[Ugnet] STOP THE GENOCIDE IN UGANDA {Post as wide as possible}

[Edward Mulindwa]

Stop the Genocide in Northern Uganda (StGiNU) http://endgenocide-n-uganda.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/   Press Release 14th April 2005 Demonstration against genocide (Concentration Camps) in Northern Uganda: protestors to march to 10 Downing Street on Saturday 16th April 2005. Assemble Kennington Park, South London 12noon and arrive Downing Street 2pm Against the backdrop of the forthcoming British elections, Ugandans and their friends, led by a recently formed human rights organisation called Stop the Genocide in Northern Uganda (StGiNU) will assemble at Kennington Park in south London at midday on the 16th April 2005 and march on to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition protesting against the failure of Tony Blair’s government in taking international lead to end the killings and displacement of over 1.5 million innocent people in the Northern Uganda districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader and Lira etc. The protestors will be highlighting the political support that the British Government has been giving to the ‘one party’ regime of Lt General Museveni and the assistance to his army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) which for the last 19 years, instead of defending civilians against insurgents in Northern Uganda, the soldiers have been responsible for extortion, rape and extra-judicial executions. Janet, one of the leading activists in StGiNU said:   “ We are angry that Britain and America continue to train and give logistical support to Lt. General Museveni’s army and yet the same soldiers are raping our mothers and sisters and executing our brothers and fathers. Worst of all the spread of HIV/AIDS has reached unprecedented levels with nearby hospitals registering over 35% infection rate in antenatal clinics. Over half the population of our districts have been forcibly removed from their homes and put in overcrowded and squalid camps where these abuses go on out of sight of the international community. We demand that Tony Blair acts now to provide the lead needed for international pressure to prevail on the Ugandan regime to declare the area a disaster zone, settle the conflict peacefully, dismantle the camps and allow our people to go back to their homes”   Lt. General Yoweri Museveni, initially assumed state power through brute force when he launched and directed a rebel march on the capital, Kampala in 1986, and overthrew a government that a month previously he had signed a peace agreement with. Museveni’s rebellion preached democracy, the rule of law, freedom, transparency, accountability, and development by promising restoration of political and socio-economic sanity and alleviation of mass poverty and disease. Yet those promises seem ironical considering his record of violence and misrule. In fact, in 1986, as his forces marched on to take over Northern Uganda, one of their marching songs urged extreme violence against the people of this area. Parts of the lyrics said:   “When you reach Kumi bomb it; when you reach Soroti bomb it; when you reach Gulu-Kitgum, destroy completely!”   Now, some nineteen years on (January 29th, 1986-2005) since Museveni’s forces assumed power the instructions depicted by his army’s marching song continue to be implemented in Northern Uganda. For the people of this region his regime’s so called vision for peace, democracy, the rule of law, popular participation, transparency and accountability remains daunting, if not, doubtful and devastating. Yet, Uganda is portrayed in international arena as responsive to the waves of good governance and progress in Africa. Recently Good Governance International (GGI), an American-based independent human rights organisation reported that their monitoring of Uganda shows that the portrayal of the Ugandan regime by some Western analysts and nations is consequential of a hidden mask projected by the country’s administration and its paid public relations agents. GGI interviewed a Ugandan businesswoman (who prefers to be anonymous for fear of persecution), she said:   “The saddest and devil-face aspect of Uganda’s so called progress heralded abroad is the fact that many of those who say these things about the country are not in touch with the common and suffering people, all they do is to either talk or listen to the very government that is the oppressor.” (IGG report 11 April 2005.)   No wonder, Sir Bob Geldof, one of Tony Blair’s Commissioners for Africa, last month at the launch of the Commission’s report on ways of helping tackle Africa’s problems, called for Lt General Museveni not to insist on changing the constitution so that he can stand again for the Presidency of Uganda in 2006. Bob Geldof, who has been invited to the StGiNU protest on Saturday, but has yet to confirm attendance, conveyed a long overdue strong message to the President saying:   ‘..Get a grip Museveni. Your time is up, go away…’   Meanwhile, the Labour Party Manifesto 2005 makes a commitment to doubling international aid to developing countries. It also states that:   “..aid will not be successful without conflict prevention, good governance and zero tolerance of corruption…. Our commitment is to the people of the developing world; our contract is with their governments for reform.”( Labour Part Manifesto 2005 page 90.)   StGiNU activists are aware that a similar commitment was made in the Labour Party Manifesto of 2001 in which Prime Minister Tony Blair stated:   “Nowhere will our resolve be more tested than in Africa…We will also redouble our efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts in Africa using our new Africa conflict fund to provide help for security sector reform, demilitarisation programmes and tighter controls over small arms”.( Labour Party Manifesto 2001). Despite numerous campaigns and lobbying by peace loving Ugandans and their friends, the manifesto commitments of 2001 have not been translated into practice for the people of Northern Uganda. One of the key questions that the protest called by StGiNU will be asking therefore is: ‘What confidence can the world have that this time round a re-elected Labour Government will take the 19 year old suffering of the people in Northern Uganda seriously and facilitate an international effort to end it?’ Many Ugandans and their friends who will be voting in Britain on 5th May demand an answer, and rightly so.   For further information or background documents contact Mr Kololo Apinyi on 07867726573.   [EMAIL PROTECTED]  The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"             Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"

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