{UAH} Soldiers sometimes do things their superiors aren’t aware of!

FDC's Amuriat being arrested from the FDC offices on nomination day. Soldiers removed his shoes from him

The unexpected happened to a famous BBC correspondent of the 1960s and 70s and his wife, who was also a journalist, when they were invited to visit president Mobutu in what was then called Zaire. To ease his path through the system- if any such thing exists in that country—he had letters from the foreign minister and from the president's office. The pair of them arrived at night, which on the outskirts of Kinshasa is a dangerous time.

The first couple of road blocks were no problem: a few cigarettes sorted out the bored, greedy soldiers there. The third was much more difficult. The soldiers who mannered it were drunk and much nastier than the ones who stopped me in Angola, and they forced the BBC man and his wife out of their car at gunpoint.

'Vos papers,' the soldier in charge shouted.

The correspondent produced his letter from the foreign minister. The soldier in charge scarcely glanced at it, and ripped it up. Meanwhile the other soldiers were getting ready to rape the correspondent's wife.

'Vos papiers.'

The letter from the presidential palace went the same way as the earlier one. The British passport he produced was thrown into the bushes. By now the correspondent's wife was on the ground, and they were starting to tear her clothes. Rape was imminent. The correspondent was desperate. Reaching wildly into his pockets he came up with a credit card and handled it to the soldier in charge. God knows what he thought he was doing.

The man held it up, and ran his finger over the raised lettering, where it said, 'cardholder's name'. He grunted.

'QUI CA CEST BON. Tu peux ten aller'

The correspondent's wife, a woman of considerable pluck, stood up and brushed herself down with dignity. The soldiers opened doors for them, and saluted drunkenly as they drove off.

This is a story I read from the book written by John Simpson, ' A mad World, My Masters'.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Sometimes soldiers on streets do things their superiors don't approve of, but we always blame the superiors because they are responsible for the systems in place. If you ever find yourself in that situation, please humble yourself and do everything to save yourself possible, or those you care about.

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*Abbey Kibirige  Semuwemba*

Stalk my blog at: http://semuwemba.wordpress.com

"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive." - Henry Steele Commager 1902-98

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