Mr Ayoub Mzee---
By Ayoub mzee -London
I had arrived in Kampala Uganda to attend the AU summit just 3 days after Ugandans were burying loved ones cut to shreds by terrorist bombs in the morning of their promising young lives .It was quite a sombre and disturbing moment. The Uganda president had declared a war on terrorism that week and pledged to increase the number of Uganda troops in Mogadishu in order to disterbalise Al shabaab in their neighbourhood and their Al Qaeda sponsors.
But before i left London, i was amazed at the level of response from a few members of the opposition in the Uganda UK Diaspora and a few Somali friends at my local internet cafe in East London. They could not understand why Uganda WAS in Somalia in the first place .
Some said they deserved it .Some of the questions i was asked were like: Is Uganda the most powerful African country to sustain an intervention in Somalia ? do they have popular support in Somalia? How peaceful is Uganda to make peace in another country? Does Uganda have any interests in Somalia? Is Uganda protecting Somalis or One person in the name of TFG?
I did explain to them that Uganda did not enter Somalia spoiling for a fight with Al shabaab or the locals , that Uganda contingent went to carry out the mandate of the African Union mission in Somalia(AMISOM).
That while facing daily ‘wahala’ from the militants and several loss of lives , Uganda troops have acted with extreme restraint in protecting the loss of Somali lives , property and government institutions, while providing humanitarian assistance like providing medical care .These friends of mine in London could take none of that.
As i reached Kampala , security was tight not only because of the terrorist attack , but also the fact that delegates for the AU summit had started arriving. It took me another 2 days to get clearance from the police headquarters and the Local Police in Kabalagala, Uganda media Centre in the President’s office to be allowed to visit the Bomb sites.
I even met and spoke to the lady of the Ethiopian joint that was bombed in Kabalagala .This is when the scale of what had happened hit me .I met and spoke to lots of journalist friends that i know in town from Aljazeera, CNN, New vision , Bukeede, The new times of Rwanda , BBC,etc and the view was the same ,Uganda should stay in Somalia .
Part of my schedule was to go to Northern Uganda after the summit, as i was driving along the Kampala – Masindi road , i kept asking myself , when Al Qaeda killed and maimed hundreds of innocent people in the streets of Nairobi and Dar es salaam in 1998, did any east African country have any troops in Somalia? No!.
Did any of the innocent lives lost challenged their ideology then ? No!. By the time i had reached Paraa safari Lodge in Murchison National park whre i spent a night , i had come to the conclusion in my mind that this war is NOT a Ugandan Vs Al shabab war. It is a war against all of us within the region.
Today , it might be Uganda , and tomorrow somewhere else , because the kind of ideology that Al shabaab carries is not territorial, its about bringing a new order in the international system along the lines ...you are either with us or with them.... and they wont stop killing!
As i boarded British Airways back to London , it now dawned on me that July 11 attacks in Uganda presents a dawn of new reality in East Africa .Life as we knew it had changed and that the first line of defence will be individual persons. The decisions to send more boots to defend the rights of our Somali brothers and sisters is both a duty to them and also in our own national security interest.
But as for Uganda as a country , they need to rethink about their strategy in Somalia .Is it worth the price they are paying for protecting the air port and presidential palace ? critics are yet convinced .They say that Uganda forces contribution could be highly invisible and relevant , if the Somalia issue was treated as a global problem than a Ugandan one .
Lastly , we should all remember that had it not been the interevetion of Tanzania forces in Uganda , we could still be having the likes of Idd amin around terrorising their own people
Uganda regime is just like what Mobotu regime was.The puppet of somebody,u know who.Let Somalis deal with their own problems,Uganda Govt cant even level with LRA meanwhile they want to handle other country's affair.
ReplyDeleteMzee sio 'disterbalise' usahihi ni destabilise - Ayubu hujatulia wewe...
ReplyDeletewhat about LRA terrorism?
ReplyDeleteBraza anajituma sana kutafuta habari lakini grammar inamuangusha.uwe unaedit kabla ya kupost
ReplyDeleteUkitaka kuelewa kwanini Uganda imepeleka wanajeshi wake Somalia unatkiwa kuelewa global agenda ya kulazimisha nchi zote kufata mfumo wa capitalism. Mfumo huu hautaki mfumo wowote utakaoshindananao na somalia wanataka mfumo wa kiislamu.
ReplyDeleteWanajeshi wa America ilikuwa ya kwanza kwenda kutaka kusimamia kuweka mfumo huo na wakashindwa.Wakawatumia Ethiopia kuanziasha vita na somailia mwishowe wakachoka. Sasa wanaitumia African union na kaitka African union nchi ambazo zinaendeshwa na war lords ndio rahisi kuzitumia kwani hazina demokrasia na kufanya kazi ya superpower inawahakikishia wao kuwamadarakani.
Uganda, Rwanda viongozi wao wametoka jeshini na wamemwaga damu sana kuingia madaraki. Hawa wote wanatumika na hitari sana katika usalama na amani katika bara la Africa.
It seems as if the line between orthodoxy and extreemism has become so blur that people think terror is part of the true faith!
ReplyDeleteAl shabaab have many sympathizers even here in Tanzania. You can tell most comments above are from such.
There are very few sober minded faithfuls like you Ayoub.
You are doing a great Job to raise awareness of the dangers we face in East Africa. Keep up the good work!
We Ayub Mzee Mche Mola wako.Al-shabab co terrorists bali ni Mujahideen wanaotaka kusimamisha Sharia ya ALLAH ktk ardhi na kulifanya neno la ALLAH liwe juu.Acha kupelekwa na dunia,kuna siku utakutana na Mola wako nini utamueleza kwa kupinga kwako Jihad.Kusema kwamba issue ya Somalia inatuhusu sote wa East Africa hizo ni agenda za Wamarekani ktk kuutafuta support maana vita tayari vinaelekea kuwashinda,acha kufata mkumbo.Kl mtu muelewa anajua kwamba Uganda chini ya Museven ni kibaraka wa Marekani na kuna madai kwamba Museveni mwenyewe ni CIA so usibabaishwe na hizo propaganda za western countries.Asilimia kubwa ya wasomali wanasupport Shebab sasa waganda kwanini waende kusaidia serikali isiyotakiwa na raia?Alafu Wanajeshi wa Uganda wanafnaya mauji makubwa ya raia kule somalia na mfano halisi ni tukio la kulipua soko la Bakara ktk mji mkuu Mogadishu.
ReplyDeleteKitu kingine Idd Amini hakuwa terrorist km unavyodai,rudi tena Uganda na ukafanye utafiti khs Idd Amini..Idd Amini alikua mtu wa watu na si dictator km watu wengi wanavyoamini na hizo zilikua propaganda za makusudi kumchafulia jina na kiongozi wa propaganda hizo ilikua Tanzania chini ya Mkatoliki Nyerere..Usipelekwe pelekwe tu kuwa mdadisi na mchunguzi wa Mambo.
Anony wa Sat Aug 14, 02:38:00 PM hivi unajua unacgosema au umekurupuka tu? Kwanza Somalia hawana serikali na wala hawajawahi kuwa na serikali. Kuna watu wachache ambao wanajiita serikali na wala hawatendi haki kwa wananchi. Na kama unajua dini ya kiislam inasema haki kwa wote...sasa wewe unayesema Idd Amini alikuwa mtu wa watu na si dictator..historia yako nadhani haijakaa sawa. Mtu anayeua watu bila sababu ni mtu wa watu. (labda kwa familia yake). Najua una haki ya kusema chochote lakini uwe na FACTS za kusapoti what you say.
ReplyDeleteBlame the jewish for gaza,then blame the Americans 4 Iraq and Afghanistan.It is all down to security measures.In my view, I think Uganda should first tackle sodomy culture then Somalia issue.
ReplyDeleteWewe mdau wa mdau wa sat 14Aug 05:39 unaesema kuwa Somali haijawahi kuwa na serikali unasema kinachoeleweka au unakurupuka tu ?na kina Marehemu Said Barre walikuwa wanaongoza nini? kabla ya kuandika na kutoa utumbo wako ingebidi urudi shule kwanza .
ReplyDeleteya waMarekani waachie waMarekani,ya Wabongo waachie wabongona ya waSomali waachie waSomali.
mdau paka la jikoni.