The Bag Man for CNN

Museveni son-in-law bags Shs 640 million


by ALEX B. ATUHAIRE
The Monitor KAMPALA

THE government paid $350,000 (approx. 640 million Uganda Shillings) to Terp Group, a local public relations firm, in connection to the project to polish Uganda’s image via the Cable Network News (CNN).

The contract with Terp Group, owned by Mr Odrek Rwabwogo (in photo above, at left), a son-in-law of President Yoweri Museveni, was in contravention of the procurement rules issued by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA).

The PPDA regulates procurement by the government. Dr Sam Nahamya, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, on September 1 wrote to the PPDA asking the institution to waive the rule that would restrict the ministry to open bidding. He said the decision to procure Terp’s services was made by politicians. According to Regulation 106(4) of PPDA, the contract to Rwabwogo’s company should have been awarded after either open or restricted bidding because the value of the deal was above Shs 100 million.

In his September 1 letter, Nahamya also said the waiver should cover the $1 million (U.S.) to Turner Broadcasting Systems (Europe), which was to implement the CNN project together with Terp.

“The political leadership has selected the two firms to provide specialised and professional services to the ministry in branding Uganda on the CNN as a way of attracting tourists to the country,” Nahamya wrote.“These firms are of international character with no known competitors and provide specialised services,” he added. “The purpose of this communication therefore is to request you to waive the requirement of competitive tendering in preference to the direct sourcing method.”

However, the PPDA, which is headed by the former Auditor General, Mr. James Kahoza, refused to waive the regulations as the ministry had already overlooked the procurement rules. The ministry had already offered the contract to Terp Group by the time they wrote to PPDA.

Nahamya declined to discuss the matter when contacted on Tuesday, saying he was on leave. “Officially and technically, I cannot conduct business on behalf of the government. I am on leave, I can’t speak on behalf of the government,” he told Daily Monitor by telephone.

But the Tourism Ministry PS had said in his letter, “The government values the benefits this project will bring if there is partnership with the private sector through companies like TERP Group.” He added, “The Solicitor General has cleared the two firms and the contracts will soon be signed.”

However, the Solicitor Genera,l Mr Lucien Tibaruha, yesterday distanced himself from the procurement of Terp Group services. “Yes, it’s my job to clear, but I only cleared the terms of the contract,” he said. “The ministry carried out the procurement. I didn’t clear the procurement. So you have to go back to them (Ministry of Tourism) as regards that issue,” Tibaruha told Daily Monitor by telephone.Daily Monitor was told that the PPDA had earlier told the ministry that it had already contravened the law and the procurement body could therefore not clear the procurement.

PPDA Chairman Kahoza could not be reached for comment. The PPDA Executive Director, Mr Edgar Agaba, was also not available for comment.

The Uganda government in September sealed a $1 million (about Shs 1.8 billion) six-month deal to promote the country as a top tourist destination.According to the deal, Uganda will sponsor the Inside Africa show on CNN, which runs every Saturday, for six months. Spots promoting tourism under the tagline, “Uganda: A Gift of Nature” will run in the 30-minute show, which is repeated every Sunday.

The CNN Inside Africa show reports on the continent’s political, economic, social and cultural affairs. The CNN crew has been in Uganda to shoot key tourist attractions in national parks, cultural dances and promotional interviews for clips to use in the adverts.

In the face of highly fluctuating prices of the traditional exports - especially cash crops such as coffee, vanilla and cotton, the government is now looking to non-traditional exports like tourism to boost its foreign exchange earnings. But with the transition politics becoming uncertain, it is now no longer clear how the country would benefit from the CNN project - as the same station has been reporting the recent volatile developments in the country for which the government has deployed a heavy military presence in Kampala following the arrest and trial of opposition Forum for Democratic Change leader Kizza Besigye.

Negative publicity The government has in recent months received considerable negative publicity abroad following the decision by the President to seek another term in office. The CNN effort will mainly concentrate on the tourism sector, but the government has lately engaged other efforts to counter negative publicity and redeem its falling image, especially arising from the endemic rebellion in the north and the feared political turmoil following recent changes in the constitution and the President’s intentions to stay in power beyond 2006.

The government has hired a British public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, at Shs1.6 billion to improve the country’s image in the international media. Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa brokered the deal.

The government has also engaged services of international lobbyists like the former British Minister, Ms Linda Chalker, and former US secretary for African Affairs during the Bill Clinton government, Ms Rosa Whitaker. The two are mainly for trade promotion.

Other image enhancing efforts include the creation of the Media Centre under the President’s Office to coordinate the flow of information from the government to the media and the general public. Mr Robert Kabushenga, the former New Vision Company Secretary, heads the centre. Rwabogo has not answered his phone for the last two days but officials in TERP confirmed that they were paid the money.

Urbane Analysis: How does a modern tyrant thwart democracy? Pay off the media, of course - using illegal contracts.

The media is on trial here. The People of Uganda against Cable News Network.

Comfortable cronies and relatives of the president receive fat contracts that they funnel along to Atlanta in exchange for splashy ads and vapid travelogues that ignore grinding poverty, malnutrition, disease and suffering all around Uganda. And the news media shows not the slightest curiousity about why the U.S. Agency for International Development and British High Commission channel enough funds into Uganda every year to show staggering results in health, infrastructure, education and nutrition programs - yet the slightest amont of progress is noted by the Ugandan government year after year.

Where does all the money go?

The People of Uganda against Bill O'Reilly - for giving CNN a pass. It ain't incest, but it is gross negligence on the part of The Factor and every other media source on the side of "the folks" - there has been enough blood and tear gas in the streets of Kampala these past weeks to make the charge:

If it had been anywhere but Africa it would have been the lead. But only ABC News passed along a few crumbs of the short-shrift given the story by their kissing cousins at the BBC. And that was it. Only a few watchdog groups like SpinWatch have even commented about it.

This is what I want to see:

CNN's Reliable Sources will be examining the ethics of how their own program, Inside Africa cozies up to dictators this Sunday at 10 a.m.

When you ask why Africa continues to fester, an examination of the western news media is in order. This is not "Oil-for-Food" with a crony-relative of the UN Secretary General. It is "Aid-Money-for-PR-Treatment with a crony-relative of a banana republic dictator openly operating a slush fund to the Cable News Network for "bought" coverage.

Will Governments Stand By and Watch Uganda's Fall?

Leaders queue up to protest at President's abuse of power
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor and Tristan McConnell in Kampala
The TimesOnline

Museveni: facing criticism

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI of Uganda faces growing criticism from his fellow Commonwealth leaders because of his regime’s increasingly harsh treatment of the main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye.

As the Commonwealth summit opens in Malta today, with talks supposed to focus on world trade, diplomats there said that the abuse of power by the veteran Ugandan leader was becoming the issue of the summit.

Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, wants the meeting to examine human rights failures among the 53 member states, and Uganda is fast becoming the most serious issue on the table.

“There is disquiet,” a British official said. “Many are asking whether Uganda is an appropriate host for the next Commonwealth summit in 2007.”
Tony Blair and other Commonwealth leaders, particularly those of Australia and Canada, are expected to raise the matter with Mr Museveni when the heads of government hold talks today.

But the Ugandans show no signs of compromising. As Mr Museveni flew in to Malta, the authorities in Kampala stepped up moves against Dr Besigye, who was arrested this month on charges of treason and rape.

This time Dr Besigye, Mr Museveni’s former ally and physician, was hauled before a military court martial and charged with terrorism and illegal possession of arms. At times the proceedings became almost farcical. General Elly Tumwine, the chairman, charged two of Dr Besigye’s defence lawyers with contempt of court for talking out of turn.

Then Stig Barlyng, the Danish Ambassador and the representative of Western governments, was thrown out of court.Mr Barlyng argued that he was permitted to observe by Ruhakana Rugunda, the Minister of Internal Affairs, but General Tumwine replied that the minister “does not control this court”.

Dr Besigye hopes to oppose Mr Museveni in next year’s elections, as he did in 2001. His supporters in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) claim that the trial is designed to prevent Dr Besigye from being eligible to stand.

Salaamu Musumba, the FDC vice-president, called on Commonwealth governments to take action against Kampala. “Uganda should be thrown out of the Commonwealth as there are no Commonwealth traditions that we are emulating in this country,” she said.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, last night added his voice to calls for Dr Besigye to be released immediately. “Tony Blair and Jack Straw must urgently press the Ugandan Government to respect democracy and the rule of law,” he said. “Nobody should be under any illusions about the seriousness of the situation in Uganda.”

In Kampala, the court- martial proceedings were adjourned until this morning. As Dr Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, left the court she called out: “Kizza Besigye is going to be condemned to death by a kangaroo court.”

An armed escort then took Dr Besigye to the High Court for his delayed bail hearing. A crowd that had gathered outside the court martial cheered Dr Besigye and waved his party’s two-fingered salute as the prison bus attempted a three-point turn in the narrow road. Central Kampala was cordoned off by police, who had expected another day of mass rioting by opposition supporters. However, people heeded the warning given on Wednesday by Mr Rugunda not to take to the streets. Media outlets have been threatened with closure if they discuss Dr Besigye’s arrest and trial.

At the High Court Judge James Ogoola adjourned the bail hearing until this afternoon to allow the court martial to proceed. He managed to restore some faith in the impartiality of the judiciary when he banned members of the armed forces from his courtroom.

Dr Besigye can face a court martial under a law allowing those accused of taking up arms against the state to be charged in a military court. Dr Besigye, a former Museveni loyalist, is also a retired colonel in the Ugandan army. The return of Dr Besigye from exile last month was seen as a sign of greater democracy in Uganda, which is preparing for its first multiparty elections in March.

MUSEVENI'S TARNISHED IMAGE:

Founding member of Front for National Salvation, which helped to oust Idi Amin.

Praised for bringing relative stability after civil war and for responding to HIV/AIDS.

Took power in 1986 and introduced Movement politics, based on democratic principles.

Became darling of West; described as head of new breed of African leaders by Bill Clinton.

2001 election victory tainted with increase in violence.

Image marred by role in civil war in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Amended constitution this year to allow himself to have a third term, despite vowing that he would not stand again.

Urbane Analysis:

This is a tepid response from the same governments which were "frozen in the headlights" by violence in Rwanda a scant ten years ago. The western powers have been sitting on their hands regarding Uganda's misadventures in the Congo - a situation which only a scant amount of media investigation WILL show has been all about profit for Museveni's family and cronies. One cannot help but notice that Kampala is awash in tropical hardwoods: subsistence level workers in roadside stands build furniture throughout the city. Many Ugandans talk about the source of this wood - since Uganda logged out its own "old growth" hardwoods years ago - it now comes from the Congo. And this plunder is a profitable line of business for Ugandan military commanders while maintaining a zone of influence in the lawless country to Uganda's west.

It is all about pillage and plunder.

So western powers are silent about Uganda's "big stick" policies violating the sovereignty of its neighbors. These are the same governments who say they are all about effecting change in Africa - but were powerless in response to the violence in Rwanda (a tiny country right next door to Uganda) a decade ago. And these same western powers have not exerted one iota of muscle in check of the Ugandan regime's ever-increasing "shake down" of aid organizations working on behalf of the desperately poor. When you talk with non-governmental organizations (NGO) groups operating in Uganda - doing the work of tackling poverty, the tales of frustration and outright crime against them by the government of Uganda - through corruption that has increased and become worse and worse to the point of causing some to shut down in Uganda - has trumpeted loud and clear where the regime is headed. This has been clear long before these latest outrages against democracy itself in Uganda.

Why wouldn't Museveni take these actions, since the western powers have been impotent on a whole range of issues leading up to this?

It is time for the U.S. and E.U. powers to get serious about what is about to happen in Uganda - BEFORE they are caught in the headlights of powerlessness like they were in Rwanda in the 1990's. A senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala told me "(t)his place is alway twelve hours away from meltdown. All it takes is a couple of colonels to go 'off the reservation' and this place is back to total tribal factionalism."

So the question becomes: are we going to just sit and watch that happen?

What Museveni has done to Uganda

It's becoming impossible to market Uganda

By Wairagala Wakabi The East African

The people marketing Uganda to the international community must be very depressed.
Just when it appeared that they were convincing the world that Uganda was a democratic and stable country, the tables were brutally turned on them.
Barely a month ago, the country dished out some $1.4 million on a campaign spot on CNN to neaten up Uganda's grungy image in the outside world. But last week, CNN was significantly one of the channels that ran stories detailing the destructive riots in Uganda, the harassment of Kizza Besigye – President Museveni's former aide, who now wants to take his job – and questioning Museveni's democratic credentials.
Many other regional and global media channels extensively covered Kampala's political and security troubles, a all calculated to water down whatever gains the CNN campaign had achieved.
The timing could not have been worse. In London, a Ugandan delegation was spending some $54,644 on a stall at the World Travel Market exhibition to showcase Uganda as an attractive tourism and investment destination. The exhibition hosts about 4,000 exhibitors from 180 countries. Before the Ugandans departed for the UK, they said they expected their stall to be visited by 6,000 people, all eager to hear why Uganda is the country to visit.
SOME OBSERVERS said the Ugandan exhibitors may have received even more than 6,000 visitors, but most were asking about the degeneration in the political and security situation in the country. And few are expected to be calling at Entebbe Airport any time soon.
The arrest and arraignment of Dr Besigye, the vicious riots in Kampala, the police and army's iron-fisted clampdown on the demonstrators, were all captured on camera and relayed to the world. The Internet is awash with stories of how President Museveni, once respected as a visionary statesman, has manipulated a constitutional amendment to allow him to remain president till he dies; and how he is so passionate about realising this ambition that his government has thrown all decency to the winds.
Arrests of political opponents and ruthless responses to demonstrators have occurred in many other places where men and political parties have dominated and misused power.
But the scenes outside the High Court in Kampala, where armed men in black T-shirts besieged judges, Besigye supporters and supporters who had been granted bail, seemed a first even in Africa's sorry record.
The men, who were identified as members of a newly-created Black Mambas Urban Hit Squad, were at the court to re-arrest the suspects whom a judge had granted bail. Some of these suspects, among them Besigye's brother, have been in remand for more than two years. As the siege continued, the Chief Justice and Principal Judge had to be sneaked out of the premises through a backdoor.
The so-called Black Mambas, some of whom appeared like they were auditioning for the cast of a Ninja or Rambo movie, were understood to be under the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, a body that has often been accused of torturing suspects.
"BRAND UGANDA," the campaign on CNN, touts Uganda as gifted by nature. It seeks to depict Uganda as a country with a myriad natural attractions – wildlife, rivers, mountains; and as a stable country with decent people. Last week's events punctured what illusion the world may have conceived about Uganda's suitability as a tourist destination.
But even before that, the murder on November 8 of Briton Steve Willis in Murchison Falls National Park by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerillas had done immense damage to the country's publicity campaign. Willis was the industrious proprietor of a range of tourist facilities in Uganda, including in Murchison Falls. He was killed while assisting a team of tourists that had rafted the Nile from Egypt through Sudan to northern Uganda.
His killing came on the heels of a spate of fatal LRA attacks on foreigners and international non-governmental organisations. So, is Uganda stable? While President Museveni and his publicists say it is, much of the world thinks not.
Just last month, many humanitarian agencies, some under the United Nations, either suspended activities in northern Uganda or scaled them back over the increasing rebel attacks.
The LRA, a rebel group which President Museveni has claimed to have defeated several times, continues to wreack havoc in the region, 18 years after it took on his well-trained and superbly funded army. The consequences: 1.6 million people live in squalid war camps where 1,000 die each month; HIV/Aids prevalence figures are 14 percent in many camps compared with the national average of six per cent; the region's children hardly-afford school and a large chunk of the Acholi people remain effectively disenfranchised and alienated.
And so, both the British and American governments have just advised their citizens against travelling to northern Uganda. The US Department of State said in its advisory that LRA attacks targeting foreigners have in recent weeks resulted in at least six deaths. "Most of these attacks occurred during daylight hours, and some occurred in areas that were previously believed to be secure," it said.
Uganda's desperate bid to look good in the eyes the international community earlier this year saw the engagement of an international public relations firm for a $600,000 fee.
This followed a spate of critical press in influential world media as Museveni was engineering the deletion of presidential term limits from the constitution.

Welcome Back to the "Old" Uganda

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again.
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again

Once you visit east Africa it is easy to fall for the place.

And while tourists come and go mainly through Nairobi - and limit their visits to Kenya and Tanzania - the biggest part of it is no postcard view. East Africa, after all, is a pretty tough neighborhood - to the north in Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia - there is not so much the rule of law as the rule of the AK-47 assault rifle. And around the hub of Lake Victoria, both Rwanda and Burundi continue a long, slow burn of tribal hatred unabated since the genocide which so embarassed the United States by our inaction in the wake of the "Blackhawk Down" abandonment of Somalia by then rookie President Bill Clinton. And though recently we have seen attacks by resurgent Somali "terror pirates" and are outraged by it - their motive is ideologically driven - fueled by reaction against the "hammer" of foreign policy-by-cruise missile during the Clinton years. Through this Uganda has been a rehabilitation "project" based on the possibility that a once failed-state (as it was during the genocidal civil war years under Idi Amin and Milton Obote in the 1970's and 80's), can re-emerge to take its rightful place among its more prominent and successful neighbors like Kenya and Tanzania. And what a project it is. As the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.) indicates:

Uganda's budget is highly dependent on donor assistance, with donor contributions expected to finance over half of the national budget this year. The World Bank is the largest donor to Uganda. Other multilateral donors include the United Nations Development Program, UNAIDS, United Nations Children's Emergency Fund, and the European Union. The United Kingdom is the leading bilateral donor to Uganda and focuses on justice, agriculture, environment, education, health, and public administration. The United States is the third ranking donor to Uganda, playing a key role in donor coordination as chair of sector working groups addressing conflict in northern Uganda...

Over half the Ugandan national budget comes out of the pockets of taxpayers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom - and that is after a reduction over the last three years by half in the direct budgetary assistance to the Ugandan regime. The glaring nature of problems associated with Uganda's governance, while ignored by the news media, have been "signalled" with increasing directness by our government for several years. As U.S.A.I.D. reports:

The disturbing rise in inequality over the past six years indicates there are serious underlying structural problems, with the benefits of economic growth going disproportionately to the wealthiest 20% of the population. Uganda's 3.4% population growth rate continues to erode economic gains, deepen poverty, and negatively affect other achievements in the social sectors.

So why is this? Uganda allows equal opportunity for all its citizens, right?

Hardly. The first clue comes, appropriately, from the United States Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook:

(O)nly one political organization, the Movement... [President MUSEVENI, chairman] is allowed to operate unfettered; note - the president maintains that the Movement is not a political party, but a mass organization, which claims the loyalty of all Ugandans. Note: the constitution requires the suspension of political parties while the Movement organization is in governance; of the political parties that exist but are prohibited from sponsoring candidates...

In addition to the cronyism and ban on all but rudimentary political opposition organizations, the government of Uganda has been mounting a quiet war on independent news media as well.

For years the independent press has been on tenterhooks, and in recent days the leading daily newspaper in Uganda has once again come under threat of closure by the regime.

In addition, the leading independent radio station in Uganda was taken off the air for a week this past August in punishment for reports made about the national government - and their most well known radio personality has been charged with sedition for (from the shockingly audacious language in the charges) "uttering words with the intention to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite dissatisfaction against the person of the president."

That makes me a purveyor of sedition as well, without doubt. Put me in prison, won't you, because I openly did "excite dissatisfaction" against the president of Uganda.

All of this points to a state of affairs where timid donors and a kneecapped media are unable to adequately express either the full context or gravity of the situation in Uganda. Now the arrest of the leading opposition presidential candidate on treason charges completes the picture. The riots in the streets are thrashing cries from a nation drowning under the oppression of their government. Where are independent outside journalists? Those courageous enough to ask the tough questions without fear of reprisal - digging into the situation hinted at by U.S.A.I.D. - a situation made clear in the Soviet-style actions taken against indigenous media by the Ugandan government. Right now those in charge in Kampala are betting on a two-pronged strategy: their recent foray into professional public relations counsel handling the media and pay-for-press documentaries on CNN, combined with Euro-American boredom about "mundane" corruption in far-flung Africa - means their hold on power will outlast the current focus on actions taken against their rivals.

Right now brave Americans are fighting and dying in Iraq. Are we going to let our boys fight and die for democracy in Iraq, and then let someone like Museveni pull the rug out under democracy - while we not only sit there and watch it happen, but are paying for it as well? It is precisely because of the principle of democracy, and impact its deprivation has on human rights and progress among the community of nations, that Saddam Hussein had to go. It is time to examine the case against Yoweri Museveni as well - in order to help stabilize east Africa and in order to make real progress against extreme poverty and disease in that region.

Urbane Update: Be sure to view this video report from Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 in the UK - it is crucially important to note that the international diplomatic community was present in great number at the courtroom. That is an important signal about due diligence into these charges (which includes both treason for some kind of involvement with Lord's Resistance Army terrorists, and an allegation of rape involving the daughter of a friend - the date of which predates the last election in Uganda, which is very curious). Why Human Rights Watch is so quiet about Dr. Besigye's arrest is unfortunate, but not a surprise.

Museveni Threatens Shut-Down of Opposition Press

All in the Family: senior General Salim Saleh is the brother of Uganda's president - who runs a one party government (IndyMedia.org)

Government Threatens to Close Uganda's Only Independent Newspaper The Daily Monitor

MONITOR TEAM

(Kampala) DAILY Monitor newspaper is facing closure over a story that indicated President Museveni had offered his brother Salim Saleh the new job of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF).

Highly placed sources said yesterday that the government had been forced to resort to this drastic measure following what it considers Daily Monitor's "failure to retract the story and apologise".

The Minister of State for Information, Dr James Nsaba Buturo, neither confirmed nor dismissed the threats of closure."I don‚t know what will happen next," he said. "We had demanded that that you retract the story and apologise, but you have insisted it's credible. We don't think it's credible."

A senior presidential aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was going to be very difficult for Daily Monitor to operate without retracting the story as demanded by the President. "The next decision is his [Museveni's]," the source said.

Sunday Monitor reported on October 13 that Gen. Saleh had turned down the Commander-in-Chief's offer to be the CDF, after which the job was offered to Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, the former army commander under the old UPDF structure.

The paper also reported that Nyakairima was to be sent for a military course in the United States if Saleh had accepted the CDF position.

But the government said in a statement on Sunday that the story was "false and an attempt to malign the President, discredit the UPDF, and undermine the authority of the Chief of Defence Forces."

Daily Monitor ran the full statement yesterday. But the government apparently felt publishing the full statement was not good enough. Interestingly, the Red Pepper, which also published a commentary that carried the same information as Sunday Monitor story, has not been asked to retract it or apologise. The Red Pepper reported that a day before announcing the army changes, Museveni had called Nyakairima and told him he would be sending him for a military course abroad. The paper said there had been speculation a day before that Saleh had been appointed CDF.

If the threats are implemented, it will be the second time the government is closing the 13-year old newspaper, and the third time it clamps down on the groups news outlets. In October 2002, the Monitor was closed after publishing a story that said an army helicopter had come down in rebel territory in northern Uganda.

Voice of America: Uganda Opposition Leader's "arrest is political"

Photo: BBC News

"They shoot them with tear gas and then they run away and come back. It's a mess, and, oh my God, it's a complete mess."

Ugandan Authorities Arrest Opposition Politician

By Cathy Majtenyi in Nairobi 14 November 2005
Majtenyi report - Download 288k Listen to Majtenyi report

Ugandan authorities Monday arrested a top opposition politician and presidential Col. Kizza Besigye as he was leaving a meeting near the capital, Kampala and reportedly charged him with treason.

Violence erupted as crowds surrounded the convoy of Kizza Besigye as he and members of his Forum for Democratic Change party were being escorted to the central police station in Kampala.

A member of Mr. Besigye's entourage who was traveling in his car, Beatrice Hamjuni-Smith, describes the scene to VOA.

"There's so many people in the streets, and shooting," she said. "They shoot them with tear gas and then they run away and come back. It's a mess, and, oh my God, it's a complete mess."

Ms. Hamjuni-Smith tells VOA riot police and other authorities surrounded the convoy and took them to the central police station, where she says government troops and police waited to take Mr. Besigye into custody.

She says the authorities have given them no indication as to why Mr. Besigye was arrested.

According to eyewitness reports, crowds in Kampala's streets burned cars, threw stones, and looted shops.

An army spokesman tells VOA it was the police, and not government troops, that arrested Mr. Besigye.

Reuters news service reports the director of prosecutions charged Mr. Besigye with treason, accusing him of trying to topple the government under the cover of a Ugandan rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo called the People's Redemption Army.

Mr. Besigye, who leads the political party Forum for Democratic Change, was a presidential candidate who ran against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2001 elections. He subsequently went into exile in South Africa following threats on his life.

The opposition official returned to Uganda on October 26th and is his party's presidential candidate in Uganda's elections, to be held next March.

Mr. Besigye has accused the Ugandan government of being a dictatorship and detaining political prisoners.

Ms. Hamjuni-Smith says Monday's arrest is political.

"I don't believe there are any specific charges. They are trying to get rid of him [Besigye] because of the reception he received and because of his political work," she noted.

Political parties in Uganda had been severely restricted in the past. It was only in July of this year that rules were relaxed following a referendum that allowed multi-party politics to be restored.

Several months ago, parliament had also abolished the two-term limit for president, leading many to speculate that Mr. Museveni intends to run again in next year's elections.

Riots in Kampala Uganda After Politician Arrested

Besigye Remanded, Riots in City

allAfrica.com Lillian Najjuma in Kampala

Rtd. Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye has been remanded to Luzira prison, on charges of treason. He is set to reappear in court tomorrow. Riots in town

Central Kampala has erupted into riots following the arrest of Rtd Col Kizza Besigye. Clouds of thick smoke were visible in the area stretching from the Central Police Station (CPS) to the Old Taxi Park as riot police fired tear gas canisters to ward off supporters of Dr. Kizza Besigye who are protesting his arrest - the court building where Besigye was being held was reportedly heavily guarded by anti-riot police.

Just like the destructive student strike that occured last Friday, millions worth of property has already beeen lost in the violent protests that erupted as a result of Col Besigye's arrest. Two cars, one of them belonging to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, have been reported burnt, while several shops have been looted in Kampala's Central Business District. Several shop owners have consequently have shut up shop.

Protests in Arua, Rukungiri
News reaching Daily Monitor indicates that supporters of FDC took to the streets in protest of his arrest in Arua and Rukungiri. Supporters in Rukungiri reportedly carried placards that denounced what they referred to as a government inspired witch-hunt of the FDC president Col. Kizza Besigye.

Museveni Links Opposition to LRA - Arrests Presidential Rival

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye arrested, to face treason charges

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Police arrested a major opposition leader Monday, saying for the first time they suspect him of links to the notorious rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The arrest touched off protests that police put down with tear gas and water cannon.

Kizza Besigye, who was greeted by huge crowds when he returned from exile last month and has mounted the strongest challenge to President Yoweri Museveni's 19-year rule, will be charged with treason on Tuesday, said Maj. Gen. Kale Kaihura, the police inspector general.

If convicted, he faces the maximum death sentence.

Besigye, once a close Museveni ally, and 22 others "are accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Uganda by force of arms." He is accused of recruiting, mobilizing arms and other logistical support as well as gathering intelligence to fight the government, Kaihura said.

The charges stem from evidence obtained from rebels captured in lawless eastern Congo and in neighboring western Uganda, said Kaihura, a trusted, longtime military aide to Museveni.

Former Lord's Resistance Army commanders, who have since abandoned a separate rebellion in northern Uganda, have provided credible evidence of links between Besigye's political party and the notorious insurgents, Kaihura told journalists.

Besigye's October 26 return from exile in South Africa "made it possible to proceed with the prosecution. His public statement justifying violence and refusing to renounce armed rebellion, confirmed the suspicion that he was actively involved in acts of war against Uganda," Kaihura said.

Police fired tear gas and used a water canon to disperse angry supporters as heavily armed officers transferred Besigye from the outskirts of the capital to the central police station.

"Museveni is a dictator! It is time for Museveni to go!" opposition supporters shouted near the police station. Others torched vehicles and roadside kiosks, looted from businesses and burnt tires on the streets.

Some businesses in central Kampala closed down amid fears of escalating violence.

Besigye has denied past accusations from the government that he led the People's Redemption Army, described as a group of armed Ugandan dissidents based in the east of neighboring Congo.

Government charges that Besigye has links with the Lord's Resistance Army are new.

The cult-like LRA is notorious for kidnapping children and using them as soldiers or concubines. It is made up of the remnants of a northern insurgency that began after Museveni, who like Besigye is a southerner, first took power. The rebels have declared they want to replace Museveni's government with one guided by the Ten Commandants.

Besigye has been making appearances across the country as he prepared a bid to run in March presidential elections. He was arrested as he returned to the capital, Kampala, from political meetings in southwestern Uganda, his home region.

Besigye finished second in 2001 presidential elections. After the elections, he fled Uganda saying he feared for his life and because Museveni had threatened with arrest.

In the past the government had accused Besigye of terrorist activities, but never provided evidence. Museveni's office released a statement when Besigye returned last month saying, "The president clearly states that he has nothing against the return of Besigye. He however advised that should there be allegations of Besigye's involvement in criminal activities, the normal course of investigations will be carried out and the law will take its due course."
Besigye was Museveni's personal physician during a five-year insurgency that Museveni led before coming to power in 1986.

Museveni had come to power hailed as a reformist in a country that suffered the brutal tyranny of Idi Amin in the 1970s and 1980s. Museveni's progressive credentials have been called into questions amid what his critics see as signs he wants to remain president for life.

Uganda Oppostion Leader Arrested

Some opposition figures see the charges as an attempt to stop Dr Besigye from contesting next year's poll.

Uganda riots over treason charge BBC 14 November 2005

The arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye has sparked running battles between his supporters and Ugandan police firing tear gas and bullets.

Dr Besigye was arrested three weeks after returning from a four-year exile. He has been charged with treason, as well as the alleged rape of a woman in 1997. Mr Besigye denies alleged links to two rebel groups.

Dr Besigye is seen as the strongest challenger to President Yoweri Museveni in elections due next March.

He was arrested after addressing a rally just outside the capital, Kampala before being escorted to a police station in the centre of the city.

Several cars and shops were set on fire as disturbances spread out from the city centre.

Dictatorship
Suleiman Kiggundu, chairman of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which is sponsoring Dr Besigye in the election, condemned the arrest. "This is a barbaric act that we are witnessing. This is a savage act," he told the AFP news agency.

"We are not going to take this taking lying down. We are also going to use all means, political, legal and any other," he said. "We are going organise people to demonstrate against this."

Some opposition figures see the charges as an attempt to stop Dr Besigye from contesting next year's poll.

Once Mr Museveni's doctor, Dr Besigye ran against the president in 2001 before fleeing, saying his life was in danger.

On his return to Uganda last month, Mr Besigye told reporters that the time was right to return and take on what he termed "the dictatorship".

Leaked letter
The government has often linked Dr Besigye's name to the People's Redemption Army, a rebel group allegedly based in the lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr Besigye has denied any link with the group, but in past interviews has threatened to go to the bush to overthrow the government.

Police chief Major General Kale Kaigura on Monday also accused Dr Besigye of links to the brutal Lord's Resistance Army which operates in northern Uganda.
"His public statements, justifying violence and refusing to renounce armed rebellion, confirmed the suspicion he was actively involved in acts of war against Uganda," he said.

If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

Shortly before Dr Besigye's return, Mr Museveni wrote to his cabinet colleagues, saying Dr Besigye could face criminal charges.

In the letter, leaked by cabinet minister Moses Ali, the president says he is not opposed to Dr Besigye returning to Uganda.

But it continues: "However, I am reliably informed that he may have long-standing criminal charges that would be brought against him. The cabinet needs to be aware of that."

Is the UN Interfering With Democracy in Uganda?

"(T)he people of Uganda and the international community would like to know how long the United Nations has had this information and why it was not disclosed until this crucial pre-election time..."

Via e-mail came this copy of a letter sent to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan:

We would like to draw your attention to a matter of grave concern to the national security of Uganda and to the personal rights and freedoms of Dr. Kizza Besigye, the President of the Forum for Democratic Change. On November 9th 2005, Ugandans were shocked by the utterance of grave statements attributed to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the DR Congo, Mr. William Lacy Swing.

1. Using rumors of the PRA to undermine the democratic process in Uganda. At a press conference that he addressed jointly with the President of the Republic of Uganda, Mr. Swing is reported to have stated that: “We have always recognized the presence of many Ugandan rebel groups like the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) and PRA (People’s Redemption Army) is there. I cannot give their numbers at the moment, but they are part of an estimated 2,000 Ugandan rebels”.

In the same report published in a Ugandan national newspaper, The Monitor, dated November 10th 2005, it was revealed that: ‘an internal briefing on foreign armed groups in DRC by MONUC dated September 6, copies of which Daily Monitor has seen, the UN force puts the strength of PRA between 300-400 men. It says the PRA operates between Mahagi and Kpandroma and that the force has “moved to Berunda and has now joined ADF/NALU in North Kivu.” The Monuc document also states that PRA has links with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) but adds, “There is no significant evidence that the PRA represents any significant threat to Uganda’s stability”. Monuc documents also name Besigye as the “political leader of the PRA”. It also says Besigye is “ known for his business ingenuity”.

While the report does not reveal the source of the UN internal briefing, this revelation coming at a time when Mr. Swing addressed a press conference in Uganda, as part of the United Nations Security Council visit to Uganda, gives the impression that the United Nations may be partial and potentially interfering in the elections of a sovereign state contrary to international laws and the UN’s own established traditions.

Given the grave consequences of the statements made by Mr. Swing, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and the people of Uganda have a right to know the position of the Secretary General on a number of critical issues.

Specifically, the people of Uganda would like to know the strength, location, leadership, and financiers of the PRA, if in fact such a group does exist. In addition, the people of Uganda and the international community would like to know how long the United Nations has had this information and why it was not disclosed until this crucial pre-election time, and finally whether the Secretary General affirms the statement of his envoy as being factually accurate and empirically tenable.

Your Excellency, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that a member state of the United Nations, namely the United Kingdom, is on record for publicly stating that based on their investigations and intelligence the PRA rebel group does not exist or represent any significant threat to the security of Uganda.

The British Foreign Minister Chris Mullin stated the following in the House of Commons in March 2005: “The Ugandan Government have alleged that the People's Redemption Army (PRA) is an armed group which has been attempting to establish a network in north-western Uganda. We have seen no evidence of this or that the PRA represents any significant threat to Uganda's stability.” See House of Commons Hansard, March 9, 2005 (Column 1896W). How then does the United Nations reconcile its statement with the position of the United Kingdom?

We assume that the Secretary General is aware that rumors of the existence of the PRA have been made a central issue by the Ugandan government as a means of persecuting political opponents and the rumors have intensified ahead of the upcoming presidential election campaigns. Government security agents have used the rumors to arrest, illegally detain, incarcerate, torture, and murder political opponents, some of whom are still languishing in jails without trial three years after their arrest. Accordingly, we believe that the UN envoy Mr. Swing, had full knowledge of the gravity of his statement and could not have made it in a casual and perfunctory manner.

2. UN continued indifference to gross human rights violations by Government of Uganda. There have been a series of reports by the UN and international human rights organizations exposing human rights violations by the government of Uganda in the Great Lakes Region as it pursued military adventure and illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo, including full-scale battles inside the territory of DRC. These wars, which were very costly to both Ugandans and Congolese, were never sanctioned by the people of Uganda through Parliament as required by our national Constitution and therefore violated both national and international laws.

The Final Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (UN Security Council Document No. S/2002/1146 dated 16th October 2002) states:

“The objective of the elite network in the areas controlled by Uganda has been to exercise monopolistic control over the area’s principal natural resources, cross-border trade, and tax revenues for the purpose of enriching members of the network…The Uganda network consists of a core group of members including certain high-ranking UPDF officers, private businessmen and selected rebel leaders/administrators. UPDF Lieutenant General (Ret.) Salim Saleh and Major General James Kazini are the key figures. Other members include the Chief of Military Intelligence, Colonel Noble Mayombo, UPDF Colonel Kahinda Otafiire and Colonel Peter Karim. UPDF (Uganda’s military) operations have contributed to the arming of large numbers. UPDF have trained the militia of their Ituri commercial allies, the Hema, and provoked the need for the victims of Hema attacks to defend themselves.”

Furthermore, in a Security Council Report S/2005/30 of 25th January, 2005, a panel of Experts reported to the UN Security Council that in violation of a UN arms embargo, “the Group gathered credible information indicating that Uganda had provided State-authorized arms transfers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that their troops had been directly involved in supporting dissident forces.”

In spite of these indictments by the UN’s own experts, the organization is not on record for publicly condemning the government of Uganda for these criminal activities and human rights violations in which over three million people have lost their lives. In northern Uganda, for example, the United Nations reports that 1,000 people die each week in camps for internally displaced people where over 1.6 million Ugandans have been herded by the Uganda government, and have lived in these deplorable camps for 10 years. It is surprising and puzzling, therefore, that the UN would focus attention instead on a shadowy organization which only the Uganda government claims to exist.

3. The people of Uganda deserve to know the basis of UN’s position on the PRA. The people of Uganda deserve to know the basis on which the United Nations is making these grave allegations and conclusions about the PRA. We therefore request the following: (1.) The official UN documents referred to in the report, which contain vital information on the PRA including its numerical strength, its goals and objectives, its leadership and financiers. (2.) The official UN findings on the existence of the PRA.

In addition, we are deeply concerned that UN documents have formed the basis of slanderous statements about a leader of a major Ugandan political party, Dr. Kizza Besigye, namely “Monuc documents also name Besigye as the “political leader of the PRA”. It also says Besigye is “known for his business ingenuity.” Accordingly, we request that the statement be immediately retracted by the UN and the envoy be publicly reprimanded by the UN.

We also request that the highest authority in the UN should make a statement clarifying the matter of PRA and its leadership to the people of Uganda.

Your Excellency, given the gravity of this development for the people of the Great Lakes Region, we will consider pursuing legal action to rectify the injury caused by the utterances of your envoy and we urge you to address the concerns raised in this correspondence at the earliest possible opportunity. We have copied this correspondence to major regional and international stakeholders and members of the media.

Yours very sincerely,

Anne Mugisha
Special Envoy, Office of the President
Forum for Democratic Change
Uganda

Uganda Opposition Calls for Unity and Reconciliation

Besigye forgives opponents
New Vision Online Monday, 14th November, 2005

By Chris Ahimbisibwe, Raymond Baguma and Caleb Bahikaho

THE Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president, Col. Kizza Besigye, has forgiven his political opponents who wronged him and harassed party supporters. Besigye, who is on a tour of western Uganda, called for national reconciliation ahead of the general elections in March 2006. He said the late Spencer P. Turwomwe advised him (Besigye) to stand against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2001 presidential elections.

In Bushenyi, Besigye said Turwomwe and his wife, Beti Kamya visited him at his home and sold him the idea. He visited Turwomwe’s relatives in Ntungamo village, Bumbeire sub-county, Bushenyi district on Friday and laid a wreath on his grave before addressing a rally at St. Kagwa primary school in Bushenyi town. FDC officials including Chaapa Karuhanga, Ogenga Latigo and Prof. Richard Kaijuka accompanied Besigye.

Turwomwe’s mother said, “Besigye we have been feeling hurt because of the death of your friend but now that you have come, you will console the family.”

At a rally at Rukungiri stadium, Besigye said, “Despite the suffering our supporters and I have gone through, in the spirit of reconciliation, we forgive them. This is not because we are weak, but for the good of our country. Let us show the rest of the country that reconciliation is possible. We want national peace.”

Speaking on Rukungiri FM radio station owned by health minister Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, Besigye said government agents harrassed his family over allegations that he was involved with People’s Redemption Army rebels. “How can a two-year-old boy become a rebel?” Besigye asked as he again denied links with rebel groups.

Besigye said forgiveness was in line with the FDC slogan of ‘One Uganda One People,’ adding that it unites people irrespective of tribe, sex or religion.

“We should dedicate our energy to reconciliation. Our brothers in northern Uganda have been living under unbearable conditions in IDP camps for 20 years with no access to health facilities. We are calling for unity,” he told hundreds of supporters.

Urbane Analysis: Besigye's travel to northern Uganda is perilous, and sets up a pretext for action against him by the regime.

Child Soldier Documentary Enrages Uganda Government

Amnesty International

Uganda Movie Angering the Uganda Government

Copenhagen Post Online 11 November 2005

The Ugandan government is trying to censor a Danish documentary that tells the story of a former child soldier in the African country

A Danish documentary has become a thorn in the side of the Ugandan government, which is trying to have the film changed, national broadcaster DR reported.

Both Uganda's ambassador in Denmark, Omar M. Lubulwa, and President Museveni's personal senior consultant have repeatedly tried to stop the film, which they call 'pure fabrication'.

'We have told the Ugandan ambassador that we took his protests and rejection into consideration, but that they have not given us reason to remove as much as a comma from the film,' said producer Lise Lense-Møller, from the production company Magic Hour Films.

'In the Footsteps of the Soldier' tells the story of Steven Ndugga, a refugee in Denmark.

Ndugga narrates of his past as a child soldier in Uganda, and how he lost his wife to the Ugandan intelligence agency's torturers.

The film also describes how children are recruited by the government forces. The Ugandan Embassy has criticised the film harshly and attempted to convince its sponsors, the Danish Film Institute and national broadcaster DR, to withdraw their support.

The embassy sent out a fax casting doubt on whether Ndugga's wife ever existed, and claims the film team are both imprecise and untrustworthy.

None of the parties involved have withdrawn from the project, so the documentary premiered as scheduled on the opening night of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, where it is nominated in the category Amnesty Awards, as a film dealing with important political and human rights issues.

The protagonist, Steven Ndgugga, disappeared during the filming, when he returned to Uganda to search for his 10-year-old son, after finding out that he was alive and serving as a soldier. Ndugga said his plan was to rescue him.

DR's online news service attempted to get a response from Lubulwa, but he declined to comment further on the case.

In 2003, international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch documented on-going recruitment of Ugandan children into Local Defence Units, which were intended to provide security for local villages, but were reportedly used to fight alongside government forces against rebel forces, which mostly consist of kidnapped child soldiers.

Urbane Analysis: Child soldiers are a very touchy subject for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. And now comes this report: "The protagonist, Steven Ndugga, disappeared during the filming, when he returned to Uganda..."

Here we go again - people disappear in Uganda when they dare speak out about the regime - when will news media focus on that issue? Oh, and in the interests of full disclosure of facts and circumstances related to this case, here is the statement in rebuttal of this documentary by Ugandan Ambassador to Denmark Omar Migadde Lubulwa. It sets forth a completely different explanation of this controversy, a difference of opinion which has as question number one: where is Steven Ndugga? Uganda should be moving heaven and earth right now to verify that this man is alive - and then let loose the news media on him about this controversy. Uganda can afford to hire the most prestigious public relations firm - Hill & Knowlton, and have documentaries made about them care of Cable News Network. They might want to get savvy about this documentary before it starts making the rounds of film festivals in cities hosting the Gulu Walk - because if they don't, Steven Ndugga's story might touch a match to the growing tinder of resentment worldwide at the situation in Uganda - brought about by the Uganda governmental regime's own actions. In other words, regardless of the fact-checking which may be lacking in the Steven Ndugga documentary - it is emblematic of the human cost of abject incompetence, corruption and imperiousness which stymies progress in Uganda at the cost of misery and suffering by over half of the twenty five million people in that country.

We Need More of This in Darfur!

U.S. envoy shouts at Darfur official
'I can't trust your government'

"I can't trust your government," - U.S. envoy Robert Zoellick to Darfur official

SHEK EN NIL, Sudan (AP) -- A shouting match Thursday between a senior U.S. envoy and a Darfur government official illustrated the difficulties of peacemaking in the restive region of western Sudan.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick had listened to African Union military observers describe a recent outbreak of violence that had turned southern Darfur's Shek en Nil into a ghost village of burned out homes, and heard local leaders profess their commitment to peace.

Regional commissioner Sadiek Abdel Nabi followed as Zoellick stepped away for what was to have been a private additional AU briefing in the remnants of a village home. An angry Zoellick ordered Nabi out, saying: "I want to hear a straight story ... and I can't trust your government."

When Nabi refused, Zoellick said he would protest to President Omar el-Bashir.

"I am Bashir here!" Nabi, who had previously relied on an Arabic translator, shouted three times in English, standing inches (centimeters) from Zoellick.

An AU officer persuaded Nabi to back off, and Zoellick heard details of three attacks on Shek en Nil in late September -- all violations of a tattered cease-fire.

In the first attack, Sudan Liberation Movement rebels took the area. Days later, government troops retook it and were in control when so-called Janjaweed militiamen swept in for the third attack on Shek en Nil, burning and looting the homes of civilians and raping women, according to AU observers.

Nabi and other local officials did not address the implication that the army and the Janjaweed had colluded. The government has repeatedly denied accusations it unleashed the ethnic Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed as a tactic in the war.

After decades of clashes over land and water in Darfur that often pitted the region's ethnic Arab tribes against its ethnic African tribes, conflict erupted on a wider scale in February 2003. Then, the Sudan Liberation Movement and the other major rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms against the Sudanese government amid accusations of repression and unfair distribution of wealth.

The United Nations estimates that 180,000 people have died, mainly through famine and disease. No firm figures exist on the number killed in fighting. Several million more have either fled into neighboring Chad or been displaced inside Sudan.

Zoellick later Thursday visited one of the camps for the displaced, where rape and other violence against women is common. The Janjaweed sometimes attack the camps.

Four hours before Zoellick arrived at Kalma camp, some 50 Arab men on horseback reportedly went in and shot one man dead while searching for cattle they claimed were stolen.

The presence of smaller, armed groups and a split within the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement has made the situation even more volatile.

Zoellick has pressed the rebels to resolve their feud. His deputy, Jendayi Frazer, left his delegation Thursday for a previously unannounced trip to meet elsewhere in Darfur with Minni Minnawi, leader of one of the rebel factions, according to an African Union officer who identified himself only as Ajumbo. U.S. officials did not immediately comment on Frazer's sudden departure from the planned schedule.

Some 7,000 African Union peacekeepers deployed to stabilize Darfur have been unable to stem the spike in violence, because they do not have enough troops, proper military hardware and means for rapid movement in the region the size of France, Jan Pronk, the special U.N. envoy to Sudan, said after meeting with Zoellick Wednesday in Khartoum.

There are also reports that the peacekeepers are running short of ammunition, Zoellick said late Wednesday.

The African Union has repeatedly asked for more money and logistical support from the West for its Darfur operations.

New York-based Refugees International, which provides humanitarian assistance and protection to displaced persons around the world, said Wednesday that donor governments have failed to provide adequate support for the AU, while the Sudanese government places "innumerable obstacles in its path."

The British charity Oxfam said Wednesday that the AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur needed help from the international community.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press

Urbane Analysis: Call me a fan of Zoellick-plomacy! Now we're getting somewhere...

What the New York Times doesn't want you to know

Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.
Corporal Jeffrey B. Starr of Washington State - United States Marine - American hero
Telling in his own words why he took the risk and laid down his life for freedom in Iraq.

The cycle of famine continues in Kenya

RAF photo
Emergency airdrops of food have been part of Kenya's experience for over half a century - how long before this cycle of dependency is broken?

'Mass suffering' looms over drought-hit Kenya, says UN agency seeking relief funds

UN News Centre 2 November 2005 – With northeastern Kenya plagued by erratic rainfall, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for $25 million to assist 1.2 million people facing critical food shortages.

"We need donations now if food is to reach these people in time to avoid mass suffering because of drought. This problem is not going to go away if it is ignored," WFP Kenya Country Director Tesema Negash said.

An earlier appeal did not produce enough pledges, he said, and the situation in Northeastern Province, home to 900,000 of the most vulnerable people, had deteriorated since July.

"More livestock, including camels, are dying," he said. "The animals that are still alive have to walk further and further for water."

The unusual long rains this year, with most of the heavy rain falling in May instead of April, affected this year's harvests, particularly in the eastern and coastal lowlands, and the impact of the October-December short rains would not be seen for several months, WFP said. The drought emergency operation was extended in September for six months.

Meanwhile, WFP urged all countries, including traditional and non-traditional donors from the European Community and the oil-producing States, to assist nearly 10 million people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe with urgent food assistance until next April.

"Governments have the financial power to save lives in southern Africa," WFP Regional Director Mike Sackett said in Geneva, Switzerland. "However, some governments have yet to make a contribution to the regional operation or are simply undecided – faced with competing humanitarian disasters. The children of southern Africa need help now, before their tiny emaciated bodies appear on television screens."

Unless donors come forward with cash contributions to plug WFP's immediate shortfall of $157 million for Southern Africa, many people would not receive help in time, he said.

"The United States is by far the biggest donor to WFP's operations in southern Africa, giving more than $104 million this year, while members of the European Union have given $64 million," Mr. Sackett said. "No funds have yet been pledged by the oil-rich States to our current regional appeal – even though oil prices have been reaching record highs for most of this year."

Urbane Analysis: East Africa could be the breadbasket of that entire continent, while Lake Victoria could provide the protein needs of everyone in Africa -plus- sustain a profitable export market as well. Yet governments in sub-Saharan Africa are steadfastly corrupt and incompetent. The donor nations have forgiven debts: we now have an obligation to the ordinary citizens of Africa, who have suffered far too long at the hands of their leaders, to partner with them in speaking out and demanding accountability. This is not "interfering" in the internal politics of another country, this is basic caring for our neighbor.

Miria Obote's apology

From this posting on a message board about Uganda politics during the week after former Ugandan dictator Milton Obote's death, came this exposition on the reality of the Obote legacy:

Its a culture among the Baganda not to talk ill of a dead person, even if that is the only truth there is to be told about him/her.

But as far as Obote is concerned, history cannot help remembering him as:

- the first Ugandan leader to stage a coup (1966);

- the first to introduce the use of a gun in national politics (1966 and 1980s);

- the first to abrogate a constitution (1966) and introduce the culture of Uganda's presidents disregarding the rule of law;

- the first to make Ugandan soldiers see their primary job as that of protecting the president rather than the people, and giving the army an ethnic bias;

- the first to turn prisons from being intruments of rehabilitating criminals to being chambers of torturing political opponents;

- the first to introduce 'detention without trial', the first to sponsor state violence against fellow Ugandans (1966 and 1980s);

- the first president to claim that everything was well and good in Uganda, whereas hundrends of Ugandans were dying everyday at the hands of the national army and many more being butchered in the camps of internally displaced people (like) Luwero (1980s), in Nile Mansions, in Kireka, in Lubiri, in Makindye, in Katabi, in Kololo, in Argentina House, in Mmengo Republic House, in Old Kampala, in Impala House, in Revenue Office, in Standard Hotel, in Basiima House, in the Officer's Mess at Makindye, in Kasajjagirwa, on Arcacia Avenue, (and) all over Buganda;

- the first to abolish most of the universally accepted basic human rights and turn Uganda into a one party state;

- the first president to condone and participate in theft and corruption (gold from Congo);

- the first to introduce sychophancy at the expense of merit into the civil and political life of Uganda; and

- the only President in World history to have been toppled twice by his own army chief.

Wangaala Nnyaffe Buganda!

Now that is telling it like it is. And that has been about the most "open" discussion of Obote's legacy. Until now - when Milton Obote's widow Miria apologized for her husband. The Amsterdam News reports:

In a surprising confession, the widow of former president Milton Obote, Miria, apologized to Ugandans for the wrongs of her husband, Uganda's New Vision Web site reports.

''In the spirit of reconciliation, I apologize to all who feel that they have been wronged by my husband Milton Obote. Please, forgive him,'' she told mourners recently.

Miria was speaking at a funeral service for the twice-deposed two-time president at his residence in Senior Quarters in Lira Municipality.

''Milton would have forgiven you himself had he been able to return home alive in time. He is no more with us. Let the healing process begin. Too much hate and acrimony has caused too much blood.''

The death of Obote in a South African hospital on Oct. 10 has drawn mixed reactions in Uganda.

In Buganda, where several thousands of Ugandans were massacred in the Luweero triangle between 1980 and 1985, hundreds have been celebrating the death of Obote, who they refer to as kawenkene (devil).

At the state funeral, led by Roman Catholic and Anglican bishops and a Muslim sheik, current President Yoweri Museveni laid a wreath on the casket of his former foe during a special session of parliament.

Museveni called for national reconciliation, saying the spirit of forgiveness could even be extended to Obote's successor, the dictator Idi Amin.

Which is ironic, given that even as Museveni's most serious political challenger returns to Uganda, the president does nothing to remove the specter of arrest and charging against Kiiza Besigye. Forgive Idi Amin, charge Kiiza Besigye - that is the world of Uganda strongman Yoweri Museveni. He forgives mass murderers from the past, but jails political reformers in his midst.

One of Uganda's greatest gifts is its abiding national character in everyday people which strives toward reconciliation and cooperation. The Ugandan people have qualities of peacemaking and civil society that we in the rest of the world could do well to emulate. But the awful fact is that they labor toward this DESPITE what the regimes of brutality and corruption there have thwarted - since the first government of the post-colonial era was cut short by machinations culminating in the assassination of Prime Minister Benedicto Kiwanuka. This is a legacy which has created enormous political reticence among everyday people in Uganda. So I am speaking up for them. And why shouldn't I? My tax dollars prop up the Museveni regime. It is time to demand accountability.

Where's Waldo?

Blogger Patrick Bell wants to know, where's Waldo, err, Gregoire? As he put it in this post at Respectfully Republican:

Much like where's Waldo, I want to know what our state's most powerful and outspoken Democrat is up to these days. As Attorney General, Gregoire was quite regularly in the news promoting this settlement or that lawsuit. Now, she's nowhere to be seen! I'll tell you what I think. Gregoire's approval rating as Governor is one of the lowest of all Governors' in the nation, and really only paralleled on the federal level (sorry Dubya). She's staying out of the limelight until this year's election is over, because she's perceptive enough to know a great number of voter's still despise her.

And now in today's SeaTimes comes the headline "Man didn't threaten to kill Gregoire" - regarding the acquittal yesterday of Michael James Goodall on charges of making a death threat against Christine Gregoire. Acquittal, as in not guilty. Innocent, as in he didn't do it. The Times story states:

Goodall, who has no criminal history, claimed that he'd meant he was going to "kill" Gregoire, who was state attorney general before she was governor, with the truth. He said he had no intention of physically harming her.

The truth is a potent weapon, no doubt about it. Keep an eye on Sharkansky v. King County to watch more skillful use of that weapon.

Is Seattle ready for the "Emerald Gate" Bridge?

The cable-stay bridge of the Fraser River near Westminster, British Columbia - an idea now in play for Elliott Bay

A bridge the latest idea to replace viaduct
By Susan Gilmore

Imagine an Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement 80 feet in the air, supported with columns 250 feet tall.

This so-called "signature bridge" idea is quietly being explored by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) as a replacement for the aging viaduct along the Seattle waterfront.

"It's very early concept work," said David Dye, viaduct project manager, acknowledging that this bridge would cost about the same as rebuilding the viaduct, or about $2.5 billion. That's $1 billion less than a tunnel the city wants.

When the DOT realized this summer that it may have only enough money to rebuild the viaduct, and not replace it with a tunnel, Dye asked his design team to work on some design proposals. From that came the latest idea, a six-lane "cable-stay" bridge about twice the height of the viaduct. It would be supported by four towers, each about 250 feet high.

A cable-stay bridge has taut wires that reach directly from the towers to the road deck. An example is the Highway 509 bridge over the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma.

It would be called a "signature bridge" because it would have architectural significance, rather than what Dye called "a utilitarian, concrete, run-of-the-mill structure."

But the plan could face strong opposition from Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who wants to replace the viaduct with a tunnel.

"The city is working with WSDOT [Washington State Department of Transportation] on the preferred option, which is the tunnel," said Marianne Bichsel, Nickels' spokeswoman. "The time for considering alternatives has passed."

Doug MacDonald, head of the DOT, said the bridge idea has not gotten very far at his agency. "Out-of-the-box thinking is a virtue, but at the end of the day a good plan requires more than a creative eye. This was generated from a couple of WSDOT designers working with colored ink and napkins."

MacDonald said the public is not interested in flights of fancy: "This is not a WSDOT proposal. Far from it."

Dye agreed that the bridge idea is just an idea. "This is a very early concept, slightly beyond the cartoon stage," he said.

Nonetheless, the advantages, said Dye, are that it would maintain the view of the waterfront for motorists, it could be built with the existing viaduct in place, it would be quieter on the waterfront, and it would open up the area to more light.

Among the disadvantages are that there would be no downtown exits; the huge towers would have a visual impact; and because it wouldn't have two levels, as the current viaduct does, it would be wider, which troubles MacDonald.

Dye said the four towers would be erected along the waterfront, between King Street to the south and Pike and Pine streets to the north.

Dye said the DOT has not made this bridge idea public and hasn't even briefed legislators. Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, House Transportation chairman, said he knew nothing about the signature-bridge proposal. "There's a lot of conceptual ideas out there," he said. "There's an idea a minute."

Dye said he's not trying to keep the idea secret, but said it simply has not evolved beyond a concept design.

"For something like this to move forward, we would have to come to the conclusion that a reasonable time had passed and there was no money for the tunnel and we were going to move to an aerial solution," Dye said. "Then we'd look at different design concepts and this is a natural extension of the thinking."

If this cable-stay bridge becomes a serious option, Dye said, the idea would go back before the public. He doesn't know whether it would mean rewriting the environmental-impact statement.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

Urbane Analysis: This is an idea that won't go away - adding width to the transportation "hourglass" through downtown Seattle has to be an option. Digging tunnels adjacent to a crumbling seawall demands this solution - since even if we had the money to go the way Greg Nickels wants to (we don't), we sure as heck don't have the TIME to spend ten years on a seawall-plus-tunnel project shutdown of the Seattle waterfront.

The bridge idea adds lanes to the traffic equation, since a fully restored (and, quite frankly, broad avenue along) Alaskan Way would then be a viable surface route into downtown.

Work at the base of the four towers (basically twice the length shown in the Fraser River bridge above) would allow for development of enhanced protected cruise ship terminals and transient vessel moorage - a double benefit for the Seattle economy.

What makes the bridge idea impossible to pass up (besides the lower cost) is that we can build the bridge, and then when its done, knock down the viaduct and put in a broad avenue. We avoid the nightmare of taking away traffic lanes.
Politicians need to understand the extraordinary depth of outrage to be expressed in their direction if we suffer a permanent shutdown of the viaduct (for any reason) prior to building more lanes. People can be pretty selfish in their desire to get around by car - its a fact of life that isn't going to change. And with the impending demise of the monorail taking away that alternative, getting in to and out of downtown Seattle by rubber wheel is going to be the predominate mode of transportation for the next several decades to come. Don't kid yourself, Sound Transit isn't going to reduce one wit of congestion - the demand for greater capacity and efficiency in our region's road system is growing right along with the population.

It is time to face facts and put a public process regarding the bridge concept out before the public. Update: and now this from "from a Seattle engineer, Craig Keller. He warned that disruption caused by nine years of tunnel construction could be devastating to the cruise ship industry and to the waterfront itself."

Now there's a big fat clue.

Focusing on the broader security challenge in Africa

Globalsecurity.org

Terrorism is not just a western concern. It is an international issue requiring a coherent international response. Africa has a vital role to play in ensuring security within and beyond its shores. -Kurt Shillinger

Africa not immune to terror

Kurt Shillinger, South African Institute of International Affairs
Business Day (South Africa)

THE three suicide bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali (in September), coming so soon after similar attacks in Britain and Egypt, underscore two critical and correlative points.

First, the threat of Islamist violence is global. It is unwise — and from a policy perspective indefensible — to regard terrorism as “the west’s issue”, since more Muslim states have experienced the tragic effects of this problem than have western states. Second, recognising the threat is a prerequisite to building effective counterterrorism strategies.

Unfortunately, too many African states and subregional organisations still do not regard terrorism as a priority — or even a relevant concern. Not all should, of course. Violent Islam does not impose the same degree of urgency across the continent. For many states, endemic poverty, health epidemics and domestic conflict are rightly more immediate.

Bloody bombings in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Casablanca underscore that Africa is not immune to terrorism. But overall, the failure of governments to meet even the most basic obligations stipulated by various African counter-terrorism accords has left the African Union (AU), the regional economic communities and the states ill-prepared to assess the threat, stem the exploitation of their vulnerabilities, protect their people and contribute to global security.

In 1999, in the wake of the devastating attacks against the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) adopted its Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism. Drawing a “growing link” between terrorism and organised crime, including trafficking in arms and drugs, the document required all members to adopt antiterror legislation, accede to United Nations instruments and share intelligence on terrorist activities.

Three years later, at a meeting in Algiers, the AU adopted a plan to bring states in line with the convention. Among other things, the plan called for the creation of an African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism to co-ordinate analyses of terrorism and counterterrorism activities on the continent with AU member states and the regional economic communities.

The centre is now up and running — sort of. The Algerian government allocated a vast compound just east of downtown Algiers and seconded some of its senior civilian and military counterterrorism experts to establish the infrastructure. Ultimately, the AU is supposed to designate a permanent director and 20 full-time staff to what would be Africa’s counterterrorism nerve centre.

Algeria’s total commitment thus far amounts to $6,2m. The primary buildings have been outfitted. The flags of AU member states flutter in the main drive. But inside, the hi-tech hardware sits idle. The AU pledged $769000 to the centre this year, none of which has been allocated or is likely to be until after the next heads of state summit in January.

The states and regional economic communities are required to designate focal points to liaise with the centre. Only 20 of 53 states and three of eight regional organisations have done so. SA is among those states that have not identified a focal point. Seventeen states still have not ratified the OAU convention. Meanwhile, neither the permanent director nor staff have been appointed to the centre.

Were it not for the passionate commitment of the Algerians, who have waged a long and costly battle against violent Islamism from within, the centre would be one more unrealised pledge by the AU. Algiers has made it clear, however, that it is not prepared to prop up the facility indefinitely. The vision of an integrated counterterrorism system in Africa thus remains as uncertain as the AU’s willingness or ability to meet its obligations to it.

If the political will to allocate resources to countering terrorism is a function, firstly, of recognition of the threat and, secondly, of trade-offs with competing priorities, two questions arise: one, what is the nature of the terrorism threat in Africa? And two, what would a realistic interstate and cross-regional counterterrorism network in Africa look like?

The state of threats and concerns about Islamist violence in Africa can be broken down into four main areas. First, Somalia and the Horn. The statelessness in Somalia and weak governance throughout east Africa remain a primary concern, enabling elements of al-Qaeda to retain an enduring presence within proximity of important western targets across the region. Second, Algerian Islamists with links to al-Qaeda have been pushed southwards by successful counterterrorism measures in the north, resulting in growing signs of Islamist violence across the Sahelian states.

Third, Nigerian Islamists calling themselves the Taliban after the deposed Islamist regime in Afghanistan have rendered the north vulnerable to infiltration by outside groups. This, coupled with the designation by al-Qaeda of Nigeria as a target for an operational base poses concerns. And fourth, SA, with its strong banking sector and large Muslim communities, functions as an important logistical and terror finance transit point.

The AU documentation on counter-terrorism envisions a highly integrated network of regional and state focal points co-ordinated centrally through the centre in Algiers. This seems highly unlikely to be achieved in the short or even medium term, given constraints on the ability of member states to meet funding commitments and the limited capacity of the regional economic communities.

The immediate strategy should be to build Africa’s capacity on the basis of a blunt and practical division of labour among states and regional organisations according to their strengths.

That means building strong co-operative ties between the centre in Algiers and the key states where concerns about terrorism and capacity to respond converge. This would include Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Mali, SA and Mozambique. Critically, it also requires resolving the conflict over Western Sahara in order to integrate Morocco — the only African state not in the AU — into continental counterterrorism strategies.

This leaves two roles for regional organisations such as the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of West African States. One, focus primarily on border issues to co-ordinate interstate responses to trafficking of illicit goods, bogus travel documents, cash and people. Second, facilitate the joint analysis of cross-border flows, including smuggling, that could be terror related.

Terrorism is not just a western concern. It is an international issue requiring a coherent international response. Africa has a vital role to play in ensuring security within and beyond its shores. Building counterterrorism capacity requires moving beyond broad pledges to a systematic, incremental approach that recognises both the threat and resources.

(Shillinger heads the Africa security and terrorism project at the South African Institute of International Affairs. He has been conducting research most recently in Morocco and Algeria.)

Urbane Analysis:

Fascinating, the relationship between locust plague (map above from Relief Web) and terrorist-controlled areas (the map at top). George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Bill Clinton, George Kennan and Robert Hutchings (among others) remind us of the link between areas of extreme poverty and the conditions terrorists need in order to manipulate the minds of desperate people - now Mikhail Gorbachev joins in this warning as well. You can comfortably refer to it as a consensus viewpoint. Consensus is great, just as long as it leads to firm resolve in meaningful decision making. Unfortunately for us, with regard to Africa, our coalition is dithering as millions suffer from disease and malnutrition - while thousands die. Every day.

So thank goodness the anti-terror coalition has "special operators" in the Sahara keeping an eye (and ear) on Islamic terrorists there, such as this Orion "listening post":


photo: NAMSA/NATO

We need that capability in the Sahara region, particularly because it is "in play" for contention by militant and terrorist Islamic ideologues because of western intransigence. The question we need to ask is, are we merely going to stand by and watch what happens there, or get involved in determining outcomes? One thing is certain, sending in food convoys is not a long term strategy for success against terrorism - it merely fuels the politics of alienation. Robert Hutchings says it well, citing the perspective of a media observer:

As Tom Friedman has pointed out, the “contrast between Islam’s self-perception as the most ideal” and the “conditions of poverty, repression, and underdevelopment in which most Muslims live today” leads to a “poverty of dignity” and a corresponding “rage.” Many Muslims interpret this set of circumstances as the denial by outside forces of the rightful opportunity of Muslims to live with honor and dignity. (Longitudes and Attitudes, 2002)

What I am asking is: we have a powerful tool in the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), why don't we re-double our efforts to use it: simultaneously lifting Africa out of the grasp of extreme poverty - and "innoculating" against the effects of terrorist ideologies in so doing? Since this is clearly being missed by the Administration, I sincerely hope that DATA gets onto this as an issue area. And soon.