UgandAshis 56 Riots in Kampala

UgandAshis 56 Riots in Kampala

September 10, 2009

Fairly recently I decided to leave war and conflict ridden countries behind and I settled for Uganda. True it had a patchy recent history in the Northern part of Uganda where the Lord Resistance Army had been terrorizing by a child soldier army and a sex slave army. However compared to my last posting near Darfur in Chad it is night and day. So much that as I type this piece my parents are with me in the car. They have been able for the first time in 5 years to visit me in a project where I am working.

Uganda is an amazing place, kind people and in many ways it reminds me of India. Today a darker side has come to the fore front. As I may have written about in the past: Uganda consists out of about 56 tribes so of which historically have a king or a chief. None of the tribes has more than 10% of the total population and the largest tribe is the Buganda. It is in their heart land that Kampala was built next to their capitol called Mengo.

Today the kabaka (king) of the Buganda was set to visit a neighboring district. There had been some minor riots so the trip was disallowed. That sparked violence and riots between supporters of the kabaka and the police. So far 5 people have been killed. Tear gas has been used in several neighborhoods and cheap elements have taken advantage of the situation to go rioting.

Here we stand stranded 5 kilometer outside of Kampala waiting for the police or military to clean up road blocks to proceed to go home. Underlying the riots of today has been a steady increase of irritation between the government of Uganda and the cabinet of Buganda. One of the core issues is the fact that Kampala has been built on Buganda land and the Buganda feel politically marginalized so that they demand an own city state for their kingdom’s capitol.

If we go back in history all kingdoms were abolished under a previous Prime Minister Milton Obete. Under a lot of discussion kingdoms were reintroduced by the current powers that be. It seems that creating strife between tribes is the common way to keep the current regime in power. Here a group called the Bunyala was supported in their opposition of the Buganda.

It is sad to see the endless manipulation of good people. Some here feel that this situation will fizzle out and others have expressed that this may be the final nail in the coffin of the Buganda kabaka ship. On the radio however all club nights are announced it will be business as usual. The riots have been displaced to the poorer suburbs out of city center. And it quite well understood that the military will step up if the rioters do not stop with their road blocks. Awaiting the cat and mouse game.

Namaskar,

Ashis Brahma