{UAH} A civil war pitting Tutsis against rest of Ugandans now imminent by The London Evening Post

A civil war pitting Tutsis against rest of Ugandans now imminent

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Editorial Team

Prof Eric Kashambuzi (seated 2nd from left) holds the hand of his wife Gertrude as he poses for a group photograph with some of the participants at the November 2013 Uganda Peace Conference held in The Hague, Netherlands.

Ugandans who met at The Hague conference of November 28-30, 2013, pledged to work together to end Musevenism and usher in real democracy and good governance anchored on free and fair multi-party elections, transparency, participation and accountability. "We shall succeed in this endeavour by providing accurate information based on facts so that the people of Uganda make the right choices. Lest we have forgotten, it is the enlightened people of Uganda that will determine their destiny and civic education is an integral part of that process.

He warned the NRM that it needs to recognize that no situation is permanent. The dynamic political, economic and social forces in Uganda, he explained, are demanding fundamental changes. "If we act sensibly and put Uganda first, the changes may happen without bloodshed. If we don't the opposite will be the outcome. The choice is ours collectively as Ugandans. We therefore need to listen to and hear one another, learn from our history and reach consensus on the way forward anchored on compromise because there is no more room for doing business as usual by maintaining the scheme of things that has lost validity in Uganda as it did in Europe," Kashambuzi said. The situation in Uganda today, he went on, is similar to what obtained in the second half of the 18th century when Europeans demanded individual liberty and equality.

"The response of leaders was slow in accommodating these demands and led to revolutions.  We hope Museveni will draw an appropriate lesson because he can't frustrate Uganda demands for liberty and equality much longer. We hope the Uganda military, a few hangers-on and foreign backers will assist Museveni take the right decision in good time. The decision of the military and foreign backers to abandon Ferdinand Marcos saved Philippines from bloodshed. Let us not forget this lesson," Kashambuzi advised.

It has been decided that the next Uganda Peace Conference will be held in London, UK early this year. Arrangements are now underway to issue invitations. The date and venue will be communicated to everybody as soon as possible.

A career diplomat who lives and has worked in New York for a very long time, Prof Kashambuzi who has the experience of having been party to the 1979 Moshi conference in Tanzania that organised and effected the removal of Gen Idi Amin from power the same year, said there are many examples one can give where Uganda leaders have regretted not having taken steps to halt the many evils that have befallen the country since independence from Great Britain in 1962.

In a document he has written, a copy of which he has given to The London Evening Post, Prof Kashambuzi said soon after independence in 1962, leaders in Buganda failed to campaign vigorously in preparation for the referendum on the lost counties issue, believing that then Prime Minister Milton Obote would not let them down and jeopardize the Kabaka Yekka (KY) party and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) coalition. "When they lost the referendum, they regretted why they didn't act differently," he said.

He went on to say that when the UPC won the controversial 1980 general election, some senior UPC politicians were advised to form a government of national unity including members of DP (the Democratic Party then led by Dr Paul Ssemogerere) and UPM (the Uganda Peoples Movement then led by Yoweri Museveni). "Their response was the 'winner takes all' concept doesn't work that way. They behaved as though they had never heard of the 'win-win' concept. They reasoned that the losers will have to wait for the next elections to try their luck.  Instead the losers picked up guns and sent UPC into exile for the second time."

Prof Kashambuzi, who like President Museveni attended Ntare High School in western Uganda, goes on to explain that a veteran Ugandan politician, Boniface Byanyima told the Baganda never to involve Museveni in their struggle against the UPC government. Byanyima had brought up Museveni, the current Ugandan leader and knew his character very well, Kashambuzi said. "The Baganda and later the Catholics ignored his advice. For them anybody was better than Obote. Now they are regretting why they didn't listen."

 "Because of these dynamics," he added, "We are now advising Ugandans that there is a possibility of a civil war pitting Tutsi against the rest of Ugandans. Those who want to maintain the status quo are advising Ugandans that there is nothing of the sort: after all, intermarriage between Tutsi women and non-Tutsi Ugandans is so entrenched that a civil war is not possible. They have conveniently forgotten that Obote who sent troops under Amin to attack Mengo in 1966 and abolished the kingdoms in 1967 including Buganda kingdom was married to a Muganda. Others dismiss our warning as the usual sectarian drive against successful Tutsi."

He said that the UDU hopes that this time around, common sense will prevail and that Ugandans would avoid another rush to a leader unknown to them. "Wielding a gun or he/she belongs to us (Obote belonged to Protestants) must cease to be a criterion for choosing the next team of leaders," the professor said. He went on to explain that at the Boston conference in 2011, the UDU had authorised its committee to conduct civic education and tell Ugandans the truth to facilitate informed decisions. "That was not happening because political propaganda was giving false or distorted information," he said

Ugandans who met at The Hague conference of November 28-30, 2013, pledged to work together to end Musevenism and usher in real democracy and good governance anchored on free and fair multi-party elections, transparency, participation and accountability. "We shall succeed in this endeavour by providing accurate information based on facts so that the people of Uganda make the right choices. Lest we have forgotten, it is the enlightened people of Uganda that will determine their destiny and civic education is an integral part of that process.

He warned the NRM that it needs to recognize that no situation is permanent. The dynamic political, economic and social forces in Uganda, he explained, are demanding fundamental changes. "If we act sensibly and put Uganda first, the changes may happen without bloodshed. If we don't the opposite will be the outcome. The choice is ours collectively as Ugandans. We therefore need to listen to and hear one another, learn from our history and reach consensus on the way forward anchored on compromise because there is no more room for doing business as usual by maintaining the scheme of things that has lost validity in Uganda as it did in Europe," Kashambuzi said. The situation in Uganda today, he went on, is similar to what obtained in the second half of the 18th century when Europeans demanded individual liberty and equality.

"The response of leaders was slow in accommodating these demands and led to revolutions.  We hope Museveni will draw an appropriate lesson because he can't frustrate Uganda demands for liberty and equality much longer. We hope the Uganda military, a few hangers-on and foreign backers will assist Museveni take the right decision in good time. The decision of the military and foreign backers to abandon Ferdinand Marcos saved Philippines from bloodshed. Let us not forget this lesson," Kashambuzi advised.

It has been decided that the next Uganda Peace Conference will be held in London, UK early this year. Arrangements are now underway to issue invitations. The date and venue will be communicated to everybody as soon as possible.