ugnet_: Museveni aids Obote family (Using cows donated by Heifer International?)
Mukooza Does Zambia put her former leaders in Uganda, or let me put it this way, does Uganda have a formal arrangement with Zambia to take care of her past leaders? True fight for freedom must as well demand that we put those leaders to court/s if we truly believe that they misused their position. If you have a case against Obote make it. All I am hearing all along is a simple "Munange nawulidde" and I can not function from such. If you know that Obote is against freedom, charge him, but your idiotic solution of keeping him at bay means that Museveni can kill as many as he can as long as we will be able to keep him at bay in Sweden. I am sorry I do not buy that I need our national leaders to be accountable and I am proud ofObote for the man is still standing on his deeds, and it is only deeds that have protected Obote to today. Do not delude your self. And the accusations you are making against the mancan only survive in a Uganda community. IfObote was against freedom, one must wonder why NRM has not charged him, when it can go to Luzira prison and murder a disabled man like Alhaji Musa Ssebirumbi. May he rest in peace with all those murdered by your NRM. Em Hong-Kong 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: Rehema Mukooza To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 3:16 PM Subject: [Ugandacom] Re: Museveni aids Obote family (Using cows donated by Heifer International?) Edward: You asked to know why we should keep Obote out of Uganda. My answer is that he is an enemy of freedom and thus, he must be kept at bay. And I also believe that it is a humanely thing to help out Obote's family with cows and stuff. Helping Obote's family is not the problem. The problem is the great threat Obote posses to our freedoms of political parties, Kingdoms, Federalism, and Democracy at large. We do not play with our enemies, we fight them off to liberate ourselves! I believe we are doing so in Obote's case. Zakoomu M.==Edward Mulindwa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why? Em Hong Kong 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: Rehema Mukooza To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 10:49 PM Subject: ugnet_: Re: Museveni aids Obote family (Using cows donated by Heifer International?) That is a very humanely thing to do for Obote's family. But we have to keep the former dictator out of Uganda. That's a must. ===J Ssemakula [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Museveni aids Obote family APAC ?President Yoweri Museveni has been lauded for donating 25 cows and sh10m to former president Milton Obotes family in Akokoro sub-county, Apac. The LC3 chairman, Robert Olinga, recently said Museveni had acted considerately and humanely. Apac gets AIDS funds APAC ?The Uganda AIDS Commission has donated sh70m for Community HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and health promotion programmes in the district, CHAI co-ordinator Elly Ogang told residents of Aber sub-county recently. Govt to assist youth LIRA ?The government has earmarked sh60m for the district for the implementation of youth and women projects. The LC5 chairman, Franco Ojur, was briefing the press on government programmes in the district. New Vision: Wednesday, 7th April, 2004 Do you Yahoo!?Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway - Enter today Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ugandacom/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
ugnet_: OMWAAMI KASANGWAWO
Mwaami Kasangwawo I must thank you very much for yours in response to my comments in Monitor under the heading Buganda can not survive The fact that a good number of people have responded to me on this issue, I am going to use this response to try and see that I cover as much ground as possible may be I can make my position much clearer to those who are looking for my true stand. It is however very disappointing that a number of Ugandans have decided to go the bigotry route than looking into the eyes of this anti Buganda federalism monster that is threatening the entire cohesiveness of our nation. To those I say, please try to elevate the level of this discussion by getting out of the tribal gutter that Museveni and NRM have built their leadership upon. Kasangwawo. The danger in your posting is to take everything in Uganda for granted, or as a given. You seem to have it all wrapped up and going to work. This is a mistake that Uganda leaders have done in the past and it is disturbing that the history of our nation has taught you nothing at all in taking every thing for granted. And I will give you an example of this kind of mistake. When NRM came to power, they thought that growing coffee in Uganda was a given, they thought that Ugandans grow coffee for their nation to earn foreign exchange, the fact of the matter is that Ugandans actually do not give a dam about foreign exchange, they grow coffee to get money to buy cloth for their families, to pay school fees for their kids and all daily necessities. NRM decided not only to stop paying farmers in time for their coffee but destroyed the Cooperative societies that UPC government/s had built from village to village. Ugandans not only stopped to grow coffee but for the first time in Uganda history the coffee trees started to be axed down, and replaced by fast growing food/s like Cassava, maize and potatoes and so on. Again NRM took the growth of staple food for granted that they started the barter trade only based on food grown by Ugandans, NRM went to Eastern Uganda and built the Silos, the huge food storages to use in collection of its food for barter trade. The population responded by growing huge amounts of millet and processing it into Malwa and selling it to get the money for their cause. Today NRM has the storages and they are empty and dead as its barter trade policy. Secondly, you are taking too much assumption/s in your Federalism structure, and you want Buganda to base on those assumptions for her survival. That is what must scare every Muganda out there about this federalism, for it is not based on tried and tested philosophy but on assumptions. Federalists are pushing Buganda to the same fate as NRM's barter trade system. Under federalism goods from Busoga can be sold to Toro that is a fact, but Federalism comes with another price, Toro and Busoga will have the ability to implement programs in their areas funded by monies from their commodities. And those Basoga and Batoro will go back and must sit down to plan not only how productive to use their hard earned Shilling but to get the best Shilling out of their commodities. And if Batoro find out that they are going to get even one shilling more by selling to Kigali they will sell to Kigali than toBusoga, just for the fact that their monies is going right back to Fort Portal. Today Batoro have not endeavored to study that market for a simple fact that it does not matter how much or little they earn from their commodities, the governance in Uganda today dictate that monies must go to Kampala. The Batoro have responded by either moving entirely to Kampala through massive urbanization, or by daily commuting between Fort Portal and Kampala to access those Shillings. So to them no one cares how much they sale for it really does not affect them directly. The use of those finances is a factor in what areas sell their commodities, that is why although Ontario has a common boarder with both Michigan and Quebec, we are selling more to Michigan that Quebec, for we get a higher return from our sales. Had we not controlled those monies from the sales, we would care less on where we sell for Ottawa takes the money any way. Whether we want or not, federalism must change these phenomenons, and Buganda politics which is based especially on bigotry against other regions, as clearly seen on these forums, one must be sure that other regions forced into Federalism are willing to (a) do business with Buganda and (b) whether Buganda will even have enough funds to buy those commodities. These are very essential matters that smart persons must study before splitting up Uganda, and Buganda must not only study them but must get written agreements from those regions, testifying to the fact that they will sell those commodities to Buganda if and when federalism is implemented in Uganda. And as a Muganda, who knows that Baganda federalists have not only taken no step what so ever to these negotiations, but have not got
ugnet_: The awful cost of Uganda's battle against LRA rebels - BBC
Last Updated: Thursday, 8 April, 2004, 04:35 GMT 05:35 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Uganda's fallen child rebels By Callum Macrae Film-maker and journalist There are few things which can prepare you for the terrible reality of witnessing a "military victory" against the kidnapped child soldiers of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). A soldier nursing a survivor, said to be the child of Vincent Otti I was in the northern town of Gulu, filming for the forthcoming BBC2 special, A Day of War, when Lt Col Charles Otema, the incongruously genial head of military intelligence for the area, contacted me. He said government troops from the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) had scored a "significant blow" against the rebels. He told me the LRA's second-in-command, Vincent Otti, had been injured in the battle, 55 rebels had been killed - and that, as we spoke, government forces were pursuing the rest through the bush. He invited me to come and see the evidence for myself. Massacre In a tiny military helicopter, we flew 85 kilometres north-west, towards the Sudanese border. Northern Uganda is one of the most fertile places in Africa - it could feed the whole of Uganda and more. The UPDF has been fighting a long war against the rebels But as we buzzed through the heat we could see the land below, hatched with the marks of abandoned fields and villages. This land has been terrorised by the LRA. One and a half million people have been displaced by the war and live today in cramped and isolated refugee camps, dependent on heavily-armed convoys from the World Food Programme. Even there they are not safe. Just two months ago, as many as 300 were killed when the LRA raided just one such camp, Barlonyo, near Lira. Terrible initiation Once the LRA had a programme of sorts a combination of Christian fundamentalism and political opposition to the government of President Yoweri Museveni. The Barlonyo camp was destroyed in a rebel attack Today it is as much a cult as an army, preying on the mainly Acholi people of the north, the very people it claims to represent. The LRA survives by raiding villages and camps, stealing food and provisions, and abducting people mainly women and children. The older ones they will use as porters till they have no further use of them. The younger ones the 10, 11 and 12-year-olds, they will keep. Not uncommonly they will steal perhaps three kids from the same family and then, in the bush, force the youngest two to kill the oldest one. Thus they are initiated into their new life as rebels. Bound to the cause by a terrible cocktail of guilt, fear and violence. Corpses in the undergrowth Our helicopter touched down in a village which had been taken over as a forward base for the Ugandan army. The helicopter could get no nearer and we had to cover the remaining four kilometres on foot. And then we arrived at the site of the battle. It was a scene of terrible carnage. Dozens of bodies lay scattered around the undergrowth where they had fallen. The first body I saw, the first of these 55 dead rebels, was about four-years-old. Almost certainly he had been born in captivity - probably, like so many others, the product of a forced marriage between an older rebel and a young abducted girl. Some 10 metres away, just such a girl lay, dead, stripped to the waist. She may have been the child's mother. Rag-tag force In the shade of a clump of trees was another group of corpses - a couple of kids, barely teenagers, an older man and a couple of women. One of the women was huddled against a tree, clutching it as if for protection, her head bowed. Lt Col Otema questions children captured after the assaultShe looked as though she was still alive, until I walked round and from the other side I could see the top two-thirds of her head had gone, blown away by rockets from one of the Ugandan army's new helicopter gunships. This, I was told, was the group which had been sitting with Vincent Otti, deputy commander of this brutal rag-tag army of stolen children. According to survivors, he had been injured in the attack and carried away into the bush on a stretcher. The other dead woman in this group was, I was told, one of Vincent Otti's wives. His three-year-old daughter had been found alive, wandering through the carnage. 'Awful war' We were moving quickly through the bodies - the area was not entirely safe - when I heard a soldier say: "This one's alive!" He was a boy, of fighting age certainly so perhaps 14. He was lying semi-conscious, his chest shuddering. He had lain there, unattended, for nearly 24 hours. "Can't we get medical attention for him?" I asked. "We will carry him back and treat him," I was told. But then five minutes later a soldier brought the news he was dead. 'It is... difficult to defend the slaughter... in the name of peace' "Too bad ," said Lt Col Otema. "But at least
ugnet_: CONDOLEEZZA RICE'S BIG LIE EXPOSED
Rice's Big Lie Exposed By 1994 Plane IncidentsFrom Dan Perez4-8-4 KEAN: I've got a question now I'd like to ask you. It was given to me by a number of members of the families. Did you ever see or hear from the FBI, from the CIA, from any other intelligence agency, any memos or discussions or anything else between the time you got into office and 9-11 that talked about using planes as bombs? RICE: Let me address this question because it has been on the table. I think that concern about what I might have known or we might have known was provoked by some statements that I made in a press conference. I was in a press conference to try and describe the August 6th memo, which I've talked about here in my opening remarks and which I talked about with you in the private session. And I said, at one point, that this was a historical memo, that it was _ it was not based on new threat information. And I said, No one could have imagined them taking a plane, slamming it into the Pentagon _ I'm paraphrasing now _ into the World Trade Center, using planes as a missile. As I said to you in the private session, I probably should have said, I could not have imagined, because within two days, people started to come to me and say, Oh, but there were these reports in 1998 and 1999. The intelligence community did look at information about this. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Chairman, this kind of analysis about the use of airplanes as weapons actually was never briefed to us. I cannot tell you that there might not have been a report here or a report there that reached somebody in our midst. Part of the problem is _ and I think Sandy Berger made this point when he was asked the same question _ that you have thousands of pieces of information -- car bombs and this method and that method _ and you have to depend to a certain degree on the intelligence agencies to sort to tell you what is actually relevant, what is actually based on sound sources, what is speculative. RICE: And I can only assume or believe that perhaps the intelligence agencies thought that the sourcing was speculative. All that I can tell you is that it was not in the August 6th memo, using planes as a weapon. And I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons. In fact, there were some reports done in '98 and '99. I was certainly not aware of them at the time that I spoke. " - If Rice couldn't have imagined planes being flown into buildings, why did she call up San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown on the night of September 10th and warn him not to fly the next day? I guess she missed the hijacking of an Air France plane in 1994, which was all over the media, where there were fears the plane would be crashed into the Eiffel Tower in Paris or into buildings in New York if the plane was allowed to come to the U.S.; http://www.africast.com/article.php?newsID=9134strRegion=North "A radical group of Algerian insurgents who hijacked an Air France plane in 1994 planned to blow up the aircraft over the Eiffel Tower before their plot was foiled, a former top militant was quoted as saying. A commando of 10 insurgents planned to hijack a plane leaving Algiers in December 1994, blowing it up over the French capital, Omar Chikhi, a former leader of the Armed Islamic Group, said in an interview published Saturday in El Youm newspaper. The aircraft never reached Paris. The group hijacked the plane on Christmas Eve 1994, killing three passengers, but the operation ended in Marseille when a French intervention squad stormed the plane and killed the hostage-takers." I guess she also missed the mass media news stories of the nutcase who stole a Cessna plane on the night of September 11th, 1994, and flew it(some say it was remote controlled) into the White House; http://www.geocities.com/roboplanes/cessna.html "According to the mainstream media, at about 2300 hrs on 11 September 1994, Frank Eugene Corder stole a single-engine Cessna 150L plane from an airport north of Baltimore, then headed south to Washington, flying over the National Zoological Park
ugnet_: TODAY IT IS NORTHERN UGANDA WE ARE QUITE AT
How the West turned blind eye despite general's 'genocide fax'(Filed: 06/04/2004) Alec Russell, who covered the aftermath of the massacres, reports A little over 10 years ago, Maj Gen Romeo Dallaire, the French-Canadian commander of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda, sent an urgent telegram to Kofi Annan, then UN head of peacekeeping, in New York. It should be pinned up in the foreign ministries of the West as a permanent reminder of the most ignominious episode in late 20th-century foreign affairs. Gen Dallaire's message in January 1994 is now known as the "genocide fax". Villages were awash with imported machetes, he cautioned. Rwanda had become so militarised that extremist Hutus could "exterminate up to 1,000 in 20 minutes". He was just about right in his analysis of the efficacy of the machete against minority Tutsis. As Hutu militiamen soon found in that blazingly hot April 10 years ago, even the most muscular of forearms needs a rest. Once the genocide was in full swing Hutu militiamen would often take breathers, flanked by heaps of corpses and "pens" of waiting victims, and offer passers-by the chance of some freelance butchery. But Gen Dallaire's prescience and grim utilitarian accuracy were scant comfort for the targets of the genocidaires. His cable was buried. The West turned a blind eye. And for 100 days the Hutu extremists had their way as western spokesmen bent over backwards to avoid using the emotive term genocide which they feared would trigger calls for intervention. There are many factors in the West's reluctance to intervene to stop the killing. Europe was fixated by the civil war still raging in Bosnia. America was haunted by the "Black Hawk Down" debacle in Somalia six months earlier, when the deaths of 18 American soldiers led to a rapid and ignominious withdrawal of American forces. The international media were for a while not fully focused on the tragedy as the world was celebrating the handover of power in South Africa. Mr Annan, as he conceded last week, did not press hard enough. But the real failure, as Richard Holbrooke, one of Bill Clinton's senior officials, said last weekend in the Washington Post, was a "failure of will and a failure of courage" by the western powers. Four years after the genocide, Mr Clinton visited Kigali and claimed that he was not fully aware of the scale of the horror. But as Gen Dallaire said at the time, the UN had been beating the drum for months for more troops - and as the recent release of contemporary intelligence reports has confirmed, the western powers knew exactly what was happening in Rwanda. By early July, when the genocide was over, Gen Dallaire was a broken man. Wild-eyed, he roved the UN headquarters in the capital, Kigali, fulminating at the West's cowardice and "racism". He was convinced that a swift detachment of a further 2,500 soldiers could have prevented the genocide. This, after all, was not a heavily armed, anarchic state like Somalia. There was a well-organised, state-run mass murder, largely committed by machete, hoe or club. A key moment came early on when 10 Belgian peacekeepers were killed by Hutu extremists when trying to rescue politicians from a mob. It was a moment worthy of Evelyn Waugh's bleakest satires. The peacekeepers were ordered to disarm to avoid provoking the mob. They were promptly chopped up by machetes. In a stroke, all the old western caricatures of Africa were reinforced and so there was little outcry when America demanded a full UN withdrawal. Then, even as the horror started to dominate front pages, American officials deleted the word "genocide" from UN statements. The West did finally intervene - but on the wrong side. The French sent several thousand elite troops. But it soon emerged that their primary role was to protect the remnants of the Hutu government, a traditional client of Paris, from the Tutsi-dominated rebels who swept in from Uganda in the last weeks of the
ugnet_: US ATTACK BELIES BREMER'S FALLUJA 'TRUCE
Friday 09 April 2004, 15:12 Makka Time, 12:12 GMT US occupation forces have bombed the Iraqitown of Falluja, belying administrator Paul Bremer's announcement that his forces were suspending military operationsthere. "As of noon today coalition forces have initiated a unilateral suspension of offensive operations in Falluja," Paul Bremer told reporters on Friday. But, the US-led occupation's deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, denied the reports of a ceasefire. Minutes afterBremer's announcement, US forces carried out a fresh offensive on Falluja bombing the town from the air. Scores of residents were injured in the attack, reported our correspondent. "There is no brokered agreement for a ceasefire in Falluja," Kimmitt told AFP. "There is no agreement between the rebels and the coalition forces." IGC statement Earlier, the Iraqi Governing Council member Mohsin Abd al-Hameed in a statement on behalf of his Iraqi Islamic party to Aljazeera said military action in Falluja would end for a period of 24 hours. Upon commitment to a ceasefire by the occupation forces and Iraqi resistance fighters the ceasefire would continue, the statement said. The Islamic party political bureau would send a delegation to hold talks with prominent figures in the town, the statement said. Aljazeera, meanwhile,has learnt that duringnegotiations to end the militaryoffensive, US forces imposed many conditions including getting the Aljazeera crew out of the town. Evacuation At dawn on Friday, US forces asked the residentsto evacuate the town, reported our correspondent. Innocents have lost lives inthe offensive This was preceded by bombardmentby USforces since late on Thursday.Helicopters were seen hoveringafter the bombings. Violent clashes also erupted between US forces and resistance fighters. US tanks too reached central Falluja and bombed the Golan area as well as Nazzal, Zubat and Askari. The bombardment destroyed 10 houses while three went up in flames. Our correspondent witnessed a large family arriving at the hospital with two of its members dead. Other members were still under debris, he said, adding that one shrapnel hit a pregnant woman while another pierced the eye of a child. Ambulances were bringing in casualties all night while people have started fleeing the city fearing more attacks. People flee Men, women and children were fleeing on foot through backstreets and paths that cut through fields, carrying small bags, food and medicines. Most were seen heading toward the nearby village of Naimiyah, south of Fallujah, which has been under effective US siege since Monday. Bodies were left to rot in the streets as people cowered indoors. On Thursday, the US marines tried to enter the neighbourhoods of Zubat and Nazzal but the Shia militia pounded them with anti-tank rockets andmortar fire, forcing them to retreat. The fierce confrontations have left more than 300 people dead and over 500 wounded, our correspondent reported, citing hospital sources. 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_: ARREST WARRANT FOR SADR IS ILLEGAL
Arrest Warrant For Sadr 'Illegal': Iraqi Judges By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Correspondent BAGHDAD, April 7 (IslamOnline.net) As the Iraqi Governing Council Wednesday, April 7, urged investigations into the American military use of "deliberate" force against civilians, the Iraqi Jurists Association said the arrest warrant against Shiite leader Muqtada Sadr is "illegal and based on a lie". "The arrest warrant is illegal and incorrect, as the occupation forces issued it in disregard for sovereignty of Iraq's justice system," the Association said in a statement a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net. A U.S. military spokesman said two days ago the warrant had been issued "in the last several months" by an Iraqi judge investigating last April's murder of a pro-Western Shiite leader one year ago. "What justice are you talking about? You have dismissed 170 justices of their offices and violated the independence of justice here," read the statement. Iraqi Minister of Justice Abdel-Rahim Al-Shibly had told national press that he had not been aware of the arrest warrant against Sadr. Sadr is known for his fiery speeches against U.S. occupation forces, calling for the continuum of resistance operations until ejecting them out of the oil-rich country. U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer had called Sadr an "outlaw", drawing counter-accusations from the Shiite leader's aides. "If he means that Sayed Moqtada is an outlaw according to Sharia (Islamic law) and the laws we know, then Bremer knows nothing about these laws and it is he who violates these laws," said one aid. "We reject all kinds of occupation and hegemony. Everything is going to be changed," he added. Sadr said Tuesday, April 6, he ended his sit-in at a mosque in Kufa and traveled to the holy city of An-Najaf to prevent "more bloodshed". 'Unjustified' In another related development, a number of the IGC members voiced outrage over the use of "unjustified" force against Iraqi civilians during the last four days. Member Abdel-Karim Al-Mahmadawy threatened to resign if the U.S. occupation forces did not pull out of areas they are sealing off. "There should be an investigation into force used by occupation forces against unarmed civilians," Mahmadawy said. At least 52 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed and some 100 others injured overnight in continued American bombardment of densely-populated areas in the besieged town of Fallujah. The town had been sealed off at dawn Monday and U.S. troops were only letting cars with Fallujah license plates enter or leave the town. Fallujah residents appealed to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the international community to intervene and end the crippling U.S. blockade. The U.S. occupation commanders have vowed a painful response after Iraqis killed four American security contractors in the city on Wednesday, March 31. An Iraqi mob afterwards dragged their corpses through the streets and hanged two of them from a bridge in scenes that showed the depth of anti-occupation sentiment in the conflictive city. Occupation forces also "deliberately used force and opened fire on peaceful demonstrators," said another council member, Ragaa Al-Khazey. Shiite scholars have warned that U.S. troops of acting "irrationally" after up to 52 Iraqi protesters were killed on Sunday, April 4, in the worst confrontations between Iraqs Shiite majority and the U.S.-led occupation troops sine the start of the invasion one year ago. The protesters were denouncing the crushing of two fellowmen by a U.S. tank on Saturday, April 3, the arrest of Sadrs top assistant Sheikh Mostafa Al-Yaqoubi and a ban on Al-Hawza newspaper, Sadrs mouthpiece. "We deem those fallen dead at the hands of occupation forces martyrs," said Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Hakim said he had earlier warned against "closing papers and muzzling" people in the country. The offensive on Fallujah coincided with deadly clashes between Shiites and U.S.-led occupation troops across the country, which killed at least 100 people and injured some 400 others. 'Military Solution' Also Wednesday, the Islamic scholars association the highest religious authority in the country, lashed out at the occupation forces. "They insist on enforcing a military solution as if they are in facing an enemy in battleground not isolated civilians," Harith Al-Dari, the council's secretary general, said in a press conference. "Occupation forces want to wreck havoc all over Iraq," Dari said. A member of the council said at the opening of the conference that "Iraqis have waken up and realized conspiracies contrived against them". "Ordinary people were killed, hospitals were paralyzed and mosques demolished by those criminal atheists," he said. The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni,
ugnet_: [abujaNig] THE CRUDE AND CRUEL TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ
Exposing Bush the liar, the mass murderer, the war criminal 04/06/2004 12:49 The crude and cruel truth about Iraq. Pravda.Ru presents the bare facts about what George W. Bush and his evil regime has done in Iraq, making the US troops and civilian workers hated among the people who were supposed to welcome them with open arms. We expose the lies and present the truth, based on media reports and eye witness accounts. The attack against Iraq was planned long before 9/11 - the Bush family had some unfinished business with Saddam Hussein, the man Washington had placed in Baghdad as the equilibrium point between various forces of chaos. The decision not to use the UN Security Council was a sign that there was no causus belli and the order to remove the UNMOVIC and IAEA inspection teams a show of arrogance, based on the fear that nothing would be found. It wasn't. Colin Powell then lied through his teeth at the UN building in New York, presenting what he claimed as magnificent intelligence work, complete with reports, satellite photographs and mock-ups with arrows and labels, such as mobile laboratory, which he later claimed were being driven around the desert in vehicles. A year on, he now claims that the intelligence was faulty. A more decent man would admit that he told a tissue of lies. There are not, and never were, Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Bush and his regime quite simply lied to their people, lied to the citizens of the world, lied at the UNO and lied to the international community of states. The heroic liberators of Iraq were supposed to be welcomed by a grateful population. Great care was taken to photograph what were supposed to be cheering throngs. What we saw were a few dozen bemused and shocked citizens watching on as US troops committed acts of vandalism and wanton destruction, to add to the purposeful targeting of civilian infrastructures which have not recovered today. Western TV reporters are beginning to say they cannot leave their hotels and US reporters are wearing the Canadian maple leaf - or hide behind hijabs. Why this hatred? Because the United States of America decided to utterly and totally destroy Iraq to pave the way for reconstruction contracts to be doled out to the clique of the corporate elite which dictate the White House's policy (not the voters), some of these without tender. Paul Bremer is selling Iraq and its people to foreign institutions controlled by Washington. Last October, a law was passed linking the economy to foreign control (Order 39, which cannot be changed by the new government) and instituted special powers for special institutions, controlled by Washington, which will supervise the new Iraqi ministries. Long after the US troops pull out (or retreat), the Project Management Office and the US Embassy in Baghdad will continue to control the reconstruction process and funding. Neither will all the troops leave, since there are plans to station over 100.000 in the country for several years at the 14 permanent military bases being set up around the country, advance bases for strikes against other countries as Washington goes for the throat of the world's richest region in mineral resources. This is the truth, not the lies spun by Washington about freedom and democracy and evil dictators and WMD. George Bush's freedom and democracy is translated into horrific statistics about human casualties, the people he said God had told him to save. The great care taken by Washington to reduce civilian casualties included the dropping of brightly-coloured, shiny cluster bombs into civilian areas for children to mistake as sweets, only for the explosive fragments to blow up, blowing away their faces, their hands, their legs, their eyes or even their lives. UNICEF estimates that at least 1.000 children - one thousand children - were mutilated for life in this way. Independent estimates point towards a civilian death rate of between 7.500 and 9.500 and a further 20.000 wounded, including women and children, the elderly and babies, blasted through their roofs by George Bush's freedom and democracy and by the great care of his murderous forces. As for Iraqi soldiers, the estimates are between 13.500 and 45.000 dead and between 40.000 and 135.000 wounded. Allied casualties are impossible to estimate because of Washington's lies. Official declarations from the Pentagon stated that 1927 had been wounded, when the Washington Post quoted reliable sources declaring that the number was at least 6.000, three times more. Between one and two thousand tonnes of depleted uranium was deployed by the invading forces, polluting the atmosphere and water supply for years to come. The country is strewn with unexploded cluster bombs, mines, grenades, 40% of the water supply was destroyed, sewage treatment
ugnet_: [abujaNig] SCORES DEAD AS FALLUJA RESISTS US ONSLAUGHT
Scores dead as Falluja resists US onslaught Wednesday 07 April 2004, 10:51 Makka Time, 7:51 GMT Fierce street battles continued to rage in Falluja with resistance fighters putting up stiff opposition to US occupation forces trying to gain control of the restive town. Hospital sources said at least 45 Iraqis were killed and 90 injured in attacks on the besieged town on Wednesday. Among the casualties were a family sitting in a car parked behind the Abd al-Aziz al-Samarai mosque when it was bombed by a US airplane. Another 53 Iraqis died in attacks overnight on Tuesday in the town which was sealed off on Sunday by US forces. Twenty-five of those killed were from a single family. More than 200 Iraqis, including women and children, have been injured in the past 24 hours, said Aljazeera correspondent in Falluja, Ahmad Mansur. American forces initially said those killed in Wednesday's attack on the mosque were fighters taking refuge. But a marine officer was later forced to admit that US forces had failed to find any bodies. When we hit that building I thought we had killed all the bad guys, but when we went in they didn't find any bad guys in the building, Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne told reporters. Instead, he speculated the insurgents may have fled after a Cobra helicopter gunship fired a Hellfire missile at the mosque, and before an aircraft dropped a laser-guided bomb. Mosque damaged The bomb hit the minaret of the mosque and ploughed a hole through the building, shattering windows and leaving the mosque badly damaged. A US marine was also shot dead near the mosque in the fighting. Fighting is spreading across Iraq The situation is getting worse, he said. An ambulance carrying casualties was attacked on its way to the medical centre. The American forces closed the road leading to the city's hospital and everybody walking in the streets of Falluja is now becoming a target. US forces have evacuated factories in the industrial area and asked workers not to come back for a day or two. Earlier, speaking live from a rooftop, Mansur said the town's hospital was struggling to cope with the rising casualties. They are attacking residential neighbourhoods, he said as US warplanes swooped over the area and fired rockets. Intense gunfire could be heard from the streets. The residents of Falluja are asking 'where is the Iraqi Governing Council?', said the visibily shaken correspondent. They are asking why the Iraqis are not protecting them. Plea for help Residents of Falluja call on the Arab world to intervene and lift the siege on this town of 300,000. They ask where are the Arab leaders in this time? he said before throwing himself to the ground as a plane flew overhead. Several children were among the casualties in Falluja Earlier on Wednesday, all the city's mosques called for a jihad against occupation forces. A statement purportedly from insurgents claimed they had shot down three US helicopters, destroyed two jeeps and two armored vehicles. Aljazeera's correspondent quoted witnesses as saying that a US helicopter had been shot down and a tank set on fire. They also said they were still in control of the city and had put US forces to flight, but Byrne said marines advancing from the south had reached the centre of Falluja. The claim could not be verified. An Aljazeera crew, including cameramen Layf Muftaq and Hasan Walid, sound engineer Sayf al-Din and correspondent Hamid Hadid, are the only media personnel inside the town. US forces besieged the town after last week's ambush in which four security guards were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets. The Mulindwas Communication Group With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy Groupe de communication Mulindwas avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-- Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/TTwplB/TM -~- **LAWRIE GREEN EDUCATION 2004 Abuja EXHIBITION of UK Schools !!!* 1 To obtain the best possible offers given each individual circumstance; 2-To advise and guide you through at evry stage of application process; 3-To consider your interest first at all times. Lawrie Green Education - Prepararion for life. contact:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.preparationforlife.com http://www.preparationforlife.com/pages/_nigeria/lge_nigeria.html ++ Nigerians for Nigeria, rebuilding a Country where No man is oppressed. - ---
ugnet_: Re: NYTimes.com Article: Remember Rwanda, but Take Action in Sudan
Members: Whenever I hear Ugandans calling on the "international community" to help resolve the situation in the North, I think these Ugandans are simply dreaming! The International Community (UN)is not in position to help our brothers and sisters in concentration camps. What we need is for Kony to stop his guerilla war, flee to Sudan and let Northerners and Eastern "sleep". Whenever I hear some people excited whenever Kony kills a UPDF soldier, I get the feeling that these people do not want peace. This dictator is going to keep the blood flowing in Northern/Eastern Uganda for quite sometime, before he dies. What we need is strategies for the North/East to have peace. One of these strategies would be for Kony to leave the bush. Zakoomu M. =J Ssemakula [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Op-Ed Contributor: Remember Rwanda, but Take Action in Sudan April 6, 2004 By SAMANTHA POWER Ten years ago this week, Rwandan Hutu extremists embarked on a genocidal campaign in which they murdered some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus - a genocide more efficient than that of the Nazis. On this anniversary, Western and United Nations leaders are expressing their remorse and pledging their resolve to prevent future humanitarian catastrophes. But as they do so, the Sudanese government is teaming up with Arab Muslim militias in a campaign of ethnic slaughter and deportation that has already left nearly a million Africans displaced and more than 30,000 dead. Again, the United States and its allies are bystanders to slaughter, seemingly no more prepared to prevent genocide than they were a decade ago. The horrors in the Darfur region of Sudan are not "like" Rwanda, any more than those in Rwanda were "like" those ordered by Hitler. The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum has armed nomadic Arab herdsmen, or Janjaweed, against rival African tribes. The government is using aerial bombardment to strafe villages and terrorize civilians into flight. And it is denying humanitarian access to some 700,000 people who are trapped in Darfur. The Arab Muslim marauders and their government sponsors do not yet seem intent on exterminating every last African Muslim in their midst. But they do seem determined to wipe out black life in the region. The only difference between Rwanda and Darfur, said Mukesh Kapila, the former United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, "is the numbers of dead, murdered, tortured, raped." A radio exchange between a Sudanese ground commander and a pilot overhead (taped by a British journalist in February) captures the aims of the attackers: Commander: We've found people still in the village. Pilot: Are they with us or against us? Commander: They say they will work with us. Pilot: They're liars. Don't trust them. Get rid of them. And later: Pilot: Now the village is empty and secure for you. Any village you pass through you must burn. That way, when the villagers come back they'll have a surprise waiting for them. The lessons of Rwanda are many. The first is that those intent on wiping out an inconvenient minority have a habit of denying journalists and aid workers access and of pursuing bad-faith negotiations. Thus far the Sudanese government has pursued both approaches, and Western officials have been far too trusting of their assurances. A second lesson is that outside powers cannot wait for confirmation of genocide before they act. In 1994 the Clinton administration spent more time maneuvering to avoid using the term "genocide" than it did using its resources to save lives. In May 1994, an internal Pentagon memo warned against using the term "genocide" because it could commit the United States "to actually do something." In the case of Sudan, American officials need not focus on whether the killings meet the definition of genocide set by the 1948 Genocide Convention; they should focus instead on trying to stop them. A third lesson is that even when the United States decides not to respond militarily, American leadership is indispensable. This is especially true because Europe continues to avoid intervening in violent humanitarian crises. And it remains true despite the Bush administration's unpopularity abroad. The United States often takes an all-or-nothing approach: if it doesn't send troops, it tends to foreclose other policy options. In Sudan, this tendency has been compounded by the administration's reluctance to risk undermining the peace process it has spearheaded between Sudan's government and the rebels in the south. While President Bush is understandably eager to show he can make peace as well as war, he must stand up to Sudan's government during these difficult negotiations. After all, regimes that resort to ethnic killing and deportation as a tool of
ugnet_: [abujaNig] LONDON'S MAYOR CALLS FOR SHARON TO BE JAILED
London's mayor calls for Sharon to be jailed By Sharon Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and DPA London - Ken Livingstone, the left-wing mayor of London with a reputation for outspoken comments, has called for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be thrown into jail. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper published Thursday, Livingstone predicted there would be no peace in the Middle East until the West shows it is taking on board the injustice of what's happening to the Palestinians, and looks at the financial network of corruption between some of the oil sheikhdoms, the oil companies and the White House. Livingstone said he would like to see Sharon locked up in the cell next to former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the nationalist Serb strongman on trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide. Ignoring the unease shown by his aides, Livingstone said, I just long for the day I wake up and find that the Saudi royal family are swinging from lampposts and they've got a proper government that represents the people of Saudi Arabia. Livingstone gave his backing to attempts by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to press the Palestinian issue with U.S. President George W. Bush, but was scornful of Bush's foreign policy skills. I'm not even sure he was aware there were any Palestinians before he was elected, any more than he knew the name of the president of Pakistan, he said, repeating a jibe often made about the U.S. president. Livingstone has frequently spoken out against Bush and embarrassed Blair during Bush's state visit in November last year, when he held an anti-war reception in London as Bush was being hosted at a banquet given by the queen. He has also described Bush as the greatest threat to life on the planet in reference to his environmental policies, and his comments are likely to further embarrass Blair, coming a week before the British prime minister visits Washington to discuss the Iraq crisis. Regarding his relationship with Blair, Livingstone said: He's not going to make me foreign secretary and I'm not going to persuade him to dump George Bush. We work together on things we agree about and we accept there are going to be things we don't agree about. Livingstone was thrown out of the Labor Party in 2000 when he stood against the official Labor candidate in the London mayoral elections. Blair then called him a disaster for London but has since changed tack, backing Livingstone's return to the party he leads. Livingstone's campaign for re-election begins in earnest next month. He is thought likely to win a second term in June by a substantial margin - this time as Labor's official candidate. The Mulindwas Communication Group With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy Groupe de communication Mulindwas avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-- Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/TTwplB/TM -~- **LAWRIE GREEN EDUCATION 2004 Abuja EXHIBITION of UK Schools !!!* 1 To obtain the best possible offers given each individual circumstance; 2-To advise and guide you through at evry stage of application process; 3-To consider your interest first at all times. Lawrie Green Education - Prepararion for life. contact:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.preparationforlife.com http://www.preparationforlife.com/pages/_nigeria/lge_nigeria.html ++ Nigerians for Nigeria, rebuilding a Country where No man is oppressed. - --- Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] **Keep Hope Alive!!!* Internet Solution A one stop solution for your web site. It is fully Nigerian, with Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo Alphabets and so many resources easy to use and a 24/7 support access. Why go further when a Nigerian, try this one you wont go elsewhere. I ve my signature to it... http://www.africaservice.com PJ Adamz Abuja Nigeria. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abujaNig/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
ugnet_: [abujaNig] IS ISLAM EVIL?
Is Islam 'Evil'? Tyranny, slavery, subjugation, and irrationalism By Jason Pappas Faith Freedom.org 4-7-4 Sophisticated critics usually react to the word evil with condescension and derision. Describing something as evil, in their view, generally brands one as an unenlightened throw-back to the dark ages -- or the equivalent of a televangelist preaching hellfire and damnation. Who forgets the outcry when President Reagan described the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire? Or today, when President Bush refers to the Axis of Evil? Commentators unequivocally condemn the word as an outmoded judgmental term unfit for today's multi-cultural world. Unless, of course, one wants to use it to describe the United States of America or Western Civilization itself. The question, Is America evil? is routinely discussed not just on message boards and in chat rooms -- the Internet equivalent of bathroom walls -- but by tenured professors and in respected newspapers. A New York Times book review on January 11, 2004, quotes author Lance Morrow from his book: Evil, An Investigation. Americans are struggling now with the possibility that their country may be evil -- or, to be more practical, that their country may be doing evil in the world. Just two weeks later, the front page of Book Review section reads: Is America an evil empire? Seven new books seem ready to think so. Most Americans are shocked at the notion of an evil America . Considering our history, the attack on our country's character is hard to fathom. Over the last two centuries immigrants came in droves, seeking refuge from tyranny and poverty. They found unequalled freedom and opportunity secured by a stable democracy. During that time, totalitarian barbarity threatened to consume the world. America played a crucial role in defeating European and Japanese fascism in WWII. However, Europe was left in ruins and half enslaved by Communism. In Asia, Japan was in ruins and China soon became Communist. We then faced the Communist strain of totalitarianism; one that would result in the deaths of 100 million people and threatened to engulf the world. Once again, our military might was crucial. We contained Communism until it fell of its own internal contradictions. In short, America has saved civilization. Given the recent worldwide attacks by Islamic terrorists, why isn't the question Is Islam evil? With few exceptions ( Turkey , for example), Islamic countries are fascist, autocratic or theocratic, where women are subjugated and minorities persecuted. Islamic countries are rife with poverty and have been for centuries. Polls show that in many Islamic countries a majority of Muslims lionize the man responsible for the atrocities of September 11th and the terrorist gangs who routinely slaughter civilians in Israeli buses and restaurants. In Arab schools and on Arab television, children are taught the glory of becoming suicide bombers. Almost everywhere that Islam borders other cultures, there is violence. The idea, then, that Islam is evil has far more plausibility than the idea that United States is evil. But merely, raising the question, Is Islam evil? provokes an instant, inevitable outcry: Bigot! Racist! Zionist! Indeed, the attempt to suppress debate on this question is so intense that few people in the mainstream will ask it. The level of banality goes beyond the empty name-calling. Typical knee-jerk questions are: How can you call all Muslims evil? Have you ever met a Muslim? Don't you think Muslims have children, too? Notice the switch from the religion to the demographic group. Muslims, as individuals, range from lapsed to devout, from in name only to fully practicing Jihadists. As in all religions, some individuals retain the label even if they don't practice the religion. Indeed, knowledge of the religion varies from person to person. It is not at all unusual to find members of a religion who don't understand the doctrines, practice, or history of their religion. As a broad label, Muslim is nothing more than a meaningless demographic term. To judge a religion, one considers those who understand and practice the religion. Would we judge Catholicism by someone who, following the tradition of their parents, calls themselves Catholic but has no knowledge of the teachings of the Church, the Pope, the Saints, and the Bible? Why is Islam exempt from critical analysis? In Western society, there is no shortage of critics of Christianity. Indeed, on many college campuses it is open season on anything that has the faint odor of Western Civilization -- Christianity included -- even though Christianity, like Islam, originated in the Middle East . One might wonder why Islam, which sees itself as a continuation or fulfillment of Judeo-Christianity, is not subject to the same intense criticism.
ugnet_: Canadian Women-Bad news
I got thisfrom my favorite internet group where I spend most of time. Now you know where I am whenever I dissappear fromugandanet.Some Canadian women here might be interested in this one. ___ I'm sending this FAQ to the Canadian thinkers out there who are still onthe fence. The federal government has passed legislation that I think willseriously hinder the chances of any Canadian women out there who wants toget pregnant via donor sperm. Since the legislation prevents donors inCanada from being paid (and possibly preventing similar sperm from beingimported) the number of donors will drop drastically and the price ofsperm will probably increase tremendously. If you are a Canadian woman, please read the URL below and think seriously about your timelinefor conceiving.http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/media/releases/2004/2004_12bk1.htmDaudi Kiribedda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anyomokolo, Your verbiage in response to my question on whether sometimes you forget to take your medication vindicates my suspicion that you actually do. If it looks like a pig, snorts like a pig, stinks like a pig, it must be a pig. I therefore rest my case From: Anyomokolo [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: ugnet_: My pride\Anyomokolo Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 05:27:41 -0400 (EDT) Daudi, I remember you. Where have you been? You sound like a man who went outside to look for a garbage can to deposit his garbage. You saw a beautiful woman but could not approach her becuase you thought that she might be me, Anyomokolo. So, instead of risking knowing the truth about your elongated body parts, you decided to go back home alone like a loser and decided to swallow your pride. After you finished, I don't know whether you were standing or sitting, but you got up and logged on the Ugandanet to 'release' some more but this time you released anger and frustration with the most respected, awe-inspring malaya/slut/whore. It all makes sense now why culture restrict women's sex freedom by calling us sluts/malaya and all that. Ladies, it is all becuase men fear each other's penis size. I mean, between you and me, do you blame them? --- Once again, I don't give a shit about what any man think of me becuase I don't need your ass in order to be happy. Agot my own money and I don't need any one to carry my child for nine months for me. I CAN DO IT MYSELF. Too bad for those who need someone esle to do it for them. I hope culture and tradition can help your ass. Good luck-you gonna need it! __ A WOMAN'S POWER!!! Daudi Kiribedda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Oh no, Anyomokolo! You stopped taking your medicine again?Remember what the Doctor told you, take your prescriptions twice a day.That is in the morning when you wake up and in the evening before going to bed.Stop embarrassing yourself and Good luck - you gonna need it. From: Anyomokolo Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: ugnet_: My pride\Anyomokolo Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 10:09:21 -0500 (EST) I started replying to this last night but, as usual, I knew that I was not in the mood because I would pause to think of words to contract the next sentence. And whenever I do that, I end up not making sense to readers but to myself. I like my fingers to do the talking on the keyboard, In other words, what you are about to read, is what you would have heard if I were to talk to you. And of course once I finish talking, I read it once to correct, not grammar and syntax, but typing errors. Worrying about grammar and syntax is an unnecessary exercise that is too strenuous for my brain cells. I would rather worry about sizes. ___ Take a guess. Ssenya, I would be glad to let you know if you allow me the honor to visually inspect. Ssenya, please stop tries to indirectly brainwash me. I am too old and too experience, so please go and try your backward psychology on little girls whose brain cells are still vulnerable to patriarchy. Let me expand on that just like I expand according to size. According to experience and the feminist Bible, definitely a plus It is a plus for me because men fear me, they have no choice but to respect me and I demand it. I am awe-inspiring.Do you see any son of a bitch here belittle or responding to me anyhow?You all write to me with maximum respect. You, men, have the option to fake names to sign on Ugandanet and insult a malaya like me but I think those who tried it have advised the rest accordingly. No man can dare get close to my vagina because they are terrified of being zapped with high voltage electricity. I zap unsuspecting victims anytime I choose. I am a whore/malaya, you, men, all know that but contrary to the way I was raised, no
ugnet_: testing
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RE: ugnet_: testing
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anyomokolo Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 1:54 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: testing Testing Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.573 / Virus Database: 363 - Release Date: 1/28/2004 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.573 / Virus Database: 363 - Release Date: 1/28/2004 image001.gif
ugnet_: Watch out where you wed from
Watch out where you wed fromBy Halima AbdallahApril 9 - 16, 2004 The Registrar General says that many churches do not have a licence to conduct marriages. Their weddings may be holy before God but null and void before the laws of Uganda When Diana wedded with her sweetheart, Ronnie, she expected an everlasting marital bliss. Little did she know that the Born Again church which wedded them had no certificate from the Registrar Generals office to commission marriages. Thus when Ronnie passed away, she was not able to claim estate administration rights because the first wife, married under customary arrangements showed up and the legal process that ensued discovered that her marriage was null and void. Yes! After all the hustle and bustle of organising a wedding, your marriage can actually end up being declared null and void.And pastors, preachers, church leaders can also end up being accused before the courts of law of conducting an illegal marriage because their churches have no licence. According to the Registrar General, Mr Bisereko Kyomuhendo, many of the Pentecostal churches, which have sprung up, do not have a licence to conduct weddings. Bisereko says all these churches register with his office as non-governmental organisations to carry out specific functions. This registration is not a license for the churches to commission weddings. These churches must apply for another special licence to commission weddings. Such weddings by law are not recognised, Bisereko said. A licence for such operations is got from the Registrar Generals office with approval of the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. So, how do you know whether your church is backed by law to commission marriages? The Registrar Generals office does not know the number of licensed churches that are allowed to commission weddings. But he says there are far more churches that have cropped up lately than the applications for wedding licences that his office has received. People end up with marriages that have no legal backing and a certificate that has no legal recognition. By law, all marriage certificates are supposed to be issued by the Registrar Generals office. They must be uniform and cost Shs 750. When Churches and Mosques conduct marriages, they are supposed to pass on this money to the Registrar Generals office. Some of the money is used for processing the certificate and the balance is remitted to Uganda Revenue Authority. The Registrar General says many churches and mosques do not remit these monies at all and many people end up being issued with fake certificates. Bisereko says churches charge about between Shs 50,000 to 100,000 as wedding fee but fail to give government the Shs 750 - its share. Embassies have often referred back to us some of the marriage certificates that visa applicants present for verification. We find many of them fake, Bisereko explained. But Bisereko said his office intends to start vigorous attempts to collect the marriage fee and identifying churches that are not licensed to commission weddings. He also said registered churches shall have to display their licenses openly in the church. This, Bisereko says, shall be implemented when the office becomes autonomous in the next financial year. The safest form of marriage for now is the civil affair contracted directly from the Registrar Generals office in Kampala. We wed people here every day of the week. On average, we wed around 45 couples a month. 369 were wedded between July 2002 and July 2003, he said. Couples upcountry should go to the Chief Administrative Officer at their district headquarters or to the chief at the sub-county. The marriage vows in civil marriage are the same as those in the church. The exception is that couples must swear affidavits for which they pay Shs 5,000 on top of the Shs 750. According to the Marriage Act, it is the civil authorities who delegate their powers to other bodies like Churches and Mosques to commission marriages on their behalf. The requirements are that the intending couples must not have married before; must announce to the public their intention to wed for 12 days (though some couples may be exempted from these conditions in special circumstances); must be monogamous, wed before 5 P.M. and on working days. Only the Minister of Justice can authorise the wedding after five p.m. or on a Saturday. The Registrar General will not under any circumstances wed anybody in absentia. The police can be called to stop any wedding that is taking place in an un-licensed church and even effect arrests. Bisereko says there are four types of marriages according to the Marriage Act: The Civil Marriage, which is monogamous and done by the Registrar General and his representatives at lower levels ora recognized Christian leader. Marriage and Divorce under Mohammedan Act allows the marriage by Muslims. This can be polygamous. The Customary Marriages Registration Act applies to all
ugnet_: CONDELEEZZA'S ACT WEARING THIN
The Artful DodgerBy Joe ConasonSalon.com Friday 09 April 2004 In her testimony Condi Rice proved adept at avoiding the real questions about 9/11. But her act is wearing thin. The public testimony of Condoleezza Rice before the 9/11 commission had a strategy and a structure, to use terms that she favors. The obvious strategy was to swathe every answer to a challenging question from the commissioners in "context" that did more to obfuscate than clarify. The underlying structure of her statements shifted responsibility away from the Bush White House, in any direction possible: toward previous administrations, the FBI, the CIA and, as subtly as possible, toward former counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke. Rice was nothing if not repetitive in her response to the main issue before the commission and the country. Like the president himself, she assured us again and again that if only al-Qaida had revealed the date, timing, location and methods to be used in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the White House would surely have done everything in its power to thwart the threat. That, of course, is the answer to a question nobody has bothered to ask. The pertinent question is not whether the president would have tried to stop an attack whose details were thoughtfully placed under his nose. The real question is whether the Bush administration paid sufficient attention to the stream of warnings it received about al-Qaida, or whether, due to its preoccupation with Iraq, missile defense and other matters, those officials simply failed to act. This is the million-dollar question that Rice so expertly dodged on Thursday. The most concrete evidence of administration fecklessness is the now-notorious Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing, or PDB, delivered to George W. Bush while he vacationed at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Although its existence was first revealed almost two years ago, yesterday's hearings brought fresh attention to its still-classified contents. Until Rice answered a sharp question from commissioner Richard Ben Veniste, most Americans probably didn't know that weeks before Sept. 11, the president had been given a CIA memorandum with the ominous title "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." The national security advisor insisted that this "historical analysis" of al-Qaida did not provide "new threat information." But her dismissal of the controversial document undermined her own argument for keeping it classified. If the Aug. 6 PDB was merely of historical interest, why not prove her point by allowing the memo to be published in full? Commissioner Bob Kerrey later provided another tantalizing glimpse of the PDB's contents that demonstrated why the White House wants to keep it secret. "In the spirit of further declassification," said Kerrey, "this is what the Aug. 6 memo said to the president: that the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking. That's the language of the memo that was briefed to the president on the sixth of August." In the context of what Clarke and others have said about the "threat spike" during the prior two months, that warning seems stark enough to provoke serious action. According to Rice, she and the president assumed that the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the rest of the federal bureaucracy had done whatever they could -- given the "structural impediments" in a dysfunctional Washington bureaucracy. How dysfunctional was the Bush administration during that fateful summer? Commissioner Jamie Gorelick challenged Rice's assertion that federal agencies and their field offices had been put on alert status during the threat spike. Citing previous commission interviews with the FAA administrator, FBI officials from around the country, and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, among others, Gorelick said that none of them had ever heard the warnings of a potential attack. Were the FBI field offices and other relevant federal employees called to their battle stations, as Rice claimed, or were they not? Presumably the commission will assess that contradiction in its final report (which may or may not be released before the November election). Rice's testimony raised more questions than she answered. Was she truthful in describing Clarke's Jan. 25, 2001, plan to attack al-Qaida, which remained in bureaucratic limbo until a week before Sept. 11? Nobody will know unless and until that document, too, is declassified. What about the task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, which was supposed to begin assessing homeland security in May 2001, but reportedly never met until after Sept. 11? Rice mentioned the Cheney task force but was not asked about its inactivity. The national security advisor walked away from the witness table, never to return, with her characteristic poise intact, and without apologizing or
ugnet_: CHAOS ERUPTS IN PARTS OF CENTRAL IRAQ
23 minutes ago By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. AC-130 gunship raked insurgents Friday night after hundreds of women and children fled the besieged city of Fallujah during a U.S.-declared pause in the Marine offensive. On the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime, Baghdad and parts of central Iraq (news - web sites) were chaotic. Gunmen running rampant on Baghdad's western edge attacked a fuel convoy, killing a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi driver and causing a fiery explosion. Two American soliders and an unknown number of civilians were missing after the attack, and 12 people were injured, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said. A Baghdad correspondent for Al-Jazeera Arab television said at least nine people were killed. Another U.S. soldier was killed in an attack on a base elsewhere in the capital, and large groups of insurgents battled U.S. troops in two cities to the north, Baqouba and Muqdadiyah. One Marine was killed in Fallujah and another wounded in exchanges of fire after U.S. forces called a halt to offensive operations in the city, a spokesman said. The death along with those of three Marines a day earlier announced Friday brought the toll of U.S. troops killed across Iraq this week to 46. The fighting has killed more than 460 Iraqis including more than 280 in Fallujah, a hospital official said. At least 647 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. At a square in the capital where Saddam's statue was toppled a year ago, soldiers took down a disturbing new icon: pictures of the radical Shiite cleric whose followers have risen up against coalition forces in the south. For the first time, U.S. troops moved in strength into the heartland of the rebellion by the militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. More than 1,000 troops backed by tanks pushed into the southern city of Kut, retaking police stations and government buildings seized this week by Shiite gunmen. Elsewhere, fighting with al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia diminished. Coalition forces largely left gunmen in firm control in three cities of south central Iraq, and further south, coalition troops have largely succeeded in taming the uprising, though Italian troops still saw light fighting in the city of Nasiriyah. In Fallujah, Marines halted their assault on Sunni insurgents to allow U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders angry at the United States over the bloodshed from five days of heavy fighting to hold talks with city leaders about how to reduce the violence. Throughout the afternoon, fighting was reduced to sporadic gunfire. But when night fell, heavy explosions resumed as an AC-130 gunship strafed targets and soldiers and insurgents engaged in a mortar battle. The AC-130 hit a cave near Fallujah where insurgents took refuge after attacking Marines. A 500-pound laser-guided bomb also struck the cave, said spokesman 1st Lt. Eric Knapp. Iraq's top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said the unilateral pause was also aimed at allowing humanitarian aid to enter the city and Fallujah residents to tend to their dead. Many families, emerging from their homes for the first time in days, buried slain relatives in the city football stadium. A stream of hundreds of cars carrying women, children and elderly headed out of the city after Marines announced they would be allowed to leave. Families pleaded to be allowed to take out men, and when Marines refused, some entire families turned back. The heavy fighting in Fallujah during which mosques have been damaged and buildings demolished has made the city of 200,000 a symbol of resistance for some Iraqis and threatens to divide the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S. administration that appointed it. Military hesitation over the halt in fighting was clear. After initially being ordered to cease all offensive operations, Marines quickly demanded and received permission to launch assaults to prevent attacks if needed. "We said to them (the commanders): 'We are going to lose people if we don't go back on offensive ops.' So we got the word," Marine Maj. Pete Farnun told The Associated Press. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt underlined that talks between two Governing Council members and sheiks and clerics representing Fallujah representatives were not negotiations, suggesting the military would not be making concessions. U.S. officials were not participating in the talks, which began Friday. The Governing Council early Saturday issued a statement demanding an end to military action and "collective punishment" a reference to the Fallujah siege. Abdul-Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi, a Shiite on the Governing Council, announced he was suspending his council seat until "the bleeding stops in all Iraq." He also met Friday with al-Sadr, whom U.S. commanders have vowed to capture. A Sunni
