From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Jul 14 2010 - 13:47:05 EDT
http://www.theroot.com/views/behind-ugandas-world-cup-terror-blasts
Behind Uganda's World Cup Terror Blasts
By: Zachariah Mampilly
Posted: July 13, 2010 at 10:31 AM
African civilians pay the price for America's militaristic policies in
Africa.
Watching the World Cup finale in midtown Manhattan on Sunday, conversation
inevitably turned to South Africa's performance as host. While the media had
forecast terror attacks, crime waves and infrastructure disasters, football
fans at the bar all agreed that South Africa deserved praise for doing
Africa proud on the world stage. Sadly, the much-predicted terror finally
occurred--on the last day of the month-long tournament--a few thousand miles
north of Johannesburg in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
Any visitor to the East African country knows that Ugandans are
football-mad. The English Premier League is debated endlessly. And major
international tournaments can bring the country to a standstill as Ugandans
of all types gather in restaurants, bars and makeshift viewing rooms to
watch the ''beautiful game.''
This World Cup was no different. Thousands of Ugandans and foreign nationals
had flocked to venues around the capital Sunday night to witness the finale
between the Netherlands and Spain. During the match, three bombs went off in
two locations, killing at least 74 people and injuring many more. Among the
dead or wounded were Ethiopians, Eritreans, Congolese, Indians, Americans,
but mostly Ugandans--many too young to remember the turmoil that roiled the
country during the 1980s.
Despite the persistent violence in neighboring countries and in Uganda's
north, Kampala has long been an oasis in a troubled region. Aid
organizations and foreign corporations love to set up shop amid Kampala's
scenic hills with views of Lake Victoria in the distance. The city has a
cosmopolitan vibe and a languid pace, with diverse communities from
countries close and far mingling peacefully. Indeed, both locations targeted
by the attacks, the Ethiopian Village restaurant and the Kyadondo Rugby
Club, are popular gathering places among locals and expatriates.
There are many parallels between the Kampala bombings and the 1998 attacks
on two other East African capitals, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Synchronized
bombings of the U.S. embassies in the two countries killed over 200 and
injured several thousand. When an al-Qaida affiliate quickly took
responsibility, the attacks brought Osama bin Laden and his terror network
to the world's attention for the first time. Though aimed at American policy
in the Middle East, only 12 of the dead were U.S. nationals with the vast
majority of victims Africans. Despite the devastation in East Africa, most
Americans felt little concern--a fact that precipitated an escalation of
al-Qaida attacks on American targets, leading to the destruction of the
World Trade Center in 2001.
As with the 1998 bombings, suspicion in the Kampala attack immediately fell
on another al-Qaida affiliate, al-Shabab, an Islamist group based in
Somalia. By Monday morning, the organization claimed responsibility. But why
attack Kampala, almost 1,000 miles away from Somalia? The short answer is
that Uganda is paying the price for promoting American interests in Africa.
Somalia has been on the U.S. radar since 1992, when the first President Bush
sent troops into the war-torn country for ostensibly humanitarian purposes.
In late 1993, Bill Clinton, only in office a few months, faced a dramatic
crisis as 18 U.S. troops were killed while fighting with a Somalia militia
leader. Since then, the country has lacked a central government.
In 2006, an Islamist group known as the Union of Islamic Courts managed to
gain control of much of Somalia. Although it lacked any relationship to
al-Qaida, the second President Bush feared the country was turning into a
haven for Islamic terrorism. The United States backed an Ethiopian invasion
of the country. A transitional government so weak that it recruits child
soldiers into its army was set up with direct aid from the United States, a
policy continued by the Obama administration. A small African Union force
comprised mainly of troops from Uganda and Burundi, both close American
allies, was also sent in to provide some necessary muscle. But even with
this support, the transitional government has failed to extend its control
beyond a tiny sliver of this vast country.
Al-Shabab emerged as a brutal offshoot of the Union of Islamic Courts, but
differed by openly aligning itself with al-Qaida. More worryingly, it has
recently decided to internationalize its war with the African Union force.
Al-Shabab's leaders have spoken openly about taking the war to Kampala and
Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. The World Cup bombings are the first
salvo in this effort.
Until now, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has benefited from his
position as one of America's most trusted African autocrats, a rogue's
gallery that also includes the former liberation leaders turned lifelong
authoritarians in Rwanda, Ethiopia and Eritrea. America's patronage has
ensured protection for Museveni and prosperity for Uganda, even as he shut
down pro-democracy activists, supported the death penalty for homosexuals,
pursued a brutal counter-insurgency campaign in the north, and plundered the
neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).
But with the rubble still being cleared, Ugandans are waking up to the costs
of their alliance with America. With elections looming next year, Museveni
is likely to come under scrutiny for his military adventurism in Somalia and
beyond. As a Ugandan friend who asked to remain anonymous told me, ''People
don't even know what our under-prepared military is even doing in Somalia.''
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has done little to clarify its
incoherent Somalia policy, relying instead on covert actions that only seed
further resentment. Indeed, despite hopes that Obama's elections would turn
a page in U.S.-Africa relations, the administration's misguided approach has
not deviated from the militarized one promoted by his predecessor. Sadly,
until al-Shabab inevitably sets its sights on American soil, it is likely
that ordinary Africans will continue to bear the costs.
Zachariah Mampilly is an assistant professor of political science and
Africana studies at Vassar College.
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