Ugandan parliament adopted anti-gay legislation in 2013. An openly gay or bisexual person now risks a life sentence in prison. Simply talking about homosexuality is punishable. I lived in fear every day, faced a lot of danger. I […]

I fled Somalia in 1991 Because of the Somali civil war. It was a dirty war between clans. I had never really paid attention to that – who belonged to which clan. We’re all Somali, and that’s it. I left when there was yet nothing to worry about. I was 19 years old and a […]

I fled Rwanda in 1994 Because mass murders started taking place in Rwanda in 1994. About 800 thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered in just hundred days. My son Remy was 2 at the time, my daughter Eliza was 6. My wife, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, happened to be visiting a Rwandan friend in The […]

I fled Eritrea in 2007 Because I no longer wanted to serve in the army. Military service is mandatory in Eritrea. I was picked up from home and taken to the army. You don’t have a choice. You’re told you don’t need to serve for more than ten years, but that’s not true. Once you’re […]

I fled Iran in 2010 Because problems arose when my mother converted from Islam to Christianity. For a while, my father also felt like he did not belong in Islam anymore. But he did not dare say that out loud, until my mother did. It turned out they felt the same way. My mother’s name […]