Who is responsible for instability and insecurity in the Gt. Lakes region? The king of Belgium lost Congo which he had received as a personal property at the Berlin conference because some ten million Congolese had perished on his watch. The pressure to deprive the king of his colony came from concerned Europeans. Since Museveni and his confidant Kagame started wars in the Great Lakes region beginning in Uganda in 1981 over ten million people have perished on their watch. Isn’t it time that the international community acts as Europeans did in the case of the Belgian king? In the Luwero Triangle alone half the population lost their lives between 1981 and 1985 and their land and properties allegedly taken over mostly by foreign fighters as a reward. Land in western and increasingly in northern Uganda is also being acquired by Tutsi through various methods including so-called willing seller and willing buyer but largely people say at gun point. We need to record who has acquired land in Uganda since 1986 and how it was acquired. Initially Obote troops were blamed largely by biased foreign reporters for massacres in the Luwero Triangle but information trickling in is pointing a figure at Museveni and his guerrillas. People who were in the National Resistance Army (NRA) and in the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) are coming forward with information about who committed genocide in the Great Lakes region that Kagame and Museveni can’t deny. There are reports that Museveni has expressed commitment to regenerate Luwero Triangle to its former glory. Is this a confession and apology? If he means business – and Baganda should insist – he should return their properties especially land; restore full Kabakaship and federo immediately. Otherwise it will be business as usual as Museveni begins campaigning for 2016 elections and he needs Baganda to survive. We are writing these stories because we want to put an end to the human suffering in the region. The people in the Great Lakes region, like people elsewhere, are the children of one Creator. They were born free and are equal in freedom and dignity. That is what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says. But this Declaration hasn’t been applied in the region. There are double standards created by Europeans and North Americans who have designated Nilotic Tutsi as more equal than Bantu even when the evidence at least in academic performance shows otherwise. When explorers and colonialists arrived in the region they decided civilization was created by Tutsi and were therefore superior to Bantu. They have since maintained they are superior to Bantu people and born leaders even when the record does not confirm that. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda gave Tutsi supporters a good excuse to distort history even more in favor of Tutsi. Hutu alone were blamed for killing Tutsi and moderate Hutu. But they refused to release the Gersony report which probably painted a different picture. Some have argued that the high mortality in the region reflects Malthusian positive checks of wars, famines and epidemics when population growth exceeds the carrying capacity of the land. Instead of a political solution, they recommend birth control. The tragic death of two Hutu presidents in the plane that was shot down has never been investigated much less discussed in international forums. The black box was never found! What does that tell the world community? Contrary to popular belief, the Great Lakes region is now by far more unstable, poorer and more environmentally damaged than before Kagame and Museveni began their wars of conquest and occupation of Uganda in 1981. After the contentious 1980 elections in Uganda, the Democratic Party that felt victory had been snatched from them by UPC had agreed to form the opposition and plan to defeat UPC in the next elections. But Museveni and his UPM that lost badly and had no chance of winning at the next elections embarked on a very destructive guerrilla war with extensive outside help. The majority of Ugandans are now poorer and more insecure that at any time in memory. There is more suppression of human rights than never before. But some see this as necessary to maintain stability. Democracy in terms of elections does not mean a thing to the ordinary citizen. Dictatorship is covered up as bold leadership. Stability is more cherished than true democracy and good governance. Be that as it may, Uganda is now a failed state and instability is one of the dimensions of a failed state. Rebranding Museveni is being undermined by plans underway to elect Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s current minister of foreign affairs and Museveni’s in-law (Kutesa’s daughter is the wife of Museveni’s son being groomed to be the next president of Uganda) as president of the General Assembly for the 69th session starting in September 2014. Kutesa is one of the most corrupt, sectarian and poor managers in Uganda. He was censured by parliament and suspended by the president for corruption. Yet, the world body that should know all this about Kutesa is going to elect him the president of the General Assembly. If elected you can be sure Kutesa will come with his fellow Tutsi confidant permanent secretary James Mugume as his chef de Cabinet (Chief of Cabinet). Kutesa doesn’t trust anyone else. Mugume retired a long time ago but Kutesa has retained him against all complaints and Museveni apparently can’t do anything about it. Summing up, Uganda under Museveni is not stable, is not democratic, is not environmentally sustainable, is not equitable and is not inclusive. Further, Uganda under Museveni has failed to integrate economic, social and environmental dimensions in the development process. What about Rwanda? It is true that under Habyarimana, Rwanda was singled out as a model for the development of Africa. President Habyarimana integrated economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. The collapse of coffee prices in 1989, the imposition of shock therapy stabilization and structural adjustment program and multi-party politics at that critical juncture created an enabling environment for the invasion of Rwanda guerrillas with support of Uganda troops and initiated instability and human suffering through loss of life and internally displaced persons to the tune of about one million by 1993. That Rwanda Patriotic Front and Army possibly participated in committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Rwanda and beyond can be deduced from Rwanda’s refusal to vote for its own resolution of the United Nations Security Council calling for investigations from January 1 to December 31, 1994. Since then reports have alleged that Rwanda and Uganda troops have committed genocide against Hutu in DRC. The United Nations Security Council does not appear keen to discuss and take appropriate action. The genocide of Hutu by Tutsi in Burundi from 1965 to 1993 hardly hit world news and discussed in relevant international bodies. To many people this looks like double standard, considering how quickly the Security Council established the Tribunal for Rwanda after the 1994 genocide to try suspected genocidaires considered to be mostly Hutu. To the author’s knowledge, no single Tutsi has been arrested. Let me add lest we are misunderstood that there are some Tutsi that do not endorse what is happening in the region under Tutsi-led regimes of Museveni and Kagame. Hutu and Tutsi who remained in Rwanda after the 1959 Social Revolution are being treated as second class citizens. They were herded into designated villages and lost their land and properties. Economic growth that is concentrated in Kigali has disproportionately benefited Tutsi returnees as well as public and private sector jobs and security forces. So contrary to popular belief, Rwanda under Kagame is economically unequal, has a very poor record on human rights, has silenced dissent by disallowing mention of one’s ethnic group etc. Any Hutu including those born after 1994 that dissent is dubbed a genocidaire, liable to immediate arrest and indefinite detention in already overcrowded prisons. Those who condemn Kagame government for Hutu impoverishment, dispossession and marginalization are being blamed as Hutu genocide sympathizers. But Kagame regime conveniently forgets that Tutsi have caused more genocide in Burundi, in Rwanda, in DRC and possibly in Uganda than any other ethnic group. Kagame himself confessed to Daniel Kalinaki that his troops have done a thorough job of eliminating Hutu genocidaires and Interahamwe. And yet in the corridors of power in northern capitals Kagame is credited with creating stability and human security in the Great Lakes region. There are reports that the Rwanda constitution may be amended to remove presidential term limit so Kagame stays in power indefinitely like his counterpart Museveni in Uganda. Rebranding Kagame and Museveni underway will only make matters worse and prolong efforts to correct the situation when the two finally leave. That is what happened in France, Mexico, Russia and Ethiopia where leaders had been in power for a long time. We are witnessing something like it in Egypt. Mobutu wasn’t a good leader in Zaire. But under his regime, there wasn’t so much suffering and especially loss of life as we have witnessed particularly in the eastern region that has been occupied directly and indirectly by Kagame and Museveni soldiers or militia created and/or supported by them since 1996. What are the so-called Bakiga of Uganda (who may be Tutsi) doing in M23 and how can Museveni believed to be a supporter of M23 be a mediator between M23 and DRC? In Burundi, Buyoya a Hima/Tutsi tried to create a sense of balance between Tutsi and Hutu as compared with Michombero and Bagaza before him. He even allowed elections in 1993 which he lost to a Hutu competitor and stepped down gracefully. But reports show that Museveni and Kagame couldn’t accept a Hutu-led government and from their hideout in Entebbe planned the change of regime in which the Hutu president and senior Hutu officials were killed. This in short is a record of Museveni and Kagame that were christened a “breed of new African leaders” bent on ending dictatorship, murder, remove leaders that stayed in power too long, end instability and overall human insecurity in the Great Lakes region. Time has come to recognize that the experiment initiated and supported by foreigners has failed – and failed badly. There are good leaders out there but are being blocked by this failed experiment that has kept Museveni and Kagame in power. UDU is grateful that the United Nations and the United States of America have designated highly respectable personalities (Robinson and Feingold) to investigate who has caused what in the Great Lakes region and report their findings and recommendations for appropriate action. It would be highly appreciated that UK and France also appointed envoys to join the other two because of their involvement in the affairs of the region. We pray that their reports will not be treated like the Gersony’s and collect dust in inaccessible places. For Uganda UDU is ready to participate in a transitional government after NRM is booted out democratically in the first instance. UDU has a National Recovery Plan, it has a well functioning committee or secretariat. We identified gender and youth as areas that call for priority attention and appointed a director of gender and a director of youth that are following developments in Uganda. We have begun compiling a list of people from the lowest to the highest levels including NRM officials with a clean record. We are trying to avoid a repeat of the failed Moshi conference experiment that some Ugandans still see as something to emulate. UDU strongly believes and has said so that doing business as usual won’t work. Leaders that come out of nowhere especially without experience and lack impeccable record will no longer be allowed. Leaders that don’t tell us who they are and what they stand for will not be permitted for the sake of national security. Leaders with a dubious record and hide those they are working with will be left out. Uganda can’t afford a repeat of mercenaries in Uganda – two have already revealed what damage can be done. A vetting process will be instituted against profiles for presidential and parliamentary candidates and a truly independent electoral commission will be established. That is why it is necessary to have a transitional government to clear the debris and organize proper, free and fair multi-party elections. Meanwhile, the transition government will prepare the ground for further discussion or immediate action on priority areas such as employment of youth, school lunch, land tenure/ownership, federalism, registration of immigrants and refugees and participate actively in UN preparations for the post-2015 development agenda. Discussions on the East African political federation will be suspended in preference for negotiations on the East African economic integration which should be realized before political federation that Museveni and Kagame are selling to Kenyatta. We have already advised President Kenyatta to tread carefully on this politically sensitive issue that would also include potential for elimination of national borders that has serious implications for the region. It takes two to tangle. We look forward to working closely with our development partners especially the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Let me pen off by repeating that UDU seeks to get to the root cause of the problem in the region and to solve it by peaceful and democratic means in the first instance. We welcome constructive engagement. Eric Kashambuzi Secretary General, UDU
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:02:16 +0000
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