By Chris Obore
July 14, 2003 - Monitor
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The Joseph Kony-led rebellion in the north is not similar to the al-Qaeda's international terrorist network. According to Prof. Dani Nabudere, the United States has mistaken the Kony rebellion, which has a long history, to be an al-Qaeda type of terrorism. Nabudere is an academic and politician based mainly in Mbale. According to him, the war in northern Uganda has reached devastating stages because the United States once used Uganda to fight her wars in Sudan. In a paper sent to The Monitor, Nabudere said that the support Uganda gave to the Americans against the Sudan government in Khartoum is what has produced the devastation in the north. Nabudere said that the United States has trapped herself with international ethnic conflicts and is now wooing African states to support her security concerns. "We are left with special favours by the US such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to woo those states that accept US 'security concerns,'" he said. President Museveni is playing a dangerous game by bowing to America's demands, Nabudere said. He described last week's visit to Africa by President George W. Bush as "fanfare" that would only complicate the continent's problems. The idea of free markets is meant to cripple African markets further, Nabudere said. "This is an impressive array of US initiatives and interventions on the African continent, but they fall short of recognising the real causes to the African poverty trap," he said. The professor said that what America is giving to Africa is peanuts compared to the "killing" that US corporations make on world markets, including in Africa. |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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