From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Jul 16 2010 - 09:52:33 EDT
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Ugandan-Leader-Vows-Revenge-for-Kampala-Bombings--98517999.html
Ugandan
Leader Vows Revenge for Kampala Bombings
Peter Heinlein | Kampala15 July 2010
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, with his wife who is also Member of
Parliament, Janet Museveni, talk to a local in Ntungamo district, about
400km from Kampala, 14 Jul 2010
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to retaliate against the Somali
Islamic extremist group that took responsibility for the bomb attacks in
Kampala that claimed more than 70 lives. Mr. Museveni will push the African
Union to upgrade the size and the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in
Somalia.
The Ugandan leader invited reporters to his country home 500 kilometers from
the capital to express outrage at the suicide bombings, which targeted World
Cup soccer fans. He lashed out at the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab,
which says it organized the attacks because Uganda supplies troops to
support Somalia's Western-backed government.
Mr. Museveni charged that al-Shabab has been taken over by powerful Middle
East extremist groups trying to establish Somalia as a safe haven for
terrorists.
"I am very very furious. Very, very angry. Very angry but also not
surprised because this is the character of these middle eastern groups," he
said. "I don't know what happened to them. They say they are
revolutionaries but their actions are the most reactionary, most backward.
Cowardly, real criminals. Why do you target people who just watch
football."
Mr. Museveni says he will use his position as host of this month's African
Union summit to push for upgrading the mission in Somalia from peacekeeping
to peace enforcement. Uganda is already the main troop contributor to the
5,000-member African Union Mission in Somalia, and Mr. Museveni recently
joined other east African leaders in calling for establishment of a
20,000-troop international mission.
Uganda says it will send 2,000 more troops to Somalia.
In the meantime, the Ugandan president said he would ask parliament for
authority for a swift offensive against al-Shabab, both at home and in
Somalia.
"Justice delayed is justice denied. So that is why I would want to go for a
quick solution, but the parliament would have to agree to allow that to
happen. That is a wish by some of us citizens of Uganda," he said.
Several Ugandan and other east-African political figures and commentators
have urged Uganda to bring its troops home. The country's main opposition
leader this week asked why Uganda and Burundi are the only AMISOM troop
contributors, exposing themselves to al-Shabab's wrath, while other African
leaders look the other way.
Mr. Museveni, who often speaks fondly of his days as a guerrilla fighter,
calls that kind of thinking misguided.
"Those who argue that the best way of avoiding trouble is to surrender
Africa to terrorists from the Middle East, then they are definitely wrong.
The correct way is to ensure that the people of Africa enjoy their freedom,
which is what we fought for. We fought for freedom, not for slavery from
some confused groups in the Middle East," he said.
Meanwhile, Kampala was returning to normal. Police say they have been
responding to dozens of reports of suspicious packages from citizens
sensitized by last Sunday's bombings.
Members of east African immigrant communities in Uganda, notably from
Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, reported scattered cases of harassment. But
community leaders and human-rights activists say tensions have eased since
the immediate hours after the bombings, when several immigrants were
attacked.
Police Thursday refused to comment on the status of the bombing
investigation, or on the status of six suspects, some of east African
origin, who were taken into custody earlier this week.
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