[Ugnet] MP Madada offers free college for virgins
MSNBC.com Ugandan MP offers free college for virgins Offer reportedly aimed at curbing AIDS; deal only available for girls Reuters Updated: 8:16 a.m. ET July 20, 2005 KAMPALA, Uganda - A Ugandan member of parliament has pledged to reward girls for their chastity by paying their university fees if they are virgins when they leave school, a local newspaper said on Wednesday. Bbaale County MP Sulaiman Madada said any girl in his district who wanted to take part in the scheme aimed at promoting girls education would be given a gynecological examination by health workers to check they were virgins. The criterion is that a student must be a virgin and from Kayunga district, he told the state-owned New Vision. The MP did not extend his offer to young men. He urged pupils to manage their lives responsibly, and called on parents to explain the threats from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Our children should be told the risks they face if involved in early and unprotected sex, Madada said. Uganda was once seen as the epicenter of the global HIV epidemic, but a government education campaign has pushed down infection rates to around six percent from as high as 30 percent in some areas in the early 1990s. Kayunga in central Uganda is home about 300,000 people, and researchers say it has one of the countrys worst AIDS rates, with more than 80 percent of families losing at least one member to the disease. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. 2005 MSNBC.com URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8641317/ ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] Amassing a Treasury of Photography
July 20, 2005 Amassing a Treasury of Photography By RANDY KENNEDY In 1999 two proud powerhouses of photography - the George Eastman House in Rochester and the International Center of Photography in Midtown - began to acknowledge that they needed each other. More specifically, officials at the Eastman House - the world's oldest photography museum, with more than 400,000 photos and negatives, dating back to the invention of the medium - felt that they needed a New York City presence. And the International Center, a younger institution with a smaller collection, wanted access to Eastman's vast holdings, which include work by Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. The collaboration resulted in several joint exhibitions, including "Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes," still on display at the center, and a show that ended earlier this year of the striking photographs of New Orleans prostitutes from the early 1900's by E. J. Bellocq, images that were drawn roughly half from Eastman and half from the center. But now both institutions are at work on an ambitious project to create one of the largest freely accessible databases of masterwork photography anywhere on the Web, a venture that will bring their collections to much greater public notice and provide an immense resource for photography aficionados, both scholars and amateurs. The Web site - Photomuse.org, now active only as a test site, with a smattering of images - is expected to include almost 200,000 photographs when it is completed in the fall of 2006, and as both institutions work out agreements with estates and living photographers, the intention is to add tens of thousands more pictures. Many iconic images, the kind long found on posters and greeting cards - Stieglitz's shot of a spindly tree framed by New York office towers on a rainy spring day; Weegee's teeming Coney Island hordes; Lewis Hine's "Icarus Atop Empire State Building" - will be joined by thousands of other works by eminent artists that the general public has rarely had an opportunity to see. There will also be collections of lesser-known photographers like Roman Vishniac, James VanDerZee and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. The creators say the goal is to organize the site so that works can be found not only by the name of the photographer but also in many other ways. For example, a Hine picture of an Italian immigrant couple could be found under the headings of "immigration," or "Italian-Americans" or "Ellis Island" or "urban photography" or under the headings of exhibitions where the photograph has been shown through the years. Each photograph could also be categorized in more technical ways, such as whether it was an albumen print, for example, or a gelatin silver print or even by what type of camera it was taken with. "We didn't want simply to create a scholarly site only for researchers," said Willis E. Hartshorn, the director of the center. "We wanted something that would allow anyone with the interest to easily explore the collections of both institutions and their extraordinary depths in terms of the history of photography and the impact it's had on our culture." While there are now dozens of growing digital databases of photography on the Web, many - like Corbis and Getty Images - are commercial sites that do not allow the public unfettered access to their collections. The Photomuse site will join others, like the digital collections of the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, England, that are beginning to create what amounts to a huge, free, virtual photography museum on the Web. The project, financed in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington, is expected to cost $800,000 initially and more later as additional images and documentary information are added to the site. Edward Earle, a curator and the director of information systems at the International Center of Photography, said images of most pictures on the site would be modestly sized, about 300 pixels on the longest side, though higher-resolution images of photos in the public domain would be available. Anthony Bannon, the director of Eastman House, said one of the biggest hurdles encountered by the project - after overcoming the initial cultural resistance of both institutions to share their collections and expertise - has been converting the images of both Eastman and the center. onto a single computer system. (So far, he said, Eastman has digitized almost 140,000 of its photos and center about 30,000.) "It's not just like pushing a button and the images slide over," he said, adding that copyright issues with many photographers could also keep many images off the Web for years. "Some are generous and understand the positive result by having the images seen on our Web site but others are worried about losing opportunities for revenue," Mr.
[Ugnet] fwd - Chattanoogans: Jim And Lisa Steele And The Children Of Uganda
from UNAANET Ssemakula [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mr. Mujungu, What Uganda's so-called "Eyes Ears" need to learn is how to to use a simple calculator, rather than making a career of telling lies at the drop of a hat. Uganda's gross nation income (GNI) per capita income (formerly, GNP), -- loosely the amount of money an average Ugandan makes per year, but a strict definition is given below -- has been stuck at below $300 -- and falling --since the Movement assumed power some twent years ago. According the World Bank, Uganda's per capitaGNI was $290 in 1999, and $250 in 2003. So, an average Ssemakula or Mujungu lived on about $250 / 365 = $0.68 per day in 2003. If that is not poverty, then I do not know what is. So, the ambassador can lie through her teeth all she wants about there being no poverty in Uganda, just becausethe government, cynically, does not produce poverty statistics, but obviously one can draw inferences usingconcomitant data. One thing for sure, an average European or North Americancow,dog, or even catcertainly lived ona lotmore than sixty-eight Americancents a day in 2003, and, enjoyed better medical care than the average tax-paying Ugandan did then or now. That is the plain, unadultered and sad truth. This is exactly what we will get more of with kisanja. No change, indeed! -- GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) Definition: GNI per capita (formerly GNP per capita) is the gross national income, converted to U.S. dollars using the World Bank Atlas method, divided by the midyear population. GNI is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad. GNI, calculated in national currency, is usually converted to U.S. dollars at official exchange rates for comparisons across economies, although an alternative rate is used when the official exchange rate is judged to diverge by an exceptionally large margin from the rate actually applied in international transactions. To smooth fluctuations in prices and exchange rates, a special Atlas method of conversion is used by the World Bank. This applies a conversion factor that averages the exchange rate for a given year and the two preceding years, adjusted for differences in rates of inflation between the country, and through 2000, the G-5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). From 2001, these countries include the Euro Zone, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Source: World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files. Johnson Mujungu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mr. Mukasa, Some people are just good, very good, at trumpeting their horns but definitely chicken when it comes to real issues. Did you notice that since you wrote seeking some enlightenment, one of Uganda's "eyes and ears" instead chose to reproduce some speech delivered at some event inLA? And did you also notice from thatAudio Clip HOWThe Hon Ambassador actually said their is no poverty in Uganda? It might just be that Monique Mubiru, just one of many millions by the way, is from some other planet. What do we know! Johnson. - Original Message - From: Benon Mukasa To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:55 AM Subject: Re: [UNAANET] Chattanoogans: Jim And Lisa Steele And The Children Of Uganda Johnson, Thanks for the article: "We learned that the government provides funds for education in Uganda, but the total amount provided by the government totals only $2 per child per year. The remainder of school expenses must be paid by the parents or guardians of the students." Is this what UPE translates to? Somebody enlighten me. Mukasa.Johnson Mujungu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Chattanoogans: Jim And Lisa Steele And The Children Of Ugandaposted July 18, 2005 Jim Steele with one of the students in Uganda. Click to enlarge.Jim Steele has been a successful businessman and is dean at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. His wife, Lisa, is a local teacher. But foremost on their minds are the children of Uganda in far-away Africa.Jim and Lisa attend Brainerd Presbyterian Church and four years ago were introduced to those childrens' needs by a visitor from Uganda.He says, "Monique Mubiru visited us for the second time in the Spring of 2001 to raise money for her clinic in Ntinda. We had a wonderful time getting to know her and hearing about the dire situation in her co untry. As she was preparing to leave us, she told us her family had a serious problem. She and her husband have four children of their own and they've adopted two other AIDS orphans. As she was leaving for America, Monique learned that her brother-in-law had died. This would add another child to their household, and Monique said they simply couldn't afford the school fees to educate all these children. She said her family
[Ugnet] Is UPE a Raw Deal?
from UNAANETSsemakula [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mr. Mujungu, Almost every time I address the topic of UPE, I call it what it plainly is: a cruel and cynical hoaxthat is designed to hoodwink the poor into voting forconniving politicianswho want to rule for ever, rather than educating the children of the poor. The trick is fairly simple to see, but all thesameirresistable for the poor. Those who enjoy fishing use it all the time. They stick a seemingly tasty worm at the end of a strong hook and cast in the water.Hungryfish see the worm (bait), thank Allah or their lucky stars for the meal, and head strait for it at fullspeed, with their mouths open and eyes closed. By the time the fish realizes that worm is nto what it seemed to be, it is way too late: the hook is already firmly lodged in its mouth. So it is with the hapless pizanti with 8 children, with an annual income of less than $300 with which to feed, clothe, educate, his brood. To him, UPE seems like a god send. While UPE provides access to primary education, at least in theory or on paper, it does zilch to guarantee the quality of that eduction. It is also a double whammy: what is the pizanti to do after P.4, after UPE peters out? It isthe classic case of quantity over quality. Thearticle you posted is a wake-up call (was the article in Monitor or New Vision?). It tells it like it is, which is refreshing. UPE is a white elephant that urgently needs to be scrapped, and the resources being dumped on itdeployed elsewhere in the education system where it can do real good: technical/vocational education. Unfortunately, the likes of Serebra and its corrupt profiteers who jet into Uganda draped in the national flagare not about to let this happen. As in times past, Uganda will exchange its treasury for trinkets, this timein the form of "computer learning cards".Now, that is "patriotic"! Anyhow, like the article says: "The report published by UNESCO calls for a shift in world focus from UPE to ensuring quality and retention of those enrolled within the education system." Unpatriotic as always, SsemakulaJohnson Mujungu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: EDUCATION Uganda - Is UPE a Raw Deal?January 10, 2005 - THE Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) issued a damning report that the majority of pupils leave the primary school cycle without the desired competency levels. 2005-01-12 2:00 pm The study done under the National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE) discovered that the numeracy level of primary six pupils (P6) had slipped from 41.5% in 1999 to 20.5% in 2003. However, there was a slight improvement in competency in literacy at the same level from 13.2% to 20% over the same period.The findings presented at a stakeholders' workshop in Mukono last week showed that the competence level in literacy, numeracy and life skills in the sample classes (P3 and P6) were below 50% across the country, except in Kampala where it was at above 80%.The report presented by Sylvia Acana, the in charge research at UNEB, shows that 64% of the P3 pupils tested were found 'inadequate in their performance in English reading and writing and as high as 76% were 'inadequate' in oral English. At P6, 80% of the sample pupils tested were described as 'inadequate' in English reading and writing, just over 30% in oral English and over 80% in numeracy.Ed ucation Minister, Dr Khiddu Makubuya, described the statistics as disturbing. He said several factors could account for the unsatisfactory quality of education in the primary schools."The school setting in its entirety including the physical infrastructure, the curriculum, inadequacy of instructional materials, quality and morale of teachers, school administration, supervision and overall management as well as both the parental and community input into the functioning of school could all impact on efficiency of the system and quality of the pupils," he said.The director of education, Dr Richard Akankwasa, said it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure pupils do not get a raw deal in the education system. He said a child who leaves school and cannot read, write or count was semi-illiterate and unlikely to make it through the next level of education.Florence Malinga, the commissioner for education planning, said while the Government had successful ly achieved the objective of increasing access at primary level, quality still left a lot to be desired."Acquisition of competencies in literacy in reading and writing English and local languages and in numeracy is essential for the individual's participation in the modern workforce and also for the realisation of healthy living in a modernising society," Malinga said.The situation in Uganda is a reflection of the problems afflicting the education system in Sub-Saharan Africa in general, going by the 2005 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report launched in Brazil recently.The report published by UNESCO calls for a shift in world focus from UPE
[Ugnet] Between Series, an Actress Became a Superstar (in Math)
July 19, 2005 Between Series, an Actress Became a Superstar (in Math) By KENNETH CHANG On her Web site, Danica McKellar, the actress best known as Winnie Cooper on the television series "The Wonder Years," takes on questions that require more than a moment's thought to answer. "If it takes Sam six minutes to wash a car by himself," one fan asked recently, "and it takes Brian eight minutes to wash a car by himself, how long will it take them to wash a car together?" "This is a 'rates' problem," Ms. McKellar wrote in reply. "The key is to think about each of their 'car washing rates' and not the 'time' it takes them." Ms. McKellar, now a semiregular on "The West Wing" playing a White House speechwriter, Elsie Snuffin, is probably the only person on prime-time television who moonlights as a cyberspace math tutor. Her mathematics knowledge extends well beyond calculus. As a math major at the University of California, Los Angeles, she also took more esoteric classes, the ones with names like "complex analysis" and "real analysis," and she pondered making a career move to professional mathematician. "I love that stuff," Ms. McKellar said last month during a visit to Manhattan after a play-reading in the Hamptons. Her conversation was peppered with terminology like "epsilons" and "limsups" (pronounced "lim soups"). "I love continuous functions and proving if functions are continuous or not," she said. She may also be the only actress, now or ever, to prove a new mathematical theorem, one that bears her name. Certainly, she is the only theorem prover who appears wearing black lingerie in the July issue of Stuff magazine. Even in that interview, she mentioned math. Ms. McKellar was 13 when "The Wonder Years" started in 1988 and when it ended five years later, she took a respite from acting to attend U.C.L.A. She expected that she would resume acting when she graduated, and she expected that she would major in film. In her freshman year, though, she found that she missed the structured logic that she had enjoyed in high school math, and she started taking math classes at U.C.L.A. "I felt my brain was getting mushy," she said. To her surprise, she excelled. Later, she was surprised by her surprise, because she had done well in math classes from elementary school through high school. But she had never considered studying math or science in college. "It wasn't like I thought about it and thought, 'No, I can't do that,' " she recalled. "It just never occurred to me." Next, she took the more complicated complex analysis course. The professor, Lincoln Chayes, invited her to enroll even though she had not taken all of the prerequisites. And then she had another class, real analysis, also taught by Professor Chayes. She quizzed him with enough questions that he offered her and another student, Brandy Winn, the opportunity to tackle some original research, the first time he had given a research project to undergraduates. For a simple model of magnetism, Professor Chayes thought that they might be able to prove a property that would indicate when the magnetic field would line up in a certain direction. Professor Chayes tutored the two women for months on the background knowledge they would need. Then the students spent months more, up to 12 hours a day, working on the proof. "I thought that the two were really, really first rate," Professor Chayes said. Sometimes, they spent days on an approach before finding an obvious flaw. Other times, they thought they had finished, before Professor Chayes would find an error or oversight. And, finally, Professor Chayes found no more gaps. A paper with an imposing title - "Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Z²" - appeared in a British mathematical physics journal, and Ms. McKellar presented the findings at a statistical mechanics conference at Rutgers, the only undergraduate to speak. Today, the proof is known as the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem. Ms. McKellar had toyed with the idea of going to graduate school. "She certainly had the capability and talent to do that," Professor Chayes said. But by then, she had decided to return to acting. The academic world, she said, was too isolating and lonely. Professor Chayes said he was not disappointed. "I think disappointed is too strong," he said. "I would have been even happier if she were doing what she is doing now coupled with a career in mathematics." Since graduating in 1998 with highest honors, Ms. McKellar has reappeared on television, in her recurring role on "The West Wing," and as a guest star on shows like "NYPD Blue" and "Navy: NCIS." Her voice has been heard in the cartoons "King of the Hill" and "Justice League." She has also written and directed a couple of short films. The other member of the math proof team did continue in math. Ms. Winn, now Dr. Winn, completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Chicago this year. At U.C.L.A, Dr. Winn had decided to
[Ugnet] Political Segregation? The Rural War
The Rural War By ROBERT CUSHING and BILL BISHOP Austin,Tex. WHICH American communities pay the highest price for the war in Iraq? A look at the demographics of soldiers killed reveals that Iraq is not the war of any one race or region. Rather, it is rural America's war. Altogether, a nearly equal percentage of Americans aged 18 to 54 live in counties with a million or more inhabitants as live in counties of 100,000 or fewer. And yet, of the soldiers who have died in Iraq, 342 came from densely populated counties while 536 came from smaller ones. Derived from Pentagon and census data, this chart shows the Iraqi war death rates for every 100,000 people ages 18 to 54 by the size of their county's population. The difference is visible not just in the size of a soldier's county of origin, but also in its location. Counties disconnected from urban areas tend to have higher death rates, regardless of population size. Small rural counties have a death rate nearly twice that of counties that have the same population but happen to be part of metropolitan areas. Why should this be? It's not that Iraqi insurgents are singling out rural soldiers, or that commanders are putting them at particular risk. Rather, the armed forces themselves must be disproportionately drawn from rural communities - a fact not immediately discernible from recruitment data, which report the race, age and education of recruits, but not their home counties. This is above all an economics story. Military studies consistently find that a poor economy is a boon to recruiting. The higher rate of deaths from rural counties likely reflects sparse opportunities for young people in those places. When the Iraq war memorials go up in years to come, these monuments to heroism and sacrifice will be found less often in thriving urban centers than in lagging rural communities. Robert Cushing is a retired University of Texas sociologist. Bill Bishop, a reporter for The Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman, is writing a book on political segregation. The New York Times __Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart
July 17, 2005 How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart By STEVEN GREENHOUSE ISSAQUAH, Wash. JIM SINEGAL, the chief executive of Costco Wholesale, the nation's fifth-largest retailer, had all the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old in a candy store as he tore open the container of one of his favorite new products: granola snack mix. "You got to try this; it's delicious," he said. "And just $9.99 for 38 ounces." Some 60 feet away, inside Costco's cavernous warehouse store here in the company's hometown, Mr. Sinegal became positively exuberant about the 87-inch-long Natuzzi brown leather sofas. "This is just $799.99," he said. "It's terrific quality. Most other places you'd have to pay $1,500, even $2,000." But the pièce de résistance, the item he most wanted to crow about, was Costco's private-label pinpoint cotton dress shirts. "Look, these are just $12.99," he said, while lifting a crisp blue button-down. "At Nordstrom or Macy's, this is a $45, $50 shirt." Combining high quality with stunningly low prices, the shirts appeal to upscale customers - and epitomize why some retail analysts say Mr. Sinegal just might be America's shrewdest merchant since Sam Walton. But not everyone is happy with Costco's business strategy. Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is overly generous not only to Costco's customers but to its workers as well. Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder." Mr. Sinegal begs to differ. He rejects Wall Street's assumption that to succeed in discount retailing, companies must pay poorly and skimp on benefits, or must ratchet up prices to meet Wall Street's profit demands. Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business." He also dismisses calls to increase Costco's product markups. Mr. Sinegal, who has been in the retailing business for more than a half-century, said that heeding Wall Street's advice to raise some prices would bring Costco's downfall. "When I started, Sears, Roebuck was the Costco of the country, but they allowed someone else to come in under them," he said. "We don't want to be one of the casualties. We don't want to turn around and say, 'We got so fancy we've raised our prices,' and all of a sudden a new competitor comes in and beats our prices." At Costco, one of Mr. Sinegal's cardinal rules is that no branded item can be marked up by more than 14 percent, and no private-label item by more than 15 percent. In contrast, supermarkets generally mark up merchandise by 25 percent, and department stores by 50 percent or more. "They could probably get more money for a lot of items they sell," said Ed Weller, a retailing analyst at ThinkEquity. But Mr. Sinegal warned that if Costco increased markups to 16 or 18 percent, the company might slip down a dangerous slope and lose discipline in minimizing costs and prices. Mr. Sinegal, whose father was a coal miner and steelworker, gave a simple explanation. "On Wall Street, they're in the business of making money between now and next Thursday," he said. "I don't say that with any bitterness, but we can't take that view. We want to build a company that will still be here 50 and 60 years from now." IF shareholders mind Mr. Sinegal's philosophy, it is not obvious: Costco's stock price has risen more than 10 percent in the last 12 months, while Wal-Mart's has slipped 5 percent. Costco shares sell for almost 23 times expected earnings; at Wal-Mart the multiple is about 19.Mr. Dreher said Costco's share price was so high because so many people love the company. "It's a cult stock," he said. Emme Kozloff, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Company, faulted Mr. Sinegal as being too generous to employees, noting that when analysts complained that Costco's workers were paying just 4 percent toward their health costs, he raised that percentage only to 8 percent, when the retail average is 25 percent. "He has been too benevolent," she said. "He's right that a happy employee is a productive long-term employee, but he could force employees to pick up a little more of the burden." Mr. Sinegal says he pays attention to analysts' advice because it enforces a healthy discipline, but he has largely shunned Wall Street pressure to be less generous to his workers. "When Jim talks to us about setting wages and benefits, he doesn't want us to be better than everyone else, he wants us to be demonstrably better," said John Matthews, Costco's senior vice president for human resources. With
[Ugnet] New Congolese rebels cause worry
New Congolese rebels cause worry By Will Ross BBC News, Kampala The UN is trying to disarm rebel groups in the east of DR CongoThe United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo says it is concerned by the creation of a new rebel group in neighbouring Uganda. Uganda may be violating its international obligations by allowing its territory to be used by armed groups from eastern DR Congo, it says. Uganda's army confirmed Congolese rebels had been in Uganda but denied officials had been working with them. The new group's founders are wanted by a prosecutor in eastern DR Congo. Wanted The BBC has seen a document announcing the formation of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC), which says it is fighting for the rights of the people in DR Congo's eastern Ituri and North Kivu regions. The group is made up of elements of various groups operating in the east. The document announcing the formation of the MRC, which describes itself as a political and military movement, was signed by 15 men - all of whom are now wanted by the chief prosecutor in the Congolese town of Bunia. It indicates that it was signed last month in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Ugandan army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Shaban Bantariza said Congolese rebels had been in Uganda recently - but he said they had been visiting on personal business. He denied that officials of the Ugandan government had been working with them and said they had requested that Ugandan government put pressure on Kinshasa to integrate the men in the national army. Suspicion Last month Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wrote to his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila, complaining about the lack of disarmament of militia fighters in the east. Justin Lobho of the MRC is wanted by the chief prosecutor in Bunia He warned that Uganda would "react vigorously" if attacked. Despite the official statements of denial by the government, Uganda is likely to once again come under suspicion of working with Congolese rebels. The UN mission in DR Congo points to a UN Security Council resolution passed in March this year that calls on Uganda not to allow its territory to be used by armed groups from the region. It also points out that under another Security Council resolution Uganda is obliged to hand over to face justice anyone suspected to have carried out human rights atrocities. 'Harassed' In Kampala, I met Justin Lobho, one of the signatories to the MRC document, who used to be in the FNI rebel group in Ituri and disarmed in March. He says whether you disarm or not you are harassed. He accused people in the Kinshasa government of being responsible for some of the bloodshed in Ituri. This new group, he said, would make sure it was listened to and denied that it had received support from Uganda. The same group of Congolese rebels are known to have recently been to the Rwandan capital, Kigali. Whatever the possible threat posed by the formation of the MRC, the presence in eastern DR Congo of yet another rebel group is unlikely to be welcomed by a population tired of war. E-mail this to a friend Printable version __Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] 3rd term may cause turmoil
Ambassador O' Fainin's warnings may be alittle bit too late!The fate that awaits the republic is has aready been determined by the NRM and Movement MP's when they voted for Kisanga!! Matek 3rd term may cause turmoil EPHRAIM KASOZI ROBERT MUKOMBOZI KAMPALA THE Irish Ambassador, Mr Mairtin 'O' Fainin, has warned that Uganda is likely to return to the past turmoil if the political parties are not given freedom to participate effectively in the transition. He said most leaders' intentions to stick to power were a clear sign that they were revisiting the tragic mistakes that led to conflicts in the past governments. He was on Friday speaking at the launching of a book entitled 'Diplomatic approach to Peace' at Hotel Equatoria. Always Be Tolerant Organisation, a local NGO charged with promoting conflict resolution, tolerance and good governance published the book. Fainin said Uganda's international development partners were closely monitoring the transition process to ensure stability, sustainable democratic governance and full engagement of political parties in the process. "If Uganda is to retain the support and confidence of its friends and partners in the international community, it is important that generous space is provided for opposition views in an atmosphere free from intimidation or threat, he said.__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] UN forces flush out Rwanda rebels
Does the UN know what it is getting into? MK UN forces flush out Rwanda rebels The FDLR want security guarantees before returning to RwandaUnited Nations peacekeepers have burnt down the main Rwandan rebel base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after calling on the rebels to leave. Some 800 of the rebels fled into the surrounding mountains as UN troops set their mud huts ablaze. The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in the eastern village of Miranda says residents fear a revenge attack as the UN force has flown out of the area. The UN wants the rebels to disarm and return to Rwanda. QUICK GUIDE The war in DR Congo Much of DR Congo's South Kivu region is under the control of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), accused of responsibility for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They say they do not want to go back to Rwanda unless they are granted amnesty. No-go area The FDLR's political wing and senior commanders were based in the camp in Miranda, our correspondent says. Living with the rebels The UN made contact with them, warning them to pull out of the area at the start of Operation Falcon Sweep to push the rebel forces back home. After they failed to comply, some 1,200 UN troops arrived on Wednesday by helicopter to flush out the rebels in a joint initiative with the Congolese army. Our reporter says Congolese soldiers are expected to deploy to the mountains outside the town of Bukavu in a few days time, which until the UN swoop was a no-go area for them. Nobody was injured in the UN mission, but our correspondent says that civilians, while pleased that the rebels have left, are scared they will come back and take revenge before the army arrives. They say the rebels are some 5km away and have threatened to return at night, accusing the villagers of co-operating with the UN. The presence of the Rwandan rebels has led to years of fighting in eastern Congo. Rwanda has twice invaded, saying it is trying to wipe out the rebels. They were supposed to have been disarmed under a 2003 peace deal. __Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
[Ugnet] Calling Dr. Condy Rice
How come the brand new US SecretaryCondelesa Rice has not read the script to thisouptost of tyranny called Uganda yet, or even paid a visit to Africa for that matter, or is Africaor Ugandan of no consequence? " The patriotic elite is very angry; thus we are sitting on a powder keg. Are you going to continue watching from the side lines, uttering diplomatic rhetoric, as your and Uganda's taxpayers' money goes down the abyss - and the aircraft carrying Ugandan masses coasts into a nosedive? Please come out candidly and firmly now, and resist this ochlocracy (mob-rule) ruling beyond 2006. Oh, God save Uganda! ..." y Donors should fix Uganda's politics F.D.R.Gureme KAMPALA With a bleeding heart I candidly, if bluntly, address our benefactors: namely the Big Eight. On June 28 2005, and for the second time this year, I blundered into teargas, intended for demonstrators against the accursed ekisanja when, seemingly oblivious of the spirit of the 1995 Constitution (and disregarding the implications of Article 3), almost entirely the brainchild of omni-Chairman Yoweri Museveni, and contrary to the universal tenets of constitutionalism, the very constitution was raped by majority "legislators:" a majority providently created by Museveni himself through the bizarre formation of the Constitutional Assembly in 1964-1965, with a cunning eye to the future! The Ekisanja: product of ill breeding, insatiable avarice, dishonesty, duplicity, inconsistency, fear and shamelessness, sailed through thanks to the bribe-riddled, spineless majority in parliament. President Museveni, the charismatic, calculating planner, is set for an indefinite rule as Emperor over the sprouting kingdom of Uganda. Ill-breeding Baganda are either balangira and bambeja or bakopi: meaning princes and princesses or commoners. But similar terminology generally distinguishes the prominent and respectable, supposedly typifying obuntu bulamu or decency; as opposed to ill-bred, shameless commoners. However, the ill-mannered wellborn may be nicknamed "bakopi." Yet, depending on the kind of family qualities, and environment such as peer group and elementary schooling, ones character is formed between the ages of 12 and 14. Thus the Baganda say: "Akaliba akendo olabira ku mukonda:" meaning that a gourd to be a scoop is recognised by its ladle-like handle. Unfortunately, excepting Ben Kiwanuka, Yusufu Lule and Geoffrey Binaisa, Uganda has generally been ruled by hungry jobseekers of dubious family and backgrounds: providing fertile soil in which avarice, dishonesty, duplicity, fear, shamelessness, prodigally infantile self-interest, and tolerance, nay support, of massive corruption; not to say intolerance, vendetta, intimidation, cruelty and revenge; have sprouted, thrived and countermanded the interest of the masses. Celebrating my 79th birthday, next September 19, God willing, I observed and repeat, that this otherwise sophiscated regime, holds laurels in all these iniquitous distinctions: only excelled in cruelty by the Amin and Paul Muwanga regimes. "Muwanga" not Obote: because Obote was generally nominal president: Muwanga exercising the real power: particularly after the death of Obote's trusted sustainer, David Oyite Ojok. We were often told that, where ministers Rwakasiisi and Luwuliza Kirunda did not like Obote's directive, they would mockingly ask non-elected Obote to "specify his constituency," even though Rwakasiisi once told me that he feared deadly Muwanga for his life. Rwakasiisi has languished in Luzira, under sentence of death, for nearly 20 years at Museveni's mercy or pleasure. Corruption Remember that when MP Sekikubo was exasperated by the method of sharing out the inducement money, paid out to Ekisanja supporting MPs, he spilt the beans. Remembered also that Moses Kigongo, not given to idle talk, promised another Shs10 million apiece, in addition to the Shs5 milion each supporting MP had pocketed. Very recently a respectable lady State House insider confided that another Shs3 or 4 billion was, by president directive, paid to the supportive MPs; about the time he was carting another trunk-full of gift billions from capricious Gadaffi: for votes to sustain his doctrine of revolutionaries never retiring. And Insatiable Avarice? I was, until recently, the lone voice arguing that, so long as the Semliki-Lake Albert oil had not yet flowed, no incumbent president would countenance retirement. When it flows, the incumbent will be an oil sheikh. Oil sheikhs do not retire. Only recently prominent columnist Onyango-Obbo vindicated my predictions. Never mind that some ministers erect residences worth billions: one said to own an elephantine manor in a village; where one needs a boda boda to travel from the perimeter gate to his front door. Similarly some are said to have foreign accounts (and assets) bursting at the seams. It is these who urge
Re: [Ugnet] MP Madada offers free college for virgins
And just how is the MP going to know who is a virgin and who is not? You know Obote made university education free, and Ugandans called him Kafulu, today after Ffe kasita ffe twebaka, you have to show your vigina before you get a paid education. Uganda is not a ZOO but a circus indeed. Em Toronto 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: Nixon Andama To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; ugandanet@kym.net Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 9:40 AM Subject: [Ugnet] MP Madada offers free college for virgins MSNBC.com Ugandan MP offers free college for virgins Offer reportedly aimed at curbing AIDS; deal only available for girls Reuters Updated: 8:16 a.m. ET July 20, 2005 KAMPALA, Uganda - A Ugandan member of parliament has pledged to reward girls for their chastity by paying their university fees if they are virgins when they leave school, a local newspaper said on Wednesday. Bbaale County MP Sulaiman Madada said any girl in his district who wanted to take part in the scheme aimed at promoting girls education would be given a gynecological examination by health workers to check they were virgins. The criterion is that a student must be a virgin and from Kayunga district, he told the state-owned New Vision. The MP did not extend his offer to young men. He urged pupils to manage their lives responsibly, and called on parents to explain the threats from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Our children should be told the risks they face if involved in early and unprotected sex, Madada said. Uganda was once seen as the epicenter of the global HIV epidemic, but a government education campaign has pushed down infection rates to around six percent from as high as 30 percent in some areas in the early 1990s. Kayunga in central Uganda is home about 300,000 people, and researchers say it has one of the countrys worst AIDS rates, with more than 80 percent of families losing at least one member to the disease. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. © 2005 MSNBC.com URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8641317/ ___Ugandanet mailing listUgandanet@kym.nethttp://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet% UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ ___ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
