Monitor Letters to the Editor | April 26, 2005
Obote apologists mistaken
I just can’t understand why so many Obote apologists have sprung up of late.
Many of them are quick to absolve former president Milton Obote from the Luweero massacres by arguing that Obote was defending the country! This is a deeply painful insult to the people of Luweero; especially the ones who lost loved ones. A leader of a country certainly does not defend his country by killing the very people he is supposed to defend.
Neither will I buy the argument that the majority of the Luweero people died in crossfires between UNLA forces and NRA. Available evidence indicates that there was a deliberate policy of reprisal against entire villages whenever it was suspected that the rebels had any kind of contact with those villages.
We have had other similar insurgencies in Uganda during the present regime. A case in point is the
ADF
insurgency in the West. Until it came to an end, never did we witness any kind of reprisal or massacre carried out by the government forces, it was always the insurgents who meted out atrocities.
The only blemishes on the otherwise clean UPDF record are the POW deaths at Mukura, Burcoro and Kasese. And typical of the NRA/UPDF code of conduct, the culprits in all those incidents were arrested and brought to book. I know of no court martial that was carried out against any UNLA officer or man for human rights violations during the UPC administration.
Obote himself should stop trying to fool the country. The citizens of Luweero very well knew who was their tormentor. Had it to have been the NRA as he wants us to believe, the citizens of Luweero would easily have detected it and the elite amongst them would have brought it to the international limelight.
Right now the people in the north of Uganda are very much aware that it’s the LRA that’s abducting, kil
ling and
maiming them.
The cries for Obote’s pardon are completely misplaced. Those clamoring for Obote’s pardon would like to hide him behind the amnesty being extended to the rebels. Obote should not now come out of the blue and shield himself from prosecution by pleading that the amnesty should be extended to him. Let him be tried for the crimes he committed.
Frankline Auma
Kampala
Dear Editor,
The Monitor ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Obote Should Face Trial to Answer for His Crimes Against Humanity
Mr. (Ms?) Sanya’s recent letter, (Why Museveni is scared of Obote), reminded me that I, too, need to join my other red-blooded compatriots in the current Obote-gasm that has seemingly gripped the entire nation occasioned and unleashed by Mr. Mwendwa’s mini series on Obote.
Like Mr. Sanya, I am all for giving Mr. Obote a chance to clear his name. However, I’d rather he did it in a court of law. Heinous crimes against humanity, such as Obote is accused of, must never be allowed to go unpunished, no matter how long ago they were committed. As I understand it, there is no statute of limitation on murder.
Mr. Sanya resorts to sophistry and blatant lies to exonerate his murderous hero. For example he states blithely “Figures of the 1981 census put the entire population of Luwero at 150,000.”
Well, as luck would have it, I happened upon a copy of “Report on the 1980 Population Census, Volume I, September 1982”, issued by the Census Office in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Kampala. For Luwero District, it put the population size at 412,474 persons distributed as follows: 116,238 in Nakaseke County, 128,251 in Katikamu County, 94,019 in Wabusana County and 73,966 in Buruli County. So, what is the basis of Mr. Sanya’s claim that Luwero’s population was 150,000?
The horror of Luwero can be put in context easily enough. The population of that district was 315,204 in 1969. By the 1980 census it had grown to 412,474, an increase of 30.9% in 11 years giving an annual growth rate of 2.8%; which is typical of many African populations. However, the 1991 population census found only 415,365 persons. This means that the population had grown by only 2,891 persons in the intervening 11 years, an annual growth rate of only zero point zero six percent (0.06%), which is absolutely impossible! Had Luwero maintained its annual growth rate of 2.8%, about 540,000 persons would have been enumerated in the 1991 population census. So, where did 125,000 persons disappear? And, what are we supposed
to make
of the skulls that dotted the Luwero killing fields, a.k.a. “Luwero Triangle”?
Even when the epidemic of re-districting is taken into account, the figures indicate that the population of Luwero District suffered a massive catastrophe in the intercensal period of to 1980-1991. When the population is redistributed according to the new boundaries the population for this district is as follows: 338,508 in 1980, 349,194 in 1991 and 478,595 in 2002. Again, the atypically low population figure in 1991 speaks volumes about the trauma experienced by the people of Luwero. When one adds extra-judicial executions from other areas outside of Luwero, the monstrosity of Obote’s regime begins to come into sharp focus.
I don't know Mr. Sanya’s age or what he imagines the ken of the reading public to be. However, those of us who survived the ordeal of Obote II, still lucidly recall the indiscriminate "Panda Gari" that roamed in Kampala and its environs, miles away from the infamous ‘Luwero Triangle’, carting off victims to their fateful one-way trips to meet cruel and barbaric deaths.
Indeed, in its background notes on Uganda in 1998, the U.S. Department of State noted:
“ … Under Obote, the security forces had one of the world's worst human rights records. In their efforts to stamp out an insurgency led by Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA), they lay waste to a substantial section of the country, especially in the Luwero area north of Kampala….”
We do have the names of a few of the victims. Some were even published weekly in local papers like Munno, etc -- copies of which still exist in repositories in Uganda and around the world. The writer's temerity not withstanding, even earlier crimes have credible living witnesses, e.g. the case of the late Shaban Nkutu, who was butchered during Amin's days in the 1970s.
Nazi's used trains to take Jews to gas chambers, and Obote used Scanias, Tatas, a hoe to the back of the head, etc, etc (ever wonder how come all those skulls have fractured skulls?), but the end results were the same.
No sir. We still very much have the will to make Obote fully pay for his crimes, if convicted. We can never forget our fallen kindred. Since justice delayed is justice denied, I’d rather Obote be brought to book sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, Mr. Sana and Oboteists of his ilk may be well advised to peruse reports like:
Minority Rights Group. Uganda and Sudan--North and South. (Report No. 66.) London: 1984 (Authors: Hooper, Ed & Pirouet, Louise)
I won’t even belabor the mountains of documentary evidence at Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists, official documents of the US State Department (e.g. country reports of that period), videos, photographs, satellite imagery, etc.
James Ssemakula
Please note: The Monitor seems to be unable to find space to publish my letter, which I emailed to them on April 18, 2005.
Letter in Monitor
Why Museveni is scared of Obote
When UPC recently announced that Obote was coming back, the government welcomed the idea and assured of his security and privileges. President Yoweri Museveni himself, not long ago, traveled to Zambia to meet the old man in order to discuss his return.
Now the U-turn. The official government stand is that if Obote wants to come back he must account for the massacres in Luwero. Why this U-turn though?
It was initially hoped the old man would come and settle down quietly. Now it turns out he is not ready to be written off yet. He wants to reorganize his Party and possibly mobilize support for the anti-Museveni forces come 2006. The fact that he may still stir up strong emotions in some parts of this country cannot be overlooked.
For almost two decades now Museveni and his loyalists have thrived on painting Obote black. He has been labelled a dictator and accused of being guilty of crimes against humanity. He has never had a chance to
defend himself. What better or worse time, depending on which side you are, than the forthcoming campaign period for Ugandans to hear the other side of the story.
Perhaps it will come out clearly who was donning whose shirts or uniforms to go and cause mayhem, then claim it was the other side that had committed the atrocities.
There is also the controversy of the statistics involved. We have been told Obote’s troops killed more than 300,000 people in Luwero. Figures of the 1981 census put the entire population of Luwero at 150,000.
Some people want Obote to account because he was Head of State. What about incidences like the Mukura massacres in Teso, the people who were buried alive by NRA in Acholi and the likes of Manenero who were tortured to death in Safe Houses? If anything, Museveni, unlike Obote had effective control over his army and security services. Should Museveni be tried for these?
Could it have dawned on some people that the eloquent and charismatic Obote may have a lot of interesting tales to tell Ugandans if he comes back
unconditionally? If what we have been told all along is the truth, let the government allow Obote back and set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The general consensus, even in Buganda, seems to be on reconciliation. We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.
A.B. Sanya
Kampala
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