ugnet_: Europe Calls for Action On Kony Rebels
Europe Calls for Action On Kony Rebels The Monitor (Kampala) July 9, 2003 Posted to the web July 9, 2003 Richard M. Kavuma Kampala The European Parliament has added its voice to calls for international action on the war in northern Uganda. In a resolution passed on July 3, the EU legislators urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene to protect civilians. The parliamentarians challenged the council to authorise deployment of a UN force in the north under Chapter VII of the UN Charter "whenever a request to this effect is submitted by its Secretary-General, Kofi Annan". The 17-year-long war between government and the Joseph Kony-led Lord's Resistance Army has condemned a million people to camp life, with some 10,000 abducted children still in rebel captivity. The conflict, originally confined to the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, has now spread further southwards to the districts of Lira, Apac, Kaberamaido and Katakwi. Religious leaders in northern Uganda last month slept on the streets of Gulu for four nights to attract international attention to the plight of children affected by the insurgency. The parliamentarians also urged the European Union Council to consider ways in which the EU could intervene to guarantee the security of populations eligible for the humanitarian aid. Also being considered is the appointment of a special representative to support the peace initiatives presently being made, such as the one by the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative. The EU Parliament also urged the Uganda government to introduce good governance and political pluralism in order to remove all reasons for resorting to armed combat. While "condemning serious human rights violations by all parties to the conflict", the parliament instructed its president to forward the resolution to the secretaries-general of the United Nations and the African Union, the Government of Uganda and the Government of Sudan, among others.
ugnet_: EU Official Urges International Support for Reconciliation in North
EU Official Urges International Support for Reconciliation in North UN Integrated Regional Information Networks July 9, 2003 Posted to the web July 9, 2003 Nairobi The head of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), Constanza Adinolfi, has stressed the need for "honesty and attention" from all parties involved in the northern Uganda conflict and called for wider international support for the reconciliation process. Adinolfi, who recently visited northern Uganda, said the abduction of thousands of children by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was one of the most serious basic human rights violations that called for the strongest national and international condemnation. She said the abductions had forced more than 15,000 children and their mothers to commute every night to nearby urban centres like Gulu and Kitgum to escape possible LRA attacks. "These children are forced to spend the night in the open in the compounds of hospitals, bus stations, or wherever they find free space. Nowhere else in the world would this be acceptable," she said. She urged the parties to seek a political solution to the crisis and called for greater "awareness" of the complex cross border nature of the conflict. "The reality of the situation on the ground is that the attempts for a military solution have not been successful, therefore it is a continuous obligation to seek innovative ways to strive for peace," Adinolfi said. Adinolfi's visit to northern Uganda was aimed at focusing international attention on the plight of children in the conflict, an ECHO statement said. It came against the backdrop of a resolution passed on 3 July by the EU parliament strongly condemning the human rights violations against civilians and urging the parties to engage constructively in the current peace initiatives. The resolution also called on the African Union to examine "all possible ways" of contributing to the protection of civilians, including taking measures against African states which supply the LRA with weapons. The EU, through ECHO, had increased its budget for Uganda this year to US $6.7 million to improve humanitarian services for an estimated 800,000 displaced people, in addition to US $4.5 million for the provision of food aid, ECHO said. The agency said it was also funding projects aimed at rehabilitating ex-child soldiers who had managed to escape from the LRA, and reintegrating them into their communities. To view the EU resolution, click on the following: http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+TW-20030630-S+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N#SECTION21.
ugnet_: Bangladeshi Replace French Force
Bangladeshi Replace French Force The Monitor (Kampala) July 9, 2003 Posted to the web July 9, 2003 Frank Nyakairu Kampala About 3,800 Bangladeshi troops will replace the French force in Bunia. The French force pulls out on September 1. The United Nations wants a two-week hand over period from the French-led EU force to the Bangladeshi forces beginning on August 15, the AFP reported yesterday. "All efforts are being made to ensure that the second task force will be deployed by August 15," said Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations. Guehenno told the UN Security Council that "the deployment of a strong multinational force in Bunia has begun to change the balance between the warring parties and legitimate political actors in that area. The mandate of the current UN force (Monuc) runs out at the end of July and the Security Council is debating whether to extend the powers of the force and increase its numbers. The French Army Chief of General Staff, Gen. Henri Bentegeat, said last week that there would be no extension of Operation Artemis. Meanwhile, a contingent of 50 Brazilian troops is also expected at the Entebbe Airbase as part of Operation Artemis. The spokesman of the forces based at Entebbe, Capt. Frederic Solano, yesterday said that the Brazilian troops would arrive in a few days.
ugnet_: Congress set to slash Africa aid
Congress set to slash Africa aid By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online, Washington AS US President George W Bush proclaims his commitment to Africa during this week's five-day trip, his Republicans in Congress are planning on cutting back the money allocated to his much-vaunted plans to tackle HIV/Aids and encourage development. The White House says Bush is underlining his commitment to Africa At the heart of the president's new focus on Africa are two initiatives for which the administration has promised a significant increase in funding. Mr Bush has pledged $15bn to fight HIV/Aids, primarily in Africa, over the next five years, and an additional $10bn in additional foreign aid over the next three years in a new Millennium Challenge Account. But the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee - which determines how much money will actually be spent in next year's budget - looks set to cut back that request when it meets on Thursday. Representative Jim Kolbe, chairman of the subcommittee on foreign operations, said that in his view Congress would be unlikely to allocate the full amount because neither initiative will be fully operational by the time the fiscal year begins. The amounts "assume you have full-blown programmes up and running on October 1, and that's not the case," he said. Mr Bush has just recently appointed his Global Aids administrator, a former pharmaceutical executive, Randall Tobias. In all the Bush administration has requested $18.9bn in foreign aid for the next fiscal year, but the House appropriations committee has said it plans to allocate only $17.lbn - a reduction of $1.8bn. Aid agencies worried Jamie Drummond, executive director of Data, a pressure group set up to campaign for debt relief and African aid, said that the two new programmes together could represent a massive change in America's commitment to Africa, increasing US aid spending to that region from $1bn now to $5bn in 2006. But he warned that the trip "was set up in quite a dramatic way to see if the president will see through on his promises". Mr Drummond said it would be ironic that, while Mr Bush was in Africa, "the House foreign operations subcommittee was actually deciding to slash those promises, to break them if you like". And he warned that there should be no cutbacks in other programmes to fund these new initiatives, nor restrictions on contributions from other nations. Aid experts say that it may be difficult for many African countries to meet the strict conditions that the US has set for receiving funds from the new Millennium Challenge Account, which requires nations to adhere to strict standards of openness and democracy. It may be that as few as four or five African nations would qualify for the first wave of assistance under this programme. There are also significant problems of health care delivery in relation to HIV/Aids, with many African nations lacking the basic public health infrastructure to deliver improved care. Trade talks Meanwhile, experts are concerned about the lack of progress in negotiations over trade in agricultural products, which could offer more real benefits to African economies than any aid programme. Robert Shapiro of the Brookings Institution points out that while many African countries have a per capita income of $1 per day, in Europe the agricultural subsidy per cow is $2 per day. Overall, subsidies by rich countries for agricultural amount to $300bn, compared to $50bn in foreign aid. Mr Shapiro said that African income from exports of agricultural products could triple from $10bn to $30bn if subsidies were reduced. But with trade talks between the US and the EU over agriculture deadlocked in the run-up to the crucial Cancun summit in September, there is little hope that Africa can develop its natural advantage in the near future.
ugnet_: Rebels Continue Attacks On Bujumbura
Rebels Continue Attacks On Bujumbura UN Integrated Regional Information Networks July 9, 2003 Posted to the web July 9, 2003 Bujumbura Rebel attacks on the southern suburbs of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, entered a third day on Wednesday, with the rebels shelling the city from neighbouring hills. Government sources told IRIN that two rebel groups, Agathon Rwasa's faction of the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) and the larger faction of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) led by Pierre Nkurunziza, had formed an alliance in their attacks on the city. The army said on Tuesday that it had killed 15 rebels since the fighting began. It was also reported that up to 20 civilians had died in the violence. Meanwhile, UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs in the country have swung into action to help at least 2,500 people who have been displaced by the fighting, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday. However, in a displacement update, OCHA reported that Kanyosha, Musaga and Kinido areas to the south of the city remained inaccessible to humanitarian actors. "In Kanyosha, as many as 3,000 people are believed to have sought refuge in local religious structures," OCHA said. A meeting of the UN agencies and international NGOs is due to take place late Wednesday in Bujumbura to assess the situation. OCHA reported that internally displaced people were temporarily located in the Burundi Life Museum grounds, and that government officials and representatives of OCHA, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the International Federation of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and other NGOs were at the grounds helping with the various aspects of coordination and relief. OCHA furhter reported that MSF had made available a vehicle to collect the injured, and that 28 people with minor injuries arrived on Tuesday at the Kamenge health centre run by MSF in northern Bujumbura. "Since Monday another 60 people have been admitted to local hospitals," OCHA said. It said that MSF had carried out a needs assessment and was considering installing a health post at the Burundi Life Museum grounds. Among the needs identified as urgent to help the displaced were the construction of shelter, provision of sheeting, poles, soap, water and the protection of injured people. OCHA also reported that work hours for all UN staff had been temporarily revised to cope with the situation; they will now report to work at 08:00 to 12:30 and at 02:00 until 05:00.
ugnet_: Museveni Making Country Terrorist Target
Museveni Making Country Terrorist Target The Monitor (Kampala) July 9, 2003 Posted to the web July 9, 2003 Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda Kampala The American President George W. Bush begun his five-nation tour of Africa on July 7. Originally he was destined for only South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Botswana but a President Yoweri Museveni June visit to the US, earned Uganda a four-hour stop-over at Entebbe. America's military prowess and economic might makes it the most strategic ally every country would want on its side and Uganda is no exception. But Bush's visit coincides with the cries of hundreds of suffering mothers and children in Iraq and Afghanistan where American forces are operating. It is, therefore, not surprising that former South African President Nelson Mandela is shunning the visit and will be out of his country when Bush is visiting. Bush's aggressive foreign policy has Iran and North Korea, the other two countries that he lumped in " the axis of evil", in panic. And who knows what would befall the millions of people there in the next couple of months. North Korea has reportedly adopted civil defence and morale mobilisation measures parallel to the American war on Iraq and the joint military maneuvers by the United States and South Korea. Despite the massive American deployment in the Korean peninsula and unlike Iraq, North Korea is a power to reckon with. It does not cover up its possession of nuclear weapons, and has talked of the possibility of using them. What makes the Korea crisis even more worrying is the fact that its neighbour, China is her traditional ally, which will be the last to betray it. President Vladimir Putin of Russia has also expressed concern on the Korean crisis. Aren't there signs of an entire world being plunged into another useless catastrophic war? The wind behind this war-mongering is the one we are looking to host and our children would be lined up to entertain. Bush of course has a lot of explanations for his adventurism, but the world is waiting impatiently for the day he would display the weapons of mass destruction that made him invade Iraq. The invasion resulted into massive looting of the remains of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria and The Umayyad Caliphate. The death of innocent people and the destruction of infrastructure is no longer news. By entertaining Bush, Museveni is increasing Uganda's vulnerability to international terrorism. For the past so many years, Uganda has been uncomfortable with the Islamic Republic of Sudan, now because of our blind support for the US, we are lengthening the list of our enemies to include Iraq, North Korea and Iran. At one time, Museveni seemed to have some knowledge of the causes of terrorism. You remember his address to the business community at Kampala City Square now Constitutional Square in 1986, when he attributed terrorism to the Palestine question. This was after ex-US President Ronald Reagan had attacked the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi targeting Museveni's friend Col. Muammar elGadhafibut missed him and instead killed his adopted daughter. Reagan's reason for attacking Libya was that the latter was sponsoring terrorist activities. But Libya's defence was that it was sponsoring liberation groups like Palestinian Liberation Organization, Africa National Congress of South Africa that the Zionist Israel and apartheid South Africa, respectively, had outlawed. Uganda's Foreign Minister then, Ibrahim Mukiibi, issued a statement condemning the attack. The president gave a parable of a weak man who is beaten up by a strong man in a bar. He said that the weak man had no alternative except to resort to witchcraft. "The root cause of the problem is the Palestine question which should be solved," the president said then. Now the good Museveni has forgotten the revolutionary statements he made and is pretending to be supporting every action of US, from the bombing of a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, invasion of Afghanistan to the destruction of Iraq. At this rate Museveni might one-day support the US invasion of his own country. It is okay to forge a strong relationship with the US, but let us be cautious like our colleagues in the region. Unlike other African countries, which publicly supported The second Gulf War, notably Rwanda, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Kenya and Tanzania did not. In Tanzania, President Benjamin Mkapa was officially and publicly opposed to war. He even vowed that even if it meant reducing foreign aid, Tanzania was prepared for anything. The Parliament of Uganda passed a resolution opposing the war if the Security Council of the United Nations did not sanction it. Museveni leaned on his cabinet and they declared their support of the war accusing Iraq of harbouring Al Qaeda. The civil society including religious leaders opposed the war. With the exception of the US-sponsored Pentecostal Churches, the Christian clergy and laity opposed the
RE: ugnet_: Binaisa's 3-point solution to Kony war
Is this a joke or what? I did not see the third point. Anyway it does not matter. But was this a joke? Bwambuga. "Mitayo Potosi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Binaisa's 3-point solution to Kony war > > By GODFREY LUKONGWA BINAISA > July 7, 2003 > > The time to act is now and not to continue apportioning >blame, but to save our > country form disintegration. Unless we swim together now, >we shall sink separately. > > > Unless our government comes up with a solution now, the >war in the north may > become an African version of the 30 years war that ravaged >Europe from 1618 to > 1648 when it was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia. The >nations that were involved > ran out funds, there was a terrible loss of life and >destruction of property. This is > what is happening now in the north. > > The time to act is now and not to continue apportioning >blame, but to save our > country form disintegration. Unless we swim together now, >we shall sink separately. > A three point programme is suggested: > > The president should send a high powered delegation to >Britain, to plead with the > British government and convince that government, that for >its role in Uganda before > independence when it practised the old Roman adage of >divide et impera a-k-a divide > and rule and filled its Uganda army, the King's African >Riffles, with soldiers from the > north, who Britain claimed were great warriors. > > The first British appointed Ugandans were ignored, >officers such as Capt. Ashe > Mukanga, a Muganda who served in World War 1, Capt. Daudi >Chwa II, the Kabaka of > Buganda, Lt. Prince Yusuf Suna, Lt. Prince George William >Mawanda both from > Buganda, Lt. George Rukidi, the Omukama of Toro were all >left in limbo. At that time > the northerners who were preferred were given one roomed >grass huts, three > blankets for a mattress, and the third with which to cover >their bodies, they were > made to sign on for nine years, at the end of which they >received neither gratuity or > pension, but were only exempted from paying a head tax of >Shs 15 per year. The > northerners who did not join the army, joined the police >and prison services. The rest > worked in the sugar estates of Lugazi and Kakira. > > After independence, their firm grip on the security forces >was used by them to stage > two coups in 1971 and 1985. President Yoweri Museveni >ended their grip on the army > in 1986. Leadership of the army reverted to the >southerners. > > It is this loss of leadership of the armed forces, which >had hitherto been used by the > northerners to grab political power and unleash reigns of >terror, that is responsible > for the war. This loss of the big jobs made the likes of >LRA leader Joseph Kony to > resort to war. Unless Ugandans clearly understand the >reason Kony is fighting, they > will not be able to win the war soon. The northerners want >their jobs as leaders of > the armed forces back right now before they can be >persuaded to stop the carnage. I > believe that the leadership of the armed forces shall >continue to be based on merit > only. > > Secondly, the British government should be requested to >pay for what I call a mini > Marshal plan similar to the American plan after World War >II for western Europe. It > could be called the Tony Blair Plan, if you prefer. > > The reason for such a plan is firstly that Uganda stands >on high moral ground in > making the request. It is a well known maxim of equity >that equity imputes an intent > to fulfil an obligation. The purpose of this request would >be to compensate Uganda > for the wrong the British government committed more than >40 years ago when they > left their weapons of mass destruction in the hands of >people who had no experience > to handle such weapons, besides wantonly using them to >gain power and riches. > > Uganda does not have the money in its budget to pay for >what it will cost to > rehabilitate more than 60 years of misrule and >mismanagement of the British army in > Uganda before independence. It is further suggested that >Uganda government may >
Re: ugnet_: Where is everybody!!!
Netters, Matovu can dare tell us that he is busy organizing since the "dawn of multiparty" is here. We know he is indeed busy preparing for the another bush. I pity you Matovu. Bwambuga. "Lisa Toro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Matovu, > >Busy preparing for another bush! to bring Chaos!!! eh eh? Good luck > >Toro > >- Original Message - >From: Lutimba Matovu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:13 PM >Subject: Re: ugnet_: Where is everybody!!! > > >> Mulindwa, >> >> Who do you refer to as having turned to sing Mengo and >> Buganda song? I have been busy in Uganda getting >> involved in the new political transformation. >> >> We are getting stronger and we will be a force to >> reckon with as we have always been. >> >> Am wondering why you and all the political exiles are >> not rushing back to organise politically? >> >> Bwambuga, >> >> We are busy mobilising. The dawn of political >> pluralism has come. Those who miss this opportunity >> should not complain. Bwambuga you'll hear more from us >> in the coming months. >> >> LM >> >> --- Mulindwa Edward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > Bwambuga >> > >> > I will try to help you in finding your answers. >> > >> > Many of them are actually very around, but they have >> > changed from singing >> > the Movement song to now singing the Mengo and >> > Buganda song, many are >> > actually singing the federalist song under fake >> > names. And those very same >> > were singing the UPC song early 80's. So do not >> > think they went away, >> > actually some are singing Kiiza Besigye's song >> > publicly as we speek. (You do >> > not know the man might be a president one day.) >> > >> > Well come to Uganda Politics in these very strange >> > days we were forced to be >> > born in. >> > >> > Em >> > >> > The Mulindwas Communication Group >> > "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" >> > Groupe de communication Mulindwas >> > "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans >> > l'anarchie" >> > - Original Message - >> > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 11:54 PM >> > Subject: ugnet_: Where is everybody!!! >> > >> > >> > > Netters, >> > > Not too long ago we had a gazillion movementists >> > here on this net. >> > Wherever they have all gone!! Anybody know what I am >> > saying?? >> > > >> > > -- >> > > He it is Who created for you all that is on >> > earth...He is the All-knower >> > of everything. >> > > Swaddaq Allahu Al-Adhim. >> > > >> > > Michael Bwambuga. >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >> __ >> > > McAfee VirusScan Online from the Netscape Network. >> > > Comprehensive protection for your entire computer. >> > Get your free trial >> > today! >> > > >> > >> http://channels.netscape.com/ns/computing/mcafee/index.jsp?promo=393397 >> > > >> > > Get AOL Instant Messenger 5.1 free of charge. >> > Download Now! >> > > >> > >> http://aim.aol.com/aimnew/Aim/register.adp?promo=380455 >> > > >> > > >> > >> > >> >> >> = >> LM >> >> __ >> Do you Yahoo!? >> SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! >> http://sbc.yahoo.com >> > > -- He it is Who created for you all that is on earth...He is the All-knower of everything. Swaddaq Allahu Al-Adhim. Michael Bwambuga. __ McAfee VirusScan Online from the Netscape Network. Comprehensive protection for your entire computer. Get your free trial today! http://channels.netscape.com/ns/computing/mcafee/index.jsp?promo=393397 Get AOL Instant Messenger 5.1 free of charge. Download Now! http://aim.aol.com/aimnew/Aim/register.adp?promo=380455
ugnet_: News fragments on the web regarding the Bush visit to neocolonial South Africa
1. Anti-Bush crowd braves cold 09/07/2003 14:52 - (SA) Cape Town - About 1 500 people braved a blustery winter's day in Cape Town on Wednesday to march to parliament in protest against US President George W Bush's visit to South Africa. The large crowd spontaneously started a bonfire close to the main entrance of parliament, feeding the fire with posters of Bush's face on them. Wednesday's crowd was diverse, and included black-garbed anarchists with an effigy of Bush looking like an alien, environmentalists, purda-covered Muslim women and social activists. Some of the organisations which addressed the spirited crowd included the Islamic Unity Convention (IUC), the Pan Africanist Congress, the New Unity Movement, and the Anti-Eviction Campaign. In a fiery speech, IUC spokesperson imam Achmat Cassiem railed against the twin evils of imperialism and capitalism as embodied by America and to a lesser extent South Africa, a uniform theme among the speakers. "It is the duty of African people to remove the present South African government. The ballot box is not the monopoly of the ANC, and the anti-apartheid struggle is not the monopoly of the ANC," he said, exhorting the crowd to "correct issues" at the next election. Cassiem, referring to "former comrade Mbeki" and the "capitulation" of the government for agreeing to meet with Bush, also mildly rebuked a PAC youth spokesperson for daring to say that Bush be condemned to Robben Island, saying "we don't put pigs on Robben Island". Anti-War Coalition spokesperson Shaheed Mahomed "denounced" the South African government, saying the ANC was "siding with the side of imperialism... (by) welcoming the brutal and barbaric section" of the American administration". Earlier a group of American students joined the march at its starting point. A disillusioned member, 20-year old Brian from Ohio, was seen hastily walking away. He said the group was in the country as part of a peace-building coalition sponsored by the South African Community Fund. Asked why he was leaving the rest of the group, Brian said their convictions were stronger than his. "I came here to build peace and break down barriers caused by apartheid. I've come to learn, but this rally is not about peace," he said. Pressed about his views on the war in Iraq and about Bush, Brian said: "Bush did good things and bad things, I'm in the middle of the road. But I don't like to see him portrayed as Adolf Hitler," he said in allusion to a poster likening the two leaders. The marchers delivered a memorandum at the gates of parliament. The group later gathered in front of the US Consulate's offices, which was surrounded by razor wire, on the wind-swept Foreshore. PAC provincial secretary Nkosinathi Mahala, speaking from an open-ended truck, told the crowd the PAC was upset that the "revolutionary" government was embracing an imperialist such as George Bush who he said was killing people in Afghanistan and other countries. "We are angry at President Mbeki for encouraging a terrorist such as Bush," Mahala said to cheers from the crowd. Coalition spokesperson Shaheed Mohamed said the City of Cape Town had refused them permission to stage a 48-hour picket in front of the US Consulate because of complaints from the consulate, the police and some members of the public. A delegation was later allowed inside the consulate offices where they handed over a memorandum. The memorandum said that on the pretext of weapons of mass destruction Bush and his cohorts had invaded Iraq and were occupying that country. "By all civilised norms Bush and company are war criminals and they are not welcome in South Africa. "They should be arrested," the memorandum said. It added that US monopolies showed no respect for the lives of Iraqis nor for the lives of US soldiers. The memorandum demanded that the Iraqis should be allowed to determine their own destiny. The group dispersed about 14:30 after boarding specially organised buses to take them back to their destinations. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1385104,00.html 2. Over 2000 preparing to march on ANC Headquarters against Thabo Mbeki's meeting with Bush by SOUTH AFRICA Anti-War Coalition • Saturday July 05, 2003 at 05:03 AM [EMAIL PROTECTED] In contrast to yesterday's tiny SACP-COSATU protest in Pretoria, over 2000 people have gathered in Johannesburg's Library Gardens and are preparing to march on the ANC's Headquarters. The protestors will hand over a memorandum demanding that Thabo Mbeki stop embracing George Bush. Smangaliso Khubekha of the Landless Peoples Movement told the crowd that "Bush's visit is not to help African development but to exacerbate its underdevelopment." Salim Vally of the Palestine Solidarity Committee said that "Bush's visit will legitimise an administration that has made the world a more dangerous place, while contributing nothing to Africa." Other speakers were Rob Rees of the Anti-Privatisation Forum; Dr Ram Seegobin o
ugnet_: Binaisa's 3-point solution to Kony war
Binaisa's 3-point solution to Kony war By GODFREY LUKONGWA BINAISA July 7, 2003 The time to act is now and not to continue apportioning blame, but to save our country form disintegration. Unless we swim together now, we shall sink separately. Unless our government comes up with a solution now, the war in the north may become an African version of the 30 years war that ravaged Europe from 1618 to 1648 when it was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia. The nations that were involved ran out funds, there was a terrible loss of life and destruction of property. This is what is happening now in the north. The time to act is now and not to continue apportioning blame, but to save our country form disintegration. Unless we swim together now, we shall sink separately. A three point programme is suggested: The president should send a high powered delegation to Britain, to plead with the British government and convince that government, that for its role in Uganda before independence when it practised the old Roman adage of divide et impera a-k-a divide and rule and filled its Uganda army, the King's African Riffles, with soldiers from the north, who Britain claimed were great warriors. The first British appointed Ugandans were ignored, officers such as Capt. Ashe Mukanga, a Muganda who served in World War 1, Capt. Daudi Chwa II, the Kabaka of Buganda, Lt. Prince Yusuf Suna, Lt. Prince George William Mawanda both from Buganda, Lt. George Rukidi, the Omukama of Toro were all left in limbo. At that time the northerners who were preferred were given one roomed grass huts, three blankets for a mattress, and the third with which to cover their bodies, they were made to sign on for nine years, at the end of which they received neither gratuity or pension, but were only exempted from paying a head tax of Shs 15 per year. The northerners who did not join the army, joined the police and prison services. The rest worked in the sugar estates of Lugazi and Kakira. After independence, their firm grip on the security forces was used by them to stage two coups in 1971 and 1985. President Yoweri Museveni ended their grip on the army in 1986. Leadership of the army reverted to the southerners. It is this loss of leadership of the armed forces, which had hitherto been used by the northerners to grab political power and unleash reigns of terror, that is responsible for the war. This loss of the big jobs made the likes of LRA leader Joseph Kony to resort to war. Unless Ugandans clearly understand the reason Kony is fighting, they will not be able to win the war soon. The northerners want their jobs as leaders of the armed forces back right now before they can be persuaded to stop the carnage. I believe that the leadership of the armed forces shall continue to be based on merit only. Secondly, the British government should be requested to pay for what I call a mini Marshal plan similar to the American plan after World War II for western Europe. It could be called the Tony Blair Plan, if you prefer. The reason for such a plan is firstly that Uganda stands on high moral ground in making the request. It is a well known maxim of equity that equity imputes an intent to fulfil an obligation. The purpose of this request would be to compensate Uganda for the wrong the British government committed more than 40 years ago when they left their weapons of mass destruction in the hands of people who had no experience to handle such weapons, besides wantonly using them to gain power and riches. Uganda does not have the money in its budget to pay for what it will cost to rehabilitate more than 60 years of misrule and mismanagement of the British army in Uganda before independence. It is further suggested that Uganda government may permit the British to stay in Uganda to supervise their money until the end of the plan. Such a plan would be two-pronged; (a) Military to engage Kony's troops. (b) Non- military - this would be the most important and urgent - would be direc
ugnet_: US foreign policy towards Zim has no moral underpinning
Last Updated: Wednesday, zimbabwe herald 9 July 2003 US foreign policy towards Zim has no moral underpinning By Lovemore Mataire "Since when did Britain and America care for the human rights of Zimbabwe? When the land issue exploded in 2000? Or when Ian Smith ruled a semi-apartheid Rhodesia?" writes Antonio de Figueiredo, a columnist for the New African magazine. These are questions that Zimbabweans should ask themselves in the face of recent statements by the US Secretary of State, Mr Collin Powell, urging South Africa and other neighbouring countries to take strong action against Zimbabwe. Not only did Mr Powell's article in a recent New York Times edition reveal the inherent condescending attitude of America towards developing nations but also smacks of a policy hinged on a mentality of people suffering from colonial self-amnesia. There is no doubt that the real reason behind the US' belligerent attitude towards Zimbabwe is not about human rights violations, lack of democracy or absence of the rule of law. Analysts are agreed that the real roots of the US' animosity towards President Mugabe's Government is centred on the land redistribution programme which subverted the privileged position of most whites in Zimbabwe, the majority of which are of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is also evident that the US foreign policy towards Zimbabwe is not driven by an objective analysis of the situation prevailing in the country but by personal egocentric motives given the fact that key architects of such a policy have wives who are by birth Rhodesians. The US Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Walter Kansteiner's wife is said to be of Rhodesian descent, just like the wife of Mr Chester Crooker, the former US Secretary of State. Dr Godfrey Chikowore, a lecturer in the department of International Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe said the US' foreign policy towards Zimbabwe has no moral underpinning. "At this point in time, we could see these people as an embittered lot. What we are witnessing is a kind of unilateral approach and an exhibition of ignorance of the political, social and economic situation in developing nations such as Zimbabwe," said Dr Chikowore. Dr Chikowore said Zimbabwe was a sovereign state with equal rights in much the same way as the US to structure its foreign policy in a manner that fits into the international paradigm as prescribed by the United Nations. He said the US' foreign policy towards Zimbabwe was an ad-hoc one and has no place in any of the United Nations provisions. Dr Chikowore said he could not rule out the influence of Mr Kansteiner's wife in his attitude towards Zimbabwe especially on the land issue. He, however, said that Zimbabwe should continue making its case clear on all fronts at the Sadc level, the African Union and the UN for them to have a justified approach towards the land issue and expose the hypocrisy of the US policy. "We are in an emergency situation, the US foreign policy is unpredictable and the position of Bush and Powell are also unpredictable," he said. Offering a varied view, Mr Olley Maruma, a political and social commentator said the US' policy, especially towards developing nations, was bound to fail as has been the case in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Their policy of intervention by subterfuge is coming to an end. They might be beating their chest but they are facing serious problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. "(Tony) Blair (the British Prime Minister) is himself facing serious problems from his parliament on the country's conduct in Iraq," said Mr Maruma. He ruled out any attempts by the US to militarily intervene in Zimbabwe, as had been the case in Afghanistan and Iraq.
ugnet_: A.B.C
By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, July 9, 2003; Page A18 ENTEBBE, Uganda -- Scrambling around the room wearing a puffy strawberry- and cream-colored dress, 7-year-old Florence Nampiuja plops into a seat, swings her thin legs beneath her and explains how to protect against unsafe sex. She uses her tiny hands to show how to use a condom. She hums a song about how to stop sugar daddies from persuading her to have sex. Such candid talk may seem astounding, but it's no wonder Florence is learning about safe sex at a tender age. She's sitting in the single-story, concrete building of the AIDS Support Organization, or TASO, holding her aunt's weak hand, cheering up yet another woman in her life who is dying from the disease. Florence knows how AIDS is transmitted because Uganda has waged a successful fight to reduce its infection rate by enlisting the entire population in a frank discussion about sex. Condom use is heavily promoted, putting the Ugandans at odds with the Bush administration, which pushes abstinence and has directed about one-third of new AIDS prevention money for Africa to groups that advocate "abstinence-only before marriage" messages. So when President Bush visits this clinic in the lush hills near the Entebbe airport Friday during his five-day trip to five African nations, he is likely to hear some opinions contrary to his own. "I won't mind telling Mr. Bush when he visits that young children need to know about condoms here," said Michael Bernard Etukoit, the manager of TASO. "It's too idealistic to say abstain when I serve 50,000 people for AIDS alone in my clinic." In Uganda, where nearly 1 million people have died as a result of AIDS since the deadly disease was first identified in the East African nation in 1983, it's almost never too early to start talking about AIDS or sex education. The entire nation, from the president to grandmothers and first-graders, has mobilized over the last 11 years in Africa's most successful fight against the epidemic. While Africa is home to 70 percent of the world's HIV patients, and in some countries at least one in three adults are HIV-positive, Uganda's AIDS and HIV infection rates have plummeted from 30 percent to 5 percent in slightly more than a decade. Uganda's HIV-fighting mantra is referred to as ABC: Abstain, be faithful or use a condom. The government launched a massive campaign on radio, television and in newspapers to encourage people to get tested and to follow the ABC's. It was the first African country to even talk about AIDS, which had been considered a taboo topic. In Kenya, leaders denied AIDS existed and called it "a mysterious disease." Still, the rates of infection in Uganda are uneven, with higher numbers in rural areas, health workers say. Free testing has been slow finding its way to rural areas, and people there cannot afford the $4 to $7 fee. They also don't have as much access to condoms and health care. Women living in poverty suffer the most because they perform sex for money. But in the cities, people of all ages are frank and focused about wearing condoms and getting tested frequently. "I think it's very good that she knows everything," said Florence's aunt, Zeporah Mukamusoni, who came to TASO to receive medicine and counseling. She was doubled over, had a swollen back and, she said, a pounding headache. "This is our life here. We can't fight it if we are hiding. I would die happy if I knew she understood." Florence's mother died last year after suffering from a violent cough and nighttime fevers that Florence treated by placing a warm rag on her head. Florence doesn't know who her father is. Health care workers here are hoping that as Bush witnesses the poverty that often forces woman and young people into sex and sees the heartbreaking damage the epidemic has caused, he will put health concerns ahead of political and religious ideology and talk about options instead of only abstinence. Bush, who has said the world is morally obligated to help save lives, has pledged $15 billion for programs to prevent and treat AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Edith Mukisa, the feisty project manager at the Naguru Teenage Information and Health Center in Kampala, Uganda's capital, was concerned about the emphasis on abstinence and thought she might not qualify for some of the money. "It's a big problem, this abstinence stuff," she said. "Look, it's okay to use a condom if you are having sex. And by the way, it's okay to talk to your children about it. If you know that child might get AIDS and suffer, who cares if a 10-year-old knows what a condom is? I want to tell Bush, 'I just don't get the problem' " with educating the population on various methods of AIDS prevention. Young people pick up condoms and watch videos on both abstinence and safe sex at her center. A pamphlet at the center is titled, "Hot 'n' Healthy," and shows a sketch of a couple with their hands down each other's pan
ugnet_: Your Visit to Uganda and Quest for Peace in the Great Lakes
Dear Compatriot Ochan Otim, Again I want to thank you for this effort to save our people who are being decimated by men with 'dark and evil' hearts. But what purpose is served by entangling our struggle for survival with Charles Taylor? I dont think you and me have all or the real facts behind events in Liberia. The Americans and British say Taylor has to go, but have said nothing about the armed rebels coming in from Guinea and Sierra Leone. Arms for these rebels are being flown into Guinea from LEBANON. Who are behind these rebels? Is it now the acceptable route to leadership to just pick up arms and grab power? On this question of the USA sending troops to Liberia, I side with President Mbeki who, today, told Bush that he would rather it is we the Africans to solve such of our problems. Compatriot Ochan Otim, you further allege that " The LRA is also selling children as slaves to the Arabs in northern Sudan in exchange for military support." Do you have any facts to back up the above statement? Mitayo Potosi From: Ochan Otim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: Your Visit to Uganda and Quest for Peace in the Great Lakes Date: Sat, 05 Jul 2003 22:04:23 -0700 Members: Here is a copy of a letter delivered to the White House not too long ago. Ochan - Mr. President, We the members, directors of the board, officers, volunteers, and supporters of Friends for Peace in Africa (FPA) are very excited to learn that you will visit five African countries next week. We are even more excited about your Administration's commitment to working towards a free, peaceful, and prosperous Africa. We welcome such a noble commitment from the most powerful country in the world. It gives us hope that peace in Africa will soon become a reality. We welcome your recent pledge of $15 billion to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and are particularly proud that you intend to use the Ugandan AIDS program as a model to be adopted by other African countries. Furthermore, we applaud your commitment to promoting democracy throughout the world. Lastly, we appreciate the strong position you have taken on President Charles Taylor for failing to step down when the people of Liberia no longer want his leadership. Mr. President, your visit to the country of Uganda, which follows on the heels of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's visit to the White House last month, is of particular interest to us. As a project-driven organization with a mission to bring peace to the troubled continent, FPA's principal project right now is the dismantlement of the Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camps in the Lake Region of Africa. Many of such camps exist in Uganda. On June 10, 2003, FPA sent you a letter addressing the situation in Uganda, particularly the 17-year war in the north between President Museveni's Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). We implored you in this letter to make it very clear to President Museveni that your administration wants a peaceful settlement of the northern conflict-not a military one. This war of attrition has killed, maimed, and displaced almost a million people in northern Uganda. Information reaching us indicates that you responded by insisting that Mr. Museveni not only seek peace in northern Uganda through negotiation, work to stem corruption in his government and military, but also adhere to the constitution that limits the presidency to two terms. For this, we are eternally grateful. Mr. President, recent actions by President Museveni indicate that he does not intend to heed your advice. Even as he is expecting you in Uganda, he has sent out a strong message that he does not intend to do any negotiating with the LRA. Instead, he has appointed General Tinyefuza to be Coordinator of Operation Iron Fist, a military push to defeat the LRA on the battlefield. General Tinyefuza is legendary for his ruthlessness against the Acholi people of northern Uganda during the first attempt to suppress the LRA by force 17 years ago. The locals know him best as the butcher of the Acholi people of northern Uganda. His appointment means an escalation of the war and further suffering: the LRA responds to force, or the threat of force, with more raids, abductions, killings, rapes, lootings, etc. to prepare for it. Their excursions in Eastern Uganda represent a new phase in their operations. It is likely to expand into other areas of presently secure areas of the country. We are particularly happy that you are visiting Uganda and we anticipate that Ugandans will enthusiastically and warmly welcome you. We would like to point out, however, that a specific sector of the Ugandan population targeted for annihilation by Mr. Museveni will not be there to welcome you even if they wanted to do so. These are the Acholi people of northern Ugan
ugnet_: Venezuelan to replace US$ with the uro
Venezuelan move to replace US$ with the uro upsetting Washington more than Saddam's uro conversion last November VHeadline.com editor & publisher Roy S. Carson writes: A move by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias to replace the US$ with the uro is seen as upsetting Washington more than when Iraq's Saddam Hussein started using the uro for oil transactions last November ... precipitating the US-led action to invade Iraq. Beltway bullies are now said to be angered by Venezuela's decision to barter oil with thirteen other Latin American countries, dealing moves to dollarize South America currencies. Intelligence reports say that while the US was able to pull the wool over the international community and ally with Britain's Blair to bulldoze action against former Iran War ally Hussein, the situation with Venezuela is proving more difficult. While there has been political pretext to cold-shoulder Chavez Frias and his government for supposed links with Cuba's Castro and Libya's Khadaffi, the United States is loathe to do more than to give subversive support to anti-Chavez elements in Venezuela fighting against the Venezuelan President's domestic war against political and economic corruption which have permeated the South American country for the last half-century. International finance experts see how the US dollar has been devaluing against the uro, as important players on the international scene convert to the European currency for more stable transactions ... Russia, China, North Korea and Malaysia have begun holding uros as important hedgings in their foreign exchange reserves as faith in American greenbacks floats down the river. CIA and other intel organizations, including Britain's MI5, now fear that the next step is that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is about to switch to uros ... the immediate effect would be a massive devaluation, perhaps sparking of domino-effect devaluations worldwide in US$-related foreign reserves and foreign debt calculations. With a massive budget deficit, the United States is running scared of latest intel that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on the brink of converting to the uros and the opinion held by many OPEC ministers is that the conversion is an inevitability ... the only question left is WHEN? Arab sources claim that uro conversion across the Middle and Far East is a rational step to counteract the United States' capacity to "wage further illegal wars (a.k.a. State-sponsored terrorism)" around the world and that any prolonged occupation of Iraq by US/British forces ... and any move towards withdrawal of Iraq from the OPEC cartel ... will only precipitate "remedial action" by like-minded Arab nations to protect their own best interests over Washington's. A significant step in this direction is that Iran is contemplating switching to the uro and, as a result, is the latest object of United States undiplomatic interference ... an intel sources says "they are stimulating opposition forces, making covert threats ... the next step is destabilization and quasi- liberation warfare under the pretext of promoting US-style democracy but essentially aimed at maintaining the US dollar as a global transaction currency." Mitayo Potosi _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
ugnet_: Wakiso Polygamists Taxed More
Wakiso Polygamists Taxed More ~ This having polygamists in Uganda taxed more than the rest is a roundabout way of introducing " PROPERTY TAX ". We thank Mr Sulpisio Ssemwogerere and his team for this. May be His Worship Mayor Ssebaana-Kizito will also learn from these trail-blazing Ugandans. Wakiso Polygamists Taxed More By Christopher Kiwawulo POLYGAMISTS in Wakiso district are to pay a higher graduated tax, the district council has recommended. This follows a recent inauguration of the Revenue Mobilisation Team by the district council, as a new tax collecting body. The district finance officer, Sulpisio Ssemwogerere, said the team and every village chairman and parish chief, would move from house to house and levy taxes according to the property one owns. Polygamists will have to pay more tax in comparison to others. Each home they possess, will be assessed separately, Ssemwogerere told the Nangabo sub-county executive recently. The system, that starts with Nangabo, is aimed at increasing the tax base and reducing the money spent on hunting tax defaulters in the district. Ends New Vision. Published on: Wednesday, 9th July, 2003 Mitayo Potosi _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
ugnet_: Ush12.95 billion ($10 million) for the July 2000 referendum
JUSTICE PARTY http://www.dfwa-u.tk Cash Hurdle for Referendum on Uganda Future A MAJOR financial obstacle stands in the path of a planned national referendum on the future of Uganda's political process, which is already plagued by months of controversy. The Ministry of Finance has allocated Ush12.95 billion ($10 million) for the July 2000 referendum, which is less than half the Ush36 billion ($25 million) requested by the Electoral Commission. In addition, The EastAfrican learnt last week, the country's main Western financiers have declared their preference for supporting related civic education programmes to funding the referendum. A bill paving the way for a referendum that seeks to give Ugandans an opportunity to decide between the current "Movement" system and a multiparty system was passed in parliament last Thursday under protest from multiparty proponents. The Referendum Bill, which was greeted with jubilation by supporters of the ruling Movement, was passed in the absence of a majority of multiparty activists. Under the present constitution, political party activity in Uganda remains suspended. Political parties by law are prohibited from opening party branches, holding annual delegates conferences or organising at grassroots level, leaving only the Movement to organise and promote its agenda. Uganda's two main opposition parties - the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) of exiled former President Milton Obote and the Democratic Party (DP) of Dr Paul Ssemogerere - have been contesting the constitutional provision restricting political party activity in the country, arguing further that the issue of the political system is a fundamental human right that should not have to be obtained through a referendum. Donors are taking an increasingly similar position on the funding of the forthcoming referendum. Britain and Germany say their governments will not finance the referendum but support civic education. "We are considering supporting civic education, monitoring and other related issues but no final decision has been reached on this one," a British diplomat told The EastAfrican last week. A German diplomat said their Foreign Office had no budgetary provision for the referendum exercise. "We only consider the presidential and parliamentary elections," Herbert Beck of the German embassy in Kampala said. The Danish Ambassador to Uganda, Mr Pederson Flemming, said last week that his government has not received any assurances of a "level playing field" in the referendum exercise from the Ugandan government. "There are still a lot of things to be looked at and we still need to look at the amended law," said Mr Flemming. "We are inclined to support the process but not it its entirety." The Electoral Commission prepared the budget long before parliament passed the Bill. A Commission official said actual expenditure would depend on the Bill as passed by parliament. It is expected that the Commission will need money to pay polling clerks, for production and distribution of publicity material and for the purchase of ballot materials. The process is likely to be marred by a threatened boycott by multiparty supporters. A press release dated July 1, signed by the political party representatives in Uganda, warned of impending action. "Given the fact that the Movement has taken the extreme position, political parties and civic organisations find themselves locked out of the referendum contest and have no option but to reject the Referendum Bill and the subsequent referendum exercise." Multiparty advocates charge that the Referendum Bill infringes on the fundamental rights of Ugandans. "After passing the Referendum Bill, all Opposition is now effectively curtailed due to absence of legal framework. "The fears that the pluralists have expressed all along, namely a clique in the Movement have the agenda of turning the Movement government into a permanent one-party system by locking out all legitimate opposition, have now been proved true." Earlier, the Ugandan parliament rejected a motion seeking a constitutional amendment to the Referendum Bill. The constitutional amendment bill moved by a member of parliament, Mr Omara Atubo, sought to annul clause two and three of Article 271 in the constitution that provide for a referendum and have them replaced by presidential elections, a matter which was rejected by the House. The debate on the referendum bill has been a contentious issue, with divergent views from a cross-section of Ugandans. Church leaders last month made their position clear by backing the referendum, putting to rest months of speculation on the position of the church on the matter. The debate on the referendum bill and the motion seeking amendment to the constitution were a clear tussle between the advocates of multiparty democracy and the Movementists. The defeat of the motion seeking an amendment to the constitution was led by the First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Mr Eriya Kat
ugnet_: Ugandan Manipulation of Local Politics
Ugandan Manipulation of Local Politics Ugandan involvement with the RCD-ML and other political groups in Ituri constituted another strand of the complex political fabric. This link was sometimes echoed by further ties between the RCD-ML and locally- based groups. In other cases, Ugandans cooperated directly with the locally- based groups, creating still another strand of political involvement. During its four years occupying the north-eastern DRC, the Ugandan army--the Ugandan Peoples Defense Force (UPDF)--claimed to be a "peacemaker" in a region torn by ethnic strife. In reality the Ugaandan army provoked political confusion and created insecurity in areas under its control. From its initial involvement in a land dispute between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups in 1999 through its joint operation with Lendu and Ngiti militias to dislodge Hema from Bunia in March 2003, the Ugandan Army more often aggravated than calmed ethnic and political hostilities.6 Since 1999 the initial conflict between Hema and Lendu drew in more ethnic groups and spawned increasing numbers of ethnically- based militia. Uganda provided assistance to many of these groups often helping to launch, arm, and train them, but its support was erratic and determined by its own interests.7 A local politician who discussed Ituri political affairs with Ugandan authorities in late 2002 told Human Rights Watch researchers, "It was clear to me that Uganda wanted a pawn in Ituri. When their pawn didn't work, they were happy to change it for another If Uganda continues to play games like this there will never be peace in Ituri."8 The list below summarizes some of the ways that Uganda intervened in Ituri politics.9 · There are currently ten armed political groups operating in Ituri (see box below). Since 1998 most of these groups have at one point or another been armed, trained or politically supported by the Ugandan authorities. For some this support has been only of brief duration while for others it has been more long-term.10 Uganda has played a major role in launching or supporting at least five of these groups.11 · On the political level, Ugandans directed important changes in the rebel movements based in Bunia, including removing Wamba dia Wamba as head of the RCD-ML and replacing him by Mbusa Nyamwisi; supporting the creation of two coalitions, the Front for the Liberation of Congo (FLC) which grouped rebel movements at the national level and the Front for Integration and Peace in Ituri (FIPI) which grouped local rebel groups of the Lendu, Alur and dissatisfied Hema; and driving away the RCD-ML and helping install the UPC in Bunia in August 2002. These changes were directed from Kampala and supported by the Ugandan forces in Ituri. · Uganda intervened in local administration by establishing a new province, Kibali-Ituri, in 1999, by naming its first governor, and by playing a major role in changing four of the six governors since then. Three governors were removed directly by Ugandans with their army providing the force in two of these cases.12 One governor was forced to leave after the Ugandan-backed coalition FLC failed and another was never accepted by the local population and was unable to carry out his duties.13 Between January and May 2001, Col. Edison Muzoora of the Ugandan Army effectively acted as governor, a period during which inter-ethnic violence escalated dramatically.14 · Of the seven Ugandan commanders in charge of the Ugandan forces in Ituri, four were accused by local actors and other independent groups of favoring the Hema over the Lendu.15 The Porter Commission set up by the Ugandan government also acknowledged that it had received evidence that four senior Ugandan Army officers (two of whom were the same accused by local groups) had in one way or another been highly suspected of involvement in the Hema-Lendu conflict.16 Another commander was removed supposedly after he tried to stop the Ugandan exploitation of DRC resources.17 · Ugandan authorities often managed and chaired political negotiations on Ituri. Between 1999 and February 2003, Ituri leaders went to Kampala for political negotiations more than fifteen times and met frequently with either President Museveni or his brother Salim Saleh. Ugandan meddling in Ituri politics stimulated new political parties and militia groups to form and most did so along ethnic lines, contributing to growing ethnically- based extremism. On many occasions since their arrival in Ituri in 1998, Ugandan forces failed to protect civilians in areas under their control, most dramatically in Bunia on January 19, 2001 and between August 6 and 10, 2002 when ethnic killings took place within a kilometer of the large Ugandan army camp at the airport. In a few cases, however, Ugandan soldiers did protect civilians. During the early August attacks in Bunia, for example, two Ugandan soldiers reportedly died protecting Hema at Lengabo. In another case at Mabanga on August 28, 2002, U
ugnet_: MPs accuse investors of harassing workers
"The Workers MP, Mr Charles Bakkabulindi, said that he met with the 1,153 girls working at the Tri-Star Apparels factory in Bugolobi and they complained of poor treatment by their employer. The girls also complained about working 13 hours a day contrary to the labour laws." That is AGOA... YOU HAVEN'T SEEN NOTHING YET ( like Americans would say) MPs accuse investors of harassing workers By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda July 9, 2003 Investors are harassing their workers and draining Uganda’s economy. According to Members of Parliament, who on Monday were debating the recent Budget speech by the Minister of Finance, Mr Gerald Ssendaula, many investors abuse their workers and repatriate all the profits. The Workers MP, Mr Charles Bakkabulindi, said that he met with the 1,153 girls working at the Tri-Star Apparels factory in Bugolobi and they complained of poor treatment by their employer. The girls also complained about working 13 hours a day contrary to the labour laws. The girls are only allowed to visit the toilet on a timetable, the MP said. Tri-Star Apparels makes textiles for export to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. “Even Uganda Revenue Authority [URA] staff are treated like casual labourers. They have no terminal benefits and are on temporary contracts,” Mr James Kakooza (Kabula) interjected. Bakkabulindi said that the workers of the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company are not protected. For example, two of the firm’s technicians were electrocuted in Kajjansi on Entebbe Road on Sunday. But the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Mwesigwa Rukutana, objected, saying that there are sufficient laws to protect workers. Mwenge South MP, Ms Dora Byamukama, said that the labour laws are archaic. She cited the Shs 6,000 the law sets as the minimum wage. Byamukama is the chairwoman of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee. MPs Ssebuliba Mutumba (Kawempe South), Odonga Otto (Aruu) and Charles Byaruhanga (Kibaale) asked government to stop giving investors preferential treatment at the expense of the citizens. Byaruhanga criticised the government for raising taxes on essential commodities including fuel. Budadiri West MP, Mr Nandala Mafabi, said that higher fuel prices are having a negative multiplier effect on the whole economy.
ugnet_: WE LOST A BOEING 737
Sudanese Airliner Crashes Kills 116MOHAMED OSMANAssociated Press KHARTOUM, Sudan - A Sudanese airliner plunged into a hillside while attempting an emergency landing Tuesday, killing 116 people and leaving one survivor - a 3-year-old boy found injured but alive amid a scene of charred corpses. The Sudan Airways plane, headed from Port Sudan on the northeastern coast to the capital, crashed before dawn in a wooded area just after takeoff. The Boeing 737 wreckage was badly burned, and authorities decided to rapidly bury all bodies, including eight foreigners. "The bodies were buried in a mass grave after performing the Muslim prayer because the conditions of the bodies would not allow transporting and delivering them to the relatives," the Red Sea State governor, Hatem el-Wassila, told the official Sudan News Agency. The governor said the sole survivor, 3-year-old Mohammed el-Fateh Osman, had lost his right leg and suffered burns. The boy was in intensive care at the Port Sudan hospital, and doctors said he was in stable condition, el-Wassila said. Eleven crew members and 105 passengers died, including three people from India and one each from Britain, China, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. There was also a woman whose nationality was unknown, state radio said. A senior air force official and a member of Parliament also died in the crash, it said. A team of experts flew to the debris-covered scene to investigate the crash, and recovered the black box flight recorder. Initial reports cited a technical problem. Boeing has provided technical information about the jet to investigators but has not yet been invited by either the airline or the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to the crash site, said Liz Verdier, a spokeswoman for the company. The plane, a 737-200C, was delivered to the airline in September 1975, and the condition of the plane would depend on how well it was maintained, Verdier said. About 10 minutes after takeoff, the pilot radioed the control tower about a problem in one engine, the Red Sea State governor told the Sudan News Agency. The pilot announced he was returning for an emergency landing, but the plane went down a few miles outside the airport, the governor said. A local journalist described the scene after the crash. "Bodies were scattered everywhere, burned and charred and could be seen all over the place," Muhammad Osman Babikir of El-Sahafa daily said by phone. "There was no way of performing the Muslim ritual of washing the bodies. It was horrible." Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail blamed U.S. sanctions imposed against Sudan in 1997, saying they had led to shortages of vital aircraft parts. "This is a sad incident," he said, during a visit to Mozambique. "We simply cannot get the parts to maintain our airplanes." He called on President Bush, who is on a tour of Africa, to drop the sanctions. The United States imposed sanctions claiming Sudan sponsored terrorism, allowed human rights abuses and destabilized neighboring countries. In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker offered condolences and said no American casualties were reported. He also said there was no ban on equipment needed for aviation safety. Sudan has suffered few passenger-plane accidents in recent years, but several crashes of military aircraft during a 20-year-old civil war. Two years ago, a military-plane crash in the south killed the country's deputy defense minister and 13 other high-ranking officers. In 1996, a Sudanese passenger jet crashed during a sandstorm while trying to make an emergency landing outside Khartoum, killing 50 people. A decade before that, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army shot down a Sudan Airways aircraft shortly after it took off, killing all 70 people on board. The rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy for the mainly Christian and animist south from Sudan's Islamic government. Fighting has raged mainly in the south. Port Sudan, in the northeast, is the country's only significant port. It is also the site of the national oil refinery and the terminal of the pipeline from oil fields of south-central Sudan. The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: Sack Your Advisers, Save Money,
Sack Your Advisers, Save Money, IMF Tells Museveni By WAIRAGALA WAKABI THE EASTAFRICAN THE WORLD Bank and the International Monetary Fund have advised President Yoweri Museveni to sack as many as possible of his advisers and Deputy Resident District Commissioners (RDCs). They also want the president to reduce salaries for those he retains as a means of cutting down on the public administration budget. The donors say the advisers and RDCs eat up resources that should instead be channelled into poverty alleviation and private sector development. Currently, expenditure on public administration is second only to that on education, with an allocation of 17.7 per cent of the government budget. Calculations by the donors indicate that if the president were to effect even minimal changes, up to Ush30 billion ($17.6 million) would be freed up in the next two to three years. Each of Uganda's 56 districts has an RDC and a deputy RDC. Some of them have assistant RDCs. The World Bank has suggested only districts with a population of over 500,000 inhabitants should have deputy RDCs, a proposal State House opposes. At the moment, the public administration docket is allocated Ush365 billion ($183 million) annually, but donors want this cut by 10 per cent in the next three years. "Public administration is a big problem for the budget. The RDCs, assistant RDCs and advisers are all very expensive," Sudharshan Canagarajah, the World Bank's senior country economist in Kampala, told The EastAfrican last week. "The number of people employed should be reduced and incentives for advisers cut." An official of the IMF said separately that reducing spending on public administration was among the priority areas they wanted Uganda to work out. While giving Uganda $2.8 million on June 28, Shigemitsu Sugisaki, IMF deputy managing director and acting board chairman, also said Uganda needed to streamline expenditure on public administration. "Given the limited availability of budgetary resources and in light of higher defence spending to face the security situation in northern Uganda, it will be critical to meet the budget's revenue target and curb non-priority spending while increasing poverty-related expenditures," said Mr Sugisaki. Last December, Uganda and the IMF were supposed to meet to review the country's progress in reducing the public administration spending. The meeting was, however, put off after the Finance Ministry reported that no progress had been made. Sources told The EastAfrican that, during consultations between the IMF executive board and Ugandan officials that ended on February 12, the Fund asked Uganda to expedite the streamlining of expenditure on public administration with a view to improving efficiency and freeing resources for poverty-related programmes and development spending. Three months into the 2002/03 financial year, Uganda effected an increase in the defence and public administration expenditures, giving the latter an additional Ush15 billion ($7.5 million) that donors and parliament had not endorsed. \\\"Always be a first rate version of yourself instead of a second rate version of someone else.\" Njoki Paul University of Pretoria
RE: ugnet_: Fwd: RE:UPC/LRA
Ochan Otim This is from infidels.org In 1989, the twenty-five year old Joseph Kony rose to the forefront of the Acholi People's struggle against Museveni's government. Kony's rebels managed to curb atrocities committed against the Northerners by Uganda's military, but soon the rebels began committing their own war crimes. Not surprisingly, Mr. Kony had been tutored by his aunt, the Acholi Priestess, Lakwena, who herself had engaged in brutal kidnappings (forced conscriptions) into her Holy Spirit Army.[6] From the start, Joseph Kony exhibited a ruthlessness in war noted for an arrogant flaunting of the 1949 Geneva Convention. In one decade alone, over 8,000 children were kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army. Most of these unfortunate children are now presumed dead, killed either in combat or in the murderous crossfire of warring sides. Tragically, these prisoners of war are transported, tied in columns by rope as slaves, to LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) camps.[7] When shooting breaks out, the conscripts often are unable to escape. If the kidnapped children survive the long journey to the LRA camps, they are forcefully indoctrinated into the LRA's grand vision of an Acholi nation based on the Ten Commandments--savage beatings are meted out to all nonbelievers. The child captives are taught the rebel leader's belief in an apocalyptic arrival of "The Silent World." Joseph Kony believes there will be a time in history when all guns worldwide will fall silent and only those knowing how to use crude weapons, like stones, spears, and machetes, will prevail against their enemies.[8] (LRA members are obsessed with the idea of supernatural intervention and battlefield odds favoring the use of primitive weapons.) LRA military indoctrination consists of beatings, rapes, and the severing of limbs by machete--all based on selected Biblical passages--no doubt some of the harshest found in the pages of the Old Testament. Joseph Kony subjects his child soldiers to an odd blend of Christianity, primarily the fundamentalist kind, mixed with African animistic beliefs which include the practice of witchcraft. Of course, the Biblical passages forbidding engagement in witchcraft are overlooked by Mr. Kony and his entire LRA command structure. Anyone who resists LRA indoctrination, or who attempts to escape, is executed--often savagely beaten to death by those newly abducted into Kony's Spirit Army. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ochan Otim Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 2:49 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: Fwd: RE:UPC/LRA I am waiting to 'hear' you out after you read this, Ed Kironde. Ochan >Greetings to all, > >And to Mukulu Kironde I purposely ask: Are you fine? not as a formality, but >as a greeting question that seeks to know that all is and was well when you >published the ten point list! > >You write, "Former Acholi soldiers fled to the north to be re-integrated in >the Acholi society, but because of the difficulties of re-integration, they >soon raped and plundered the local population." I would be of great >importance if you could tell us what the "difficulties of re-integration" >were, and why couldn't the Acholis (my god) settle at home. Gen. Saleh >recently revealed some of the causes of the northern war. I fortunately, >though actually unfortunately happened to be in Namukora on 5th October >1986, when a special contingent of NRA soldiers arrived and arrested all >former FEDEMU and retired UNLA officers in the area. Loaded them in trailer >containers and shipped them to Mbuya; you know the rest of the story. If >there is any reason why the war in the north started it was as a result of >the activities of this day. > >I can understand the way you feel about UPC, for I suffered at the hands of >some of its operatives in ways I hate to recall. However I find it >reprehensible that some one who is seeking the highest office of the land >has chosen to view, Obote, UPC, LRA and "the Acholi" as one! > >Blanket condemnation of ethnic groups or political organizations, Yes, >including UPC is wrong. If some elements within UPC are sponsoring LRA, have >it know to the world as such. > >The other issues you bring up again in your ten-point programme is your >continued well-orchestrated campaign against the political opposition in >Uganda. And here I put it to you that with malice aforethought and >ingrained hate you have found it in your faculties to link DP and LRA. (Wano >ndabawo ettima, effutwa, effubitizi, obukyayi n'enge oba n'ensaalwa >[emapndiika]) > >It is also unbecoming of you to suggest that the Reform Agenda has been >making overtures to Kony. Unless you are one of the contact persons, how are >you privy to this information? Or you have just swallowed you master, M7's >lies? > >You highlight the term that you were just thinking, with the danger of >sounding uncivilized I would reluctantly say that, if this is the way you >perform when thin
ugnet_: Which Museveni will Bush meet; the NGO leader, or president?
Ear to The Ground By Charles Onyango-Obbo Which Museveni will Bush meet; the NGO leader, or president?July 9, 2003 Did US President George Bush tell or not tell President Yoweri Museveni during our mans recent visit Washington to forget any plans to cling on to power beyond the present legal two terms? The press, in this case The Monitor in its long thankless role as the pesky torchbearer who shines the light where the government would rather have darkness, said Bush had. The government, beginning from the good Foreign Affairs minister James Wapakabhulo, to several eminent state scribblers, swore that Bush couldnt surely have told Museveni that. Well, let us hear it from Bush himself. He says he acknowledged Musevenis wonderful works, especially in the fight against Aids, then elbowed him in the ribs about straying off the democratic path (mine, not Bushs words). The Monitor was right. And what an easy goal! Of course, not many people are impressed. The pro-government elements hold that Museveni is a strong ally of the Americans. Both they, and the cynics who hold that the American Establishment doesnt genuinely support freedom anywhere in the world any more, think that Bushs anti-third term noises are mere posturing. However, both sides could be wrong. Is there a possibility that the US is changing its practice of canoodling with strongmen as long as they are pro-Washington? The US might be shifting, even if it is doing so to protect its changing global interests. We have seen very acrimonious verbal skirmishing between US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the autocratic Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The Americans are piling pressure on South Africa to lean on Mugabe, whos wrecked his once prosperous nation, to go back to the village and grow maize on the land he has grabbed. I cannot remember when an American government last called on an elected African leader, even one who had stolen elections, to step down (if for nothing else, because it would mean condemning some of their best friends whom we all know but will not name). Bush demanded more forthrightly that Liberias warlord President Charles Taylor relinquishes power and go into exile the same thing he demanded of Iraqs Saddam Hussein. Taylor is now packing his bags. The US can afford to tell Mugabe and Taylor to go home, and to wag a finger at Museveni over his third term plot, because the price of doing so has fallen dramatically. The fear past US administrations used to have that a leader who was unhappy with them would run into the embrace of the communist bloc, is of course long gone. More importantly though, in recent years, the civilian opposition, rebels, and governments in Africa all fight for the backing of the US in particular, and the West in general. The conduct of African leaders has also encouraged the US. A visit to America by an African ruler is the highest endorsement, and presidential functionaries will crow about it until the next visit even if its five years away. Thus while the US is busy haggling with its NATO partners to exempt its servicemen from what it claims could be politically motivated prosecutions in the International Criminal Court, Museveni eagerly signed them the waiver on his last visit. Of course, the Americans are smart enough to notice that there was no debate of the issue inside Uganda. This zeal, while designed to win American support, also emboldened it to make more demands and encourages it to lecture others. Ugandas case, however, has some peculiarities. Bush is coming to Uganda as the backdrop for him to tout his $15bn aid to fight Aids in Africa and the Caribbean. Uganda and Senegal have had Africas most successful campaigns against Aids. Ten years ago, Uganda had one of Africas highest Aids infection rates, and the disease was laying waste to areas like Rakai. Today infection rates have fallen to lows of below 6 per cent. While perhaps the Museveni government does not deserve all the credit in the fight against Aids (initially it took a narrow tribal view on the disease), it deserves every commendation for its boldness and creative energy in tackling the scourge once it opened up. However, that is also Musevenis undoing. In terms of what he has to show off, he has become a one-issue leader the Aids president. Nearly all international conferences where Museveni is invited to are because hes an example on how to fight Aids. There was a time when it was thought he had some important lessons to share with the world about political and economic reconstruction of poor countries that had been ravaged by war. Not any more. Museveni needs to lay indisputable claim to being a political reformer, and regional peace builder the way he has with Aids. By failing to win on these two fronts, and clinging only to his anti-Aids/HIV thing, Museveni has allowed himself to become more like the head of a big NGO, than the president of a nation. He only invites people inclu
