Behind the scenes of the story
I was 22 years old in 2010 when the World Cup Final was played in South Africa, and two twin bombings took place in Kampala. I had just completed the LL.B degree at Makerere, where I had mainly specialized in Public International Law, Human Rights, and Labour Law. I had been active through student organizations, in the promotion of Public International Law in that time, especially through moot court competitions, public dialogues, lectures, etc. And so, at the time of the bombings, I was volunteering/interning at a non-profit in the same field, the Advocates for Public International Law Uganda (APILU). Writing this op-ed counted towards my deliverables.
I have gone back to this op-ed, as I have been thinking of the political opinions of my younger self. Today, in my mid 30s, I definitely no longer trust the liberal International order this opinion reflects. I also no longer think in terms of “Ugandan” national interest. I, in fact think a lot about abolishing the colonial state of Uganda. Looking back to my 22-year old self, I am not too disappointed with my views at the time although I am glad for the ideological growth that has happened. Read on.
Let us withdraw from Somalia first
July 11th, 2010 will go down in the history as the day Uganda was plunged into shock, panic and bitterness. Twin bomb attacks not only turned an otherwise merry night into a dark and deadly one but also raised concerns about the state of the nation’s security. The Al Shabaab, an armed extremist organisation based in Somalia soon after claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks thus centering the debate on this shocking tragedy on Uganda’s role as a contributing country to AU’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
Al Shabaab has warned Uganda and Burundi that there will be reprisals in Kampala and Bujumbura if the two states do not withdraw their troops from AMISOM. AMISOM is an African Union Mission in Somalia with a United Nations mandate to protect the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the shaky peace process in Somalia. Al Shabaab, an extremist military organisation with links to Al Qaeda controls a larger part of Somalia and perceives AMISOM as belligerent and has warned that it will continue to attack the citizens of the two states.
AMISOM soldiers are under-manned and under-equipped as the AU is incapable of logistically and financially managing the mission which relies on funds from USA, the UN and the European Union, among others. Al Shabaab has so far killed over 100 AMISOM soldiers and injured a larger number. AMISOM’s personnel face significant restrictions on their ability to operate as AMISOM’s UN-authorised mandate does not provide sufficient protection to the troops, yet the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon insists that AMISOM remains without legitimate authority to use military force unless fired upon. Thus AMISOM troops only open fire when its soldiers can visually identify their attackers, and will only use weapons that allow for discriminate fire. Al Shabaab fighters dress as civilians and use weapons that cause heavy casualties in one go. AMISOM is thus a crippled mission that cannot defeat Al Shabaab. Whereas Al Shabaab attacks Uganda for its deployment in Somalia, Uganda’s forces in Somalia have no mandate to attack Al Shabaab. This calls for a holistic re-thinking of Uganda’s security and foreign policy on Somalia.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Bwesigye’s Cultural Commentary to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.