The Temperature Increases

I had some framed pictures on my walls that have all fallen down in the last few days. They were held up with Blu-Tack and I honestly believe that with the heat the Blu-Tack melted. I mean they stayed quite happily on the walls for the past four months. The rainy season is due any day now - so says today's copy of the national newspaper, The New Vision. Some people I have spoke with say that the dry season never really got going this year; that normally it is even hotter! All I know is that the air is so heavy that it's an effort to walk though it. Poor Dudley is comatosed by it as you can see from the photo on the left. He is not as active during daylight hours as I expected a young kitten to be.

The air temperature isn't the only thing that's increasing though, the political climate is also heating up. With presidential elections only a fortnight away the country has gone election crazy.

Uganda has a bit of a colourful history. Yoweri Museveni (the current president) seized power from Milton Obote in the early 80s. He easily won the only elections since then as the country was still finding its feet after years of misrule and atrocities. This year however it doesn't look like the elections will be quite so tranquil.

At this late stage there are only really two candidates left in the running - Museveni (pictured on the left) and Dr. Col. Kizza Besigye (pictured on the right). I say this 'late stage' because in Uganda candidates can campaign officially for up to three months as opposed to Ireland's one month. In fact long before the official beginning of the campaigning, newspapers were full of election news. This long build-up has contributed to the tension that thickens the air even further.

A few Sunday's ago for example, some people threw home-made bombs (3 in all) in different parts of Kampala. Each party is blaming the others for the incident. Campaigners race around at break neck speed hanging out of vehicles blaring their horns and shouting slogans in order to try and drum up support for their candidate. The photo on the left isn't great but it shows you how campaigners totally over-fill vehicles. Many campaigners have been killed from collisions or from falling off the vehicles. In today's New Vision newspaper for example, there is a story of 24 supporters for Besigye who were injured, four of them critically in such an incident in Mbale.

Luweero, where I live, is a bit of a hot spot. Luweero was Museveni's base when he waged war on Obote. As a result, many see it as Museveni's area and are targeting it as such. Several people have been shot dead in Luweero District including a campaign manager for Museveni who also happened to be a member of the Church of Uganda - Luweero Synod . A curfew has been placed in Luweero town. Anyone caught on the street after 10pm will be locked up in jail until the next day. 

Today's main story is about how one of Besigye's main men was arrested by the army at the national airport after a three-hour stand-off (see photo on the right). The army says it was for his own protection as they had heard that the Besigye group had plotted to kill him and blame Museveni's party. Besigye threatened to immediately pull out of the race if the intimidation and harassment of his supporters continued. The whole incident is very confusing.

In a statement by the army, they claim the arrested man had expressed concern to them over:     

'the growing violence instigated by the Dr. Kizza Besigye' camp, plans to start insurgency with Besigye when Besigye loses the elections, a plot to assassinate key political leaders and kidnap others in order to tarnish the image of the government and importation of weapons to harm people they perceive to be foreigners during the electoral process.'

I certainly look forward to the whole thing being over. I'll keep you posted as the situation develops.

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