From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Jul 20 2010 - 08:21:51 EDT
http://www.monitor.co.ug/ Confusion mars start of AU Summit
By S. Muyita & R. Kasasira
Posted Tuesday, July 20 2010 at 00:42
Complaints about facilities and services yesterday forced a five-hour
suspension of proceedings at the ongoing African Union Summit at
Commonwealth Speke Resort Munyonyo as some drama played out on the sidelines
of the conference.
In one incident, suspected plain-clothed security personnel were seen
tearing down a poster of Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gadaffi in the media
room at Munyonyo.
One of the men was overheard telling a colleague, “... all we were told is
that only utl (the telecommunications company) was authorised to place its
posters here, now I do not know how this one entered the room.”
Already, Col. Gadaffi is said to have invited hundreds of African
traditional leaders to the summit and booked prime hotel space, reportedly
placing organisers in an awkward situation.
Daily Monitor understands that summit organisers were overwhelmed by the
close to 7,000 delegates who have turned up for the 15th AU Summit.
Resources were stretched. Delegates complained of a host of inconveniences
ranging from no accommodation, lack of transportation to unavailability of
internet services.
It was initially calm when the conference opened about 9am. with Foreign
Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa and AU Chairman Jean Ping delivering opening
remarks. But the subsequent closed session turned stormy as several
delegates reportedly complained bitterly about unfair treatment.
Uganda was reportedly accused of failing to honour a promise of at least
five rooms per delegation at Munyonyo, and allowing other countries to book
up to 20 rooms there for themselves.
“Imagine there have been bomb blasts in this city but these people want us
to sleep in unclassified hotels in the suburbs of Kampala, which we are not
sure have adequate security,” one of the foreign delegates, who preferred
not to be named, told Daily Monitor.
Others were annoyed that they could not access Internet at Munyonyo, and
that they had to buy their own food for $30 plus taxes (about Shs86,000).
Others still said the heavy traffic and very strict security checks were
irritating.
A delegate from West Africa said they had been assured that there was
accommodation. “It’s a pity. How could this happen?” he asked.
Officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, ICT and Tourism were seen
holding several meetings, dashing about and making repeated trips to the
city centre.
Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Ambassador James Mugume, later told
Daily Monitor that all the delegates needed was information.
Ambassador Mull Katende, Uganda’s permanent representative to the AU in
Addis Ababa, also explained what was being done to make everyone comfortable
when the session resumed in the afternoon, according to Chief Logistics
Officer Moses Kizige.
Mr Kizige told Daily Monitor that Uganda offered to pay for two rooms for
each delegation: a presidential suite and an extra room for the
member-states’ foreign ministers.
“On top of the two rooms we have fully paid for the delegations, we informed
them that we would keep each of the members an extra three rooms at
Munyonyo, but they would pay for them,” Mr Kizige said.
“The problem was that most of them did not bother to confirm that they
needed the three extra rooms, beyond the deadlines, which we first set as
May 30, and we kept extending up to July 15. So the hotel decided to sell
them to other delegates who were ready to pay,” he said.
Mr Kizige said they were able to withdraw nine rooms that had been reserved
for Uganda officials to accommodate some delegates. For transport,
government said it would only afford transporting the 140 members of the AU
Secretariat in Kampala.
For the slow Internet connectivity, Mr Kizige said: “You should remember
that Parliament refused to approve the issue of bandwidth that we had
incorporated in the AU budget. Usually, we hire more bandwidth from Internet
service providers to boost the Munyonyo Internet.”
Earlier in the morning, the delegates observed a moment of silence in
remembrance of victims of the July 11 terror attacks, which official records
say left over 70 people dead.
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