Lubiri attack: Kabaka had guns; wanted to overthrow Obote
With President Museveni not about to step down, and his predecessors Milton Obote and Idi Amin dying in exile in recent years, Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa is an endangered specie as he remains Uganda's only surviving former head of state.
Binaisa, 87, was a key actor in events - some quite controversial - that have shaped Uganda's history, even before he became president in 1979. MICHAEL MUBANGIZI and HASSAN BADRU ZZIWA spent some time with the octogenarian and recorded his untold story. Below is the second of a five-part series:
Binaisa in a pensive mood
After prison, I went back to my office in the law firm and started working. I also continued in the Uganda National Congress (UNC) where I was a member of the NCC Executive Committee headed by Ignatius Musaazi and Dr. Kununka from Hoima, Bananuka from Mbarara, and others. My work involved giving advice on all sorts of things, planning and it was tough.
I met Apollo Milton Obote in UNC when he came back from Nairobi to see our leader from Lango, Yekosofati Engur. The latter had been detained in Luzira Prison for three years. That is when Obote joined us. He later became leader of the group from Lango [and later led UPC]. We agreed with his leadership qualities. He was active as a leader and we were all active because we were all young. We had no difficulties of going on. We did not have this idea of tribalism, sectarianism, religion; they all did not bother us. You see, we were reading newspapers from Nigeria, Liberia and America. We were also reading about Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana - Gold Coast - as it was called then.
Godfrey Binaisa dancing with Tomoko Yamamoto on their wedding day
I was in the UNC when it spilt [into Obote and Musaazi factions]. I did not go with Musaazi because he was too lazy; he wasn’t working so hard. So I went with Obote’s group [with the likes of John Kakonge].
Obote was more alert, more aware of our problems in terms of organisation, because the national struggle had reached a point of no return. We were to work everyday; sometimes we would spend the whole night planning.
1961 elections
In 1961, there were general elections. The Governor said, “You should all go to elections,” but the Buganda Lukiiko said, “No, we are not going.” I wanted to participate, I was ready to contest but my area Buganda refused to participate. As a result, only 3% of the population registered [for the elections] in Buganda.
That was a very small number. How could I have contested, well knowing that only 3% had registered?
Consequently, the election was a fuss in Buganda. Some people went to Parliament with only 50, 80 votes in a constituency! It was only brave Baganda, like [former Prime Minister and DP founder] Benedicto Kiwanuka, who refused to listen to Lukiiko.
But the rest of the country voted.
Although Baganda boycotted, theoretically we participated. [For instance], I did not stand but I still campaigned for Grace Ibingira in Kajara (Ankole), and he won. We had made up our mind that although we are not participating, we were going with the rest of the country.
[Asked if that was not being disloyal to the Kabaka and Lukiiko] - That is nonsense!
These people, particularly Catholics, were brainwashed by Church leaders, making them believe only in themselves. Until the father or priest says, “do this”; they wouldn’t do a thing. Okimanyi - you know that!
The Baganda, as you know; they also wait for the Kabaka, sometimes the Kabaka doesn’t say anything, so they won’t do anything.
Horrible Lukiiko
I think Buganda’s stand was horrible because when you look at Uganda as a whole, these are the people - Kabaka Mutesa I in particular - who brought Mzungu here.
Yayagala ageziwale, n’abantu be babe bagezi -He wanted to get knowledge for himself and his people. That is why he told Henry Morton Stanley: “You write to your people, bampereze abasomi (to send me learned people).
And now these people who invited the Mzungu chose not to participate! Some of us were horrified; we did not like the idea.
If you are the one who brought Mzungu, what business have you got to say now at the last stage of the struggle, you are out of it?
They should have remained with other Ugandans and agreed to be subjected to elections. Of course that was a setback to the independence struggle.
First of all, these were the first people to be enlightened in modern ways of doing things, not only in business but everything, but then they chose to pull out at the last stage of the journey. It was terrible!
They [Buganda Lukiiko] had persuaded the Governor who allowed them to send members indirectly without elections.
The major argument was that if the position of the Kabaka is not clarified, then there should be no independence. I don’t know how they wanted it clarified but that was stupidity. Like what they are doing now; going back to President Museveni [for federo], what are they going to get?
After the elections, there was a whole year up to independence. It was DP in power, with Benedicto Kiwanuka as the first Prime Minister.
I did not serve in Kiwanuka’s reign, neither was I in Parliament. I was in my law firm.
Unholy alliance
[Ahead of the 1962 elections, UPC formed an alliance with the Buganda-leaning Kabaka Yekka party]. The UPC-KY alliance was a kind of adventurism on the part of Obote because he wanted to secure a majority. All these people wanted to get in [power]. How could he get a majority without Buganda who the Governor had permitted to send 21 members of the Legislative Council through the Lukiiko [without being subjected to indirect elections]?
The Central Executive of the party (UPC) agreed to go with Kabaka Yekka to help Obote form a government and throw out Kiwanuka who was regarded as being disobedient to the Kabaka. Remember he had gone into the elections contrary to the advice of Mengo; [thus as a Muganda] he disobeyed his parliament in Mengo.
It was a very unholy alliance, like the one you read about [in history of] Queen Maria Tereza of Austria which she made with Fredrick of Prussia. It wasn’t a genuine kind of relationship.
1962 elections
UPC won the April 1962 elections and formed government, with Obote becoming Prime Minister and Kabaka Edward Mutesa executive president, while DP led by Ben Kiwanuka formed the opposition.
I think UPC had 37 seats in the house of 80 and DP had 24 seats [and Buganda sent 21 indirectly elected members].
[Asked to comment on critics who describe the transition from Kiwanuka to Obote as an anti-Catholic stance] -No, not really, part of it yes, part of it was because many Catholics did not listen to Mengo - Lukiiko - and went to elections and voted Kiwanuka.
Mengo wasn’t against Catholics; it was against the whole system because they did not want Baganda to go to elections. They wanted Kabaka first of all to be declared president, or something…
It was around that time that I became QC –Queen’s Counsel - in1962.
I am the only Ugandan with that title but it doesn’t mean a thing. There are no monetary gains [per se] but a Queen’s Counsel is given more money than other lawyers when they work, because you are a senior person. If they are giving other lawyers say 100 pounds, they may give you 500 or 1,000 because you are a QC.
So I have been getting that money, but it’s little because I am operating in a poor country.
Queen’s Counsel in Britain just means a senior lawyer and many High Court judges in Britain are QCs.
In Britain, QCs can’t go to court alone; they need what they call learned juniors, junior counsels, to handle their books and open them when they are talking. You don’t take any examination to become QC. You need to have practised as a qualified barrister. You also have to be recommended by the Lord Chancellor to the Queen to be appointed.
But because Britain no longer has powers over us, we can’t have new QCs. The Queen is no longer head of our state; she is head of the Commonwealth.
It was also around that time, after the elections, that I joined Cabinet - when Prime Minister Obote formed government and appointed me Attorney General in 1962. I was the only senior lawyer among them.
1966 crisis
I was Attorney General during the 1966 crisis. There was fighting at the Lubiri Palace and the Kabaka Mutesa who had been president of the country ran to Europe.
It all started when Obote sent his police to find out about weapons that had been brought by the Kabaka into the palace. The Kabaka had his own personal guns but these were guns for fighting; he wanted to throw out Obote. He wanted to become the real president because he was almost ceremonial. That is when Obote realised that he wanted to take his seat.
The fighting started in the morning, around 8a.m.; the Kabaka started shooting because he had a very big maxim gun. The fighting went on up to around midday.
[Asked about allegations that as Attorney General he is the one who advised Obote to storm the Lubiri] – But I wasn’t the army commander! Being Attorney General doesn’t make you commander of the army. I wasn’t commanding the troops and he [Obote] did not consult me.
You see, political consultations are different from army orders. What legal advice would I give on that sort of thing when people were fighting for power?
Anyway, after the fighting, Kabaka Mutesa went to England where he died [in 1969]. But the Baganda had to cool down as long as they knew their king was still alive. I think they were mainly concerned with their king being killed [during the attack] on the Lubiri but he wasn’t.
[Asked about the significance of the attack on the Lubiri] - But since I didn’t participate in it how, do you ask me? What do you want me to say? The thing is, as somebody wrote, “Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely”; these two were fighting over who should be the top man!
I don’t think this event would have been avoided. Both men were very ambitious, even the Kabaka was. The two couldn’t sleep in the same bed. It had to happen as long as both had ideas about power, about becoming top man.
Obote accepted to have a ceremonial king, who had no political power, and Mutesa accepted it.
It was a great risk [for the king to turn around and pursue power] but he took it.
Resigning
My post as Attorney General was very difficult. I was head of the bar and I was a Muganda. We passed difficult things but I just hardened and we passed them. So, I think it was June 1967, that I resigned.
I wrote to him [Obote] a resignation letter but he did not accept it. He never answered back. Until now he has never accepted it.
I had had enough and was tired. Tired of the whole thing, too many intrigues, distortions, lies…
They were pioneered by everybody - government, Mutesa, parliament, they were all attacking me all the time because they wanted power. They all wanted the Attorney General to agree and endorse whatever they were saying, and once you say no, that is too bad.
In many cases I would just refuse. You see, Obote wasn’t a lawyer, neither was the Kabaka. But they wanted power, power. But I also did not like his [Obote’s] detention powers without trial, and I told him.
I did not like detention at all because like I told you, I had myself been detained without trial. How could I support an idea that had hurt me?
But that [displeasure with Obote’s detention without trial powers] wasn’t the major reason behind my resignation. The real thing is that I was tired. I had done five years of a very difficult job. There were problems of a growing, young country. I don’t remember who replaced me but after that, I went back to the law firm.
1967 constitution
About allegations that I made the constitution, we had a complete hiatus when Kabaka, the head of state, had run; what should we have done? Our head of state disappeared from the country and went to England. But these Baganda saying Binaisa, Binaisa [wrote the constitution] think that me as a trained lawyer, I would allow the country to run on its own?
The constitution had to change; we had to get a new head of state because there was no one to sign laws. A gap had to be filled up. I wrote it with my colleagues in the law department but writing of words is not the most important thing; the important thing is the deliberations before it was passed.
We took a draft in parliament that deliberated on it clause by clause, and passed it. People who call it ‘pigeon hole’ Constitution [because MPs were asked to find drafts in their pigeon holes] –ebyobyakujerega – that is meant for ridicule!
[Asked about allegations that he advised Obote to ban political parties]-I did not do that. I don’t remember, but he never approached me on that. I did not like his idea of banning political parties but what could I do except what I did - to resign?
mcmubs@ugandaobserver.com
bzziwa@ugandaobserver.com
Only in The Weekly Observer next week, Binaisa talks about the 1971 coup, his life in exile, his work with Dr. Andrew Lutakoome Kayiira’s Uganda Freedom Movement, how he was chased away from the Moshi Conference, and the election of Prof. Yusuf Lule as president.
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MY STORY
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Friday, August 31, 2007
WHAT IDI AMINs IMAGE TELLS US ABOUT THE WORLD
What Idi Amin’s image tells us about the world thinking
September 1, 2007
This week, two fellow Daily Monitor columnists, Nicholas Sengoba and Charles Onyango-Obbo addressed what is being viewed these days as my supposed effort to whitewash Idi Amin’s image.
Last week, a rejoinder by Brig. George Nyero, the former Commanding Officer of the Military Police criticised my consistent defence of Amin. Onyango-Obbo casts this emerging second look at Uganda’s history as “revisionism.” He assumes, to begin with, that what he and millions of others regard as history was ever accurate in the first place. To me, this is the start of a long overdue, more balanced interpretation of what happened in Uganda.
The reason many people react strongly to my defence of Amin is because it makes them feel foolish. My challenge makes many realise that all these years, they had never thought through what they believe.
Amin has become one of the most recognisable Africans in history. This international standing, of course, is centred on Amin’s notoriety, at the heart of which is the widely accepted view that he was responsible for the deaths of between 300,000 and 500,000 Ugandans during his eight- year rule.
Never did it occur to the world that this image of Amin is largely and overwhelmingly false. This has taught me that the world is largely a gullible place. That is why I find it increasingly hard to take people seriously, no matter how “brilliant.” I would not be surprised, had he been alive, that even the great Albert Einstein would have believed that Amin killed 500,000 people.
I meant what I said earlier this year when I have challenged the senior Presidential Media Advisor John Nagenda and other Ugandans to give us a list of only 600 names of Amin’s victims. As I expected, not a single Ugandan here or overseas has forwarded as few as 20 names.
I disagree with Onyango-Obbo’s view that some families are either still too traumatised to delve into this matter or have simply decided to maintain a “dignified silence” in the face of my ridiculous defence of Amin.
It is just what I have been writing about Ugandan and African society for many years now: a mediocre and lacklustre people whose intellectual bandwidth is just not given to thinking, probing, inquiry, researching, sceptical questioning, no matter how educated, well-paid, well-travelled or “sophisticated” they might be.
I also don’t take seriously the claim that somehow Africans don’t generally keep records and so it is unfair to expect them to produce a list of 600 names of Amin’s victims.
We have to ask: if it is said that Amin killed 300,000 or 500,000 Ugandans, how did we arrive at that number? Whoever arrived at that staggering figure of 500,000 must have been doing some counting. They must have kept track of the victims. They should forward that list, if not the entire 500,000, then at least 600 names.
Four months ago I wrote to the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. That organisation published a report in May 1977 claiming that between 80,000 and 90,000 Ugandans had been killed by Amin.
If Ugandans are poor at keeping records, then we can at least count on the meticulous Swiss to keep files of all their published material. And yet to this day, I have not got a reply from Geneva. Many people have argued that it does not matter whether 20 people are murdered by a regime or 500,000 even one life is precious.
However, we know that numbers matter by the way the world reacts to the figure of 500,000 supposedly killed by Amin. If we are to be sensitive to the families of those that lost loved ones, let us be sensitive to all.
In July when I visited Luzira Upper Prison, I learnt about an inmate named Mohammed Birikadde, who was a Sergeant in the 1970s Uganda Army and was arrested in 1979 when Amin’s government was overthrown.
For 28 years, he has been pleading his innocence but has watched his life waste away in Luzira, now the longest serving inmate in the condemned section. What does one do with a case like that, if we are content to settle for the generalisation that Amin killed 500,000 people or that it doesn’t matter whether 600 or half a million people died?
Last Saturday I asked why Amin’s enemies, the Israelis, in books written shortly after the raid on Entebbe in 1976, far from painting Amin as a murderer, speak well of him and even defend him over the murder of Brig. Pierino Okoya.
I am surprised that Uganda’s leading newspapers have not taken up my challenge. If world history that casts Amin as the murderer of 300,000 people has, all along been false, this is a major tragedy. Accuracy and truth matter. They matter, for the sake of history and for justice. I stand in defence of Amin.
timothy_kalyegira@yahoo.com
Did you like this article? Email it to a friend | Get printer-friendly version | Email the article Mr. timothy Kalyegira Forwarded to all ugandan communities and billions of people around the globe via my weblogs. stand up for the truth Mr. Kalyegira. I urg you to read what is in our weblogs About Al-Haji Idi Amin Dada Alemi. [ I give you A-PLUS.] Alemi Junior& Family, in Vancouver, Western Canada. Peace.
September 1, 2007
This week, two fellow Daily Monitor columnists, Nicholas Sengoba and Charles Onyango-Obbo addressed what is being viewed these days as my supposed effort to whitewash Idi Amin’s image.
Last week, a rejoinder by Brig. George Nyero, the former Commanding Officer of the Military Police criticised my consistent defence of Amin. Onyango-Obbo casts this emerging second look at Uganda’s history as “revisionism.” He assumes, to begin with, that what he and millions of others regard as history was ever accurate in the first place. To me, this is the start of a long overdue, more balanced interpretation of what happened in Uganda.
The reason many people react strongly to my defence of Amin is because it makes them feel foolish. My challenge makes many realise that all these years, they had never thought through what they believe.
Amin has become one of the most recognisable Africans in history. This international standing, of course, is centred on Amin’s notoriety, at the heart of which is the widely accepted view that he was responsible for the deaths of between 300,000 and 500,000 Ugandans during his eight- year rule.
Never did it occur to the world that this image of Amin is largely and overwhelmingly false. This has taught me that the world is largely a gullible place. That is why I find it increasingly hard to take people seriously, no matter how “brilliant.” I would not be surprised, had he been alive, that even the great Albert Einstein would have believed that Amin killed 500,000 people.
I meant what I said earlier this year when I have challenged the senior Presidential Media Advisor John Nagenda and other Ugandans to give us a list of only 600 names of Amin’s victims. As I expected, not a single Ugandan here or overseas has forwarded as few as 20 names.
I disagree with Onyango-Obbo’s view that some families are either still too traumatised to delve into this matter or have simply decided to maintain a “dignified silence” in the face of my ridiculous defence of Amin.
It is just what I have been writing about Ugandan and African society for many years now: a mediocre and lacklustre people whose intellectual bandwidth is just not given to thinking, probing, inquiry, researching, sceptical questioning, no matter how educated, well-paid, well-travelled or “sophisticated” they might be.
I also don’t take seriously the claim that somehow Africans don’t generally keep records and so it is unfair to expect them to produce a list of 600 names of Amin’s victims.
We have to ask: if it is said that Amin killed 300,000 or 500,000 Ugandans, how did we arrive at that number? Whoever arrived at that staggering figure of 500,000 must have been doing some counting. They must have kept track of the victims. They should forward that list, if not the entire 500,000, then at least 600 names.
Four months ago I wrote to the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. That organisation published a report in May 1977 claiming that between 80,000 and 90,000 Ugandans had been killed by Amin.
If Ugandans are poor at keeping records, then we can at least count on the meticulous Swiss to keep files of all their published material. And yet to this day, I have not got a reply from Geneva. Many people have argued that it does not matter whether 20 people are murdered by a regime or 500,000 even one life is precious.
However, we know that numbers matter by the way the world reacts to the figure of 500,000 supposedly killed by Amin. If we are to be sensitive to the families of those that lost loved ones, let us be sensitive to all.
In July when I visited Luzira Upper Prison, I learnt about an inmate named Mohammed Birikadde, who was a Sergeant in the 1970s Uganda Army and was arrested in 1979 when Amin’s government was overthrown.
For 28 years, he has been pleading his innocence but has watched his life waste away in Luzira, now the longest serving inmate in the condemned section. What does one do with a case like that, if we are content to settle for the generalisation that Amin killed 500,000 people or that it doesn’t matter whether 600 or half a million people died?
Last Saturday I asked why Amin’s enemies, the Israelis, in books written shortly after the raid on Entebbe in 1976, far from painting Amin as a murderer, speak well of him and even defend him over the murder of Brig. Pierino Okoya.
I am surprised that Uganda’s leading newspapers have not taken up my challenge. If world history that casts Amin as the murderer of 300,000 people has, all along been false, this is a major tragedy. Accuracy and truth matter. They matter, for the sake of history and for justice. I stand in defence of Amin.
timothy_kalyegira@yahoo.com
Did you like this article? Email it to a friend | Get printer-friendly version | Email the article Mr. timothy Kalyegira Forwarded to all ugandan communities and billions of people around the globe via my weblogs. stand up for the truth Mr. Kalyegira. I urg you to read what is in our weblogs About Al-Haji Idi Amin Dada Alemi. [ I give you A-PLUS.] Alemi Junior& Family, in Vancouver, Western Canada. Peace.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
SAUDI KING AND CROWN PRINCE OFFER CONDOLENCES TO IDI AMINs FAMILY
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
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Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
Already a Member? Log in now. Learn about membership benefits.
(This preview shows 598 of 1,594 characters)
This material is published under license from the publisher through
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
Already a Member? Log in now. Learn about membership benefits.
(This preview shows 598 of 1,594 characters)
This material is published under license from the publisher through
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency. [Re we the Amins Family are Grateful to the Saudi Arabia kingdom for the Hospitality and the Assistence rendered to our late, Father, Al- Haji Idi Amin Dada and Family. my Father acording to the list record of his childrens as well his grand,& grand grand childrens. all his childrens started since the time he joined [KAR, & after he became president of Uganda, & after he was in exile, total of his kids altogether are 107. his grand,& grand grand childrens, total number now, is 305. the family are large. From Alemi Amonye Junior & Family,in Vancouver, Western Canada. August, 29,2007. we are trying our best let all the kids to know each other. peace.
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
Already a Member? Log in now. Learn about membership benefits.
(This preview shows 598 of 1,594 characters)
This material is published under license from the publisher through
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
Already a Member? Log in now. Learn about membership benefits.
(This preview shows 598 of 1,594 characters)
This material is published under license from the publisher through
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency.
Amin, the former dictator whose name became a 1970s synonym for brutality and misrule, died Saturday after four ...
Already a Member? Log in now. Learn about membership benefits.
(This preview shows 598 of 1,594 characters)
This material is published under license from the publisher through
Saudi King, Crown Prince offer condolences to family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
From: AP Worldstream Date: August 17, 2003 More results for: Idi Amin pubdate:[20030814;20030820]
00-00-0000
Dateline: JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah offered condolences to the family of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Fahd, "has sent a cable of condolences to Eisa Idi Amin Dada and his brothers on the occasion of the death of their father Idi Amin," the agency said. Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan also sent their condolences, said the agency. [Re we the Amins Family are Grateful to the Saudi Arabia kingdom for the Hospitality and the Assistence rendered to our late, Father, Al- Haji Idi Amin Dada and Family. my Father acording to the list record of his childrens as well his grand,& grand grand childrens. all his childrens started since the time he joined [KAR, & after he became president of Uganda, & after he was in exile, total of his kids altogether are 107. his grand,& grand grand childrens, total number now, is 305. the family are large. From Alemi Amonye Junior & Family,in Vancouver, Western Canada. August, 29,2007. we are trying our best let all the kids to know each other. peace.
MAMA SARAH AMIN DADA WAS INTERVIEWED
But, in an extraordinary interview on the weekend of his death at the age of 80, his fifth wife Sarah said the Butcher of Uganda was much misunderstood.
Sarah Amin, mother of four of the 43 children he claimed to have fathered, called him a "true African hero" and a "wonderful father".
She said: "He was just a normal person, not a monster.
"He was a jolly person, very entertaining and kind. I think he was very kind to everybody." BRAVO. Most stories writened by the western Jounalist, & some Newspapers in Uganda are all False. like some one in the I watch one of video they acted that Amin got Angry and shot one of his minister with pistol, that was not him, you can see how Evil his opponents are. almighty allah protected him from the groups of Devil, until he died of Natural death in the holy land. may almighty allah rest his soul in Eternal peace, AAAmin. August,29,2007. Alemi Jonior & Family. in Vancouver,Western Canada. Peace.
Sarah Amin, mother of four of the 43 children he claimed to have fathered, called him a "true African hero" and a "wonderful father".
She said: "He was just a normal person, not a monster.
"He was a jolly person, very entertaining and kind. I think he was very kind to everybody." BRAVO. Most stories writened by the western Jounalist, & some Newspapers in Uganda are all False. like some one in the I watch one of video they acted that Amin got Angry and shot one of his minister with pistol, that was not him, you can see how Evil his opponents are. almighty allah protected him from the groups of Devil, until he died of Natural death in the holy land. may almighty allah rest his soul in Eternal peace, AAAmin. August,29,2007. Alemi Jonior & Family. in Vancouver,Western Canada. Peace.
Propaganda of Govt Preparing bright future for Langi, and Acholis
Govt preparing bright future for Acholi, Lango
Wednesday, 29th August, 2007 E-mail article Print article
By Amama Mbabazi
THE Minister for Security and Secretary General of the NRM, Amama Mbabazi, addressed the recent Lango Diaspora Conference in London. Below is the edited speech
Mr Chairman, I bring you and all the participants very warm greetings and felicitations from President Yoweri Museveni. He asked me to inform you that he and the leadership of the NRM government appreciate the fact that the Langi have always been nationalist in Uganda.
That is why they supported the UNC led by people like Yekosofati Engur and Abdalla Nyur. It is also a fact that the Langi have never supported terrorism. That is why they did not and do not support Kony. I want to publicly thank you for that. Mr. Museveni says the only mistake the majority of them have made, has been not to support their fellow nationalists, the NRM.
Under the leadership of the NRM, truly giant strides have been made in the economy since 1986, when the economy was a mono crop economy dependent on the export of coffee for up to 99% of its foreign exchange earnings!
The NRM embarked on the diversification, privatisation and liberalisation of the economy with emphasis on private sector-led growth as an engine of development. The consequential economic gains include:
-Reduction of inflation from 240% in 1986 to an average of 6% over 15 years.
-High GDP growth rates averaging 6.5% per annum over the last 20 years.
-The contribution of the services sector to GDP has increased from 15% in 1986 to 40.6% in 2000/1 and to 43.35 in 2004/5.
-The high growth of the industrial and services sectors have reduced the overall contribution of agriculture to GDP from over 50% in 1986 to 36.45 in 2004/5. This is a positive step towards the transformation of the economy from a predominantly agricultural to industrial and services based economy.
-Tax revenue collection has increased from sh44b in 1986 to sh1,872b in 2004/2005, and sh3,560b in 2007/8 financial year thereby increasing its share of GDP from 4.5% in 1986/7, to currently 14%. Uganda now finances 62% of her budget and has reduced foreign budget support to 32%.
-Telephone lines have increased from 26,000 in 1986 to over 2,000,000 mobile lines and almost 100,000 fixed lines. Telephone services now cover all corners of Uganda.
-The Government has licensed 148 FM radio stations, with coverage across the entire country.
-TV broadcasting has grown from 1 station in 1986, to seven stations.
-All districts have internet access.
-Absolute poverty has reduced from 56% in 1990 to 31% in 2006.
-The Government has fully liberalised the current and capital account and the selling and buying of foreign exchange. There are therefore no more “applications” for “allocation” of foreign exchange from the Bank of Uganda.
-There has been a veritable explosion of real estate construction in all the towns and districts.
-Industrial growth rate which was 0.6% in 1886, now stands at 20.4% as a share of GDP, beating the 9% target of the first two five year plans after independence.
-Availability of “essential commodities”. The scarcities of the 1970s and early 1980s are no more.
-In the first three quarters of 2006/7, non-coffee earnings brought in US $723.5m. Those of coffee in the same period stood at US $173.3 m.
-Remittances from Ugandans working abroad have increased.
In the meantime, the Government has identified a number of priority areas for various strategic interventions, and upon which the transformation of the country is predicated. These include education (UPE, USE, liberalisation of university education and emphasising science education), ICT, healthcare (policies on HIV/AIDS, immunisation and accessibility to health services), agriculture modernisation, and micro-finance outreach.
As we all know, this happy national picture is not yet completely replicated in northern Uganda. In northern Uganda, poverty levels remain high, and literacy and access to basic services levels are low. The low-intensity conflict that has characterised the region over the last 20 years is the major factor in explaining this incongruity.
That the war lasted this long is due mainly to exogenous factors (mainly the support Sudan Government gave to the terrorists) but also, to a very limited extent, to some mistakes by some government officials. The Government always takes corrective measures when identified. It is not true, therefore, that (as alleged by some people) it was government policy to deliberately keep the war going.
No effort has been spared by the Government over the last two decades, to ensure that peace is built. Land mark talks with the LRA are underway in Juba. As consensus emerges, so do the horizons of a lasting and sustainable peace continue broadening. President Museveni initiated the process of preparing a comprehensive plan for the recovery and development of northern Uganda. The Government has accordingly adopted the National Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda. The consolidation of peace and security, and laying the foundation for recovery and development, is the overall goal of the PRDP. This shall be achieved through four mutually reinforcing core strategic objectives. These are:
Consolidation of state authority
This covers cessation of armed hostilities, re-establishing the rule of law, protection of human rights and strengthening local governance and institutions;
communities
This is through improvement in conditions and quality of life in the IDP camps while facilitating the return home and re-integration of the displaced populations;
Revitalisation of the economy
This is by paying special attention to re-activating and strengthening production, marketing, and processing services;
Peace building and reconciliation
This process must ensure the continuous prevalence of peace in the region. It involves access to information by the population, enhancing counselling services, mechanisms for intra/inter communal and national conflict resolution, etc.
The cost for the implementation of this plan is more one trillion shillings. The PRDP reinforces the ongoing implementation of various existing programmes including the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF).
Although NUSAF 1 ends on 30th March 2008, negotiations have commenced with the World Bank for a new NUSAF programme. Social Action Funds (SAFs) like NUSAF represent a paradigm shift from conventional development planning, in as far as they put communities in the forefront of planning and managing development interventions to improve their livelihoods.
The re-settlement programme is proceeding apace. In Acholi over the last year out of the 1,111,987 people who lived in the camps, 55,000 people (5%) have returned to their original homes, while 359,000 (32%) have moved to transit camps at the parish level. This is most encouraging. In Lango, over the same period, out of the 466,103 people who were in the camps, 431,000 (92%) have returned to their original villages!
Out of the sh18.6b provided to the re-settlement programme last financial year, sh8b has already been disbursed to Police training and deployment, sh3.5b to road construction, sh1.3b to the judiciary, sh200m to restoration of administrative structures at the sub county, etc, and sh5b to the purchase of seeds and agricultural implements. The Government also provides free iron sheets to those returning home.
On road construction, as a commitment to developing the Lango sub-region, work on the tarmac road connecting Lira to Soroti will soon commence.
In addition to your remittances, the diaspora can contribute by engaging in direct investment in the economy of the region. A lynchpin of the PRDP is industrialisation of the North. The Karuma hydropower dam project (work is slated to start next January) is aimed at providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate that. Put to good use the contacts you make abroad to attract private investment in industry in the region. I thank you.
CURRENT OPINION STORIES [A Political Speech by Amama Mbabazi, censured.] Ugandan-Community in Vancouver asked Fellow Ugandans in Uganda, thr opinions leaders in the regions & Districts sub Districts to have their say after reading this speech, let know realy whats happening on the grounds. to us clear picture of the prepared speech by the minister & governmet representative. brought a message from M7. weblogs a free for brothers and sisters to give their opinions, back home, as well around the globe. from Ugandans-community in Vancouver, Western Canada. August. 29, 2007. peace,love,unity. Q. we want to know the Average of Ugandans in Uganda Actualy have Access to the Internet?
Wednesday, 29th August, 2007 E-mail article Print article
By Amama Mbabazi
THE Minister for Security and Secretary General of the NRM, Amama Mbabazi, addressed the recent Lango Diaspora Conference in London. Below is the edited speech
Mr Chairman, I bring you and all the participants very warm greetings and felicitations from President Yoweri Museveni. He asked me to inform you that he and the leadership of the NRM government appreciate the fact that the Langi have always been nationalist in Uganda.
That is why they supported the UNC led by people like Yekosofati Engur and Abdalla Nyur. It is also a fact that the Langi have never supported terrorism. That is why they did not and do not support Kony. I want to publicly thank you for that. Mr. Museveni says the only mistake the majority of them have made, has been not to support their fellow nationalists, the NRM.
Under the leadership of the NRM, truly giant strides have been made in the economy since 1986, when the economy was a mono crop economy dependent on the export of coffee for up to 99% of its foreign exchange earnings!
The NRM embarked on the diversification, privatisation and liberalisation of the economy with emphasis on private sector-led growth as an engine of development. The consequential economic gains include:
-Reduction of inflation from 240% in 1986 to an average of 6% over 15 years.
-High GDP growth rates averaging 6.5% per annum over the last 20 years.
-The contribution of the services sector to GDP has increased from 15% in 1986 to 40.6% in 2000/1 and to 43.35 in 2004/5.
-The high growth of the industrial and services sectors have reduced the overall contribution of agriculture to GDP from over 50% in 1986 to 36.45 in 2004/5. This is a positive step towards the transformation of the economy from a predominantly agricultural to industrial and services based economy.
-Tax revenue collection has increased from sh44b in 1986 to sh1,872b in 2004/2005, and sh3,560b in 2007/8 financial year thereby increasing its share of GDP from 4.5% in 1986/7, to currently 14%. Uganda now finances 62% of her budget and has reduced foreign budget support to 32%.
-Telephone lines have increased from 26,000 in 1986 to over 2,000,000 mobile lines and almost 100,000 fixed lines. Telephone services now cover all corners of Uganda.
-The Government has licensed 148 FM radio stations, with coverage across the entire country.
-TV broadcasting has grown from 1 station in 1986, to seven stations.
-All districts have internet access.
-Absolute poverty has reduced from 56% in 1990 to 31% in 2006.
-The Government has fully liberalised the current and capital account and the selling and buying of foreign exchange. There are therefore no more “applications” for “allocation” of foreign exchange from the Bank of Uganda.
-There has been a veritable explosion of real estate construction in all the towns and districts.
-Industrial growth rate which was 0.6% in 1886, now stands at 20.4% as a share of GDP, beating the 9% target of the first two five year plans after independence.
-Availability of “essential commodities”. The scarcities of the 1970s and early 1980s are no more.
-In the first three quarters of 2006/7, non-coffee earnings brought in US $723.5m. Those of coffee in the same period stood at US $173.3 m.
-Remittances from Ugandans working abroad have increased.
In the meantime, the Government has identified a number of priority areas for various strategic interventions, and upon which the transformation of the country is predicated. These include education (UPE, USE, liberalisation of university education and emphasising science education), ICT, healthcare (policies on HIV/AIDS, immunisation and accessibility to health services), agriculture modernisation, and micro-finance outreach.
As we all know, this happy national picture is not yet completely replicated in northern Uganda. In northern Uganda, poverty levels remain high, and literacy and access to basic services levels are low. The low-intensity conflict that has characterised the region over the last 20 years is the major factor in explaining this incongruity.
That the war lasted this long is due mainly to exogenous factors (mainly the support Sudan Government gave to the terrorists) but also, to a very limited extent, to some mistakes by some government officials. The Government always takes corrective measures when identified. It is not true, therefore, that (as alleged by some people) it was government policy to deliberately keep the war going.
No effort has been spared by the Government over the last two decades, to ensure that peace is built. Land mark talks with the LRA are underway in Juba. As consensus emerges, so do the horizons of a lasting and sustainable peace continue broadening. President Museveni initiated the process of preparing a comprehensive plan for the recovery and development of northern Uganda. The Government has accordingly adopted the National Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda. The consolidation of peace and security, and laying the foundation for recovery and development, is the overall goal of the PRDP. This shall be achieved through four mutually reinforcing core strategic objectives. These are:
Consolidation of state authority
This covers cessation of armed hostilities, re-establishing the rule of law, protection of human rights and strengthening local governance and institutions;
communities
This is through improvement in conditions and quality of life in the IDP camps while facilitating the return home and re-integration of the displaced populations;
Revitalisation of the economy
This is by paying special attention to re-activating and strengthening production, marketing, and processing services;
Peace building and reconciliation
This process must ensure the continuous prevalence of peace in the region. It involves access to information by the population, enhancing counselling services, mechanisms for intra/inter communal and national conflict resolution, etc.
The cost for the implementation of this plan is more one trillion shillings. The PRDP reinforces the ongoing implementation of various existing programmes including the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF).
Although NUSAF 1 ends on 30th March 2008, negotiations have commenced with the World Bank for a new NUSAF programme. Social Action Funds (SAFs) like NUSAF represent a paradigm shift from conventional development planning, in as far as they put communities in the forefront of planning and managing development interventions to improve their livelihoods.
The re-settlement programme is proceeding apace. In Acholi over the last year out of the 1,111,987 people who lived in the camps, 55,000 people (5%) have returned to their original homes, while 359,000 (32%) have moved to transit camps at the parish level. This is most encouraging. In Lango, over the same period, out of the 466,103 people who were in the camps, 431,000 (92%) have returned to their original villages!
Out of the sh18.6b provided to the re-settlement programme last financial year, sh8b has already been disbursed to Police training and deployment, sh3.5b to road construction, sh1.3b to the judiciary, sh200m to restoration of administrative structures at the sub county, etc, and sh5b to the purchase of seeds and agricultural implements. The Government also provides free iron sheets to those returning home.
On road construction, as a commitment to developing the Lango sub-region, work on the tarmac road connecting Lira to Soroti will soon commence.
In addition to your remittances, the diaspora can contribute by engaging in direct investment in the economy of the region. A lynchpin of the PRDP is industrialisation of the North. The Karuma hydropower dam project (work is slated to start next January) is aimed at providing the necessary infrastructure to facilitate that. Put to good use the contacts you make abroad to attract private investment in industry in the region. I thank you.
CURRENT OPINION STORIES [A Political Speech by Amama Mbabazi, censured.] Ugandan-Community in Vancouver asked Fellow Ugandans in Uganda, thr opinions leaders in the regions & Districts sub Districts to have their say after reading this speech, let know realy whats happening on the grounds. to us clear picture of the prepared speech by the minister & governmet representative. brought a message from M7. weblogs a free for brothers and sisters to give their opinions, back home, as well around the globe. from Ugandans-community in Vancouver, Western Canada. August. 29, 2007. peace,love,unity. Q. we want to know the Average of Ugandans in Uganda Actualy have Access to the Internet?
VOXBONE AT THE ITEXPO IN LOS ANGELES
Greetings!
Latest news from Voxbone ...
Expanded coverage
API development contest results
Voxbone at the ITEXPO in Los Angeles
Expanded coverage:
- New country added : El Salvador is now available
- Expanded coverage in Australia (2 new cities), Brazil (11 new cities), Chile (4 new cities), Mexico (5 new cities), Portugal (14 new cities) and Spain (20 new cities)
- Toll-free numbers are now available in 2 additional countries : Spain, Portugal
Ordering can be done anytime using the menu Purchase -> DID's (registration needed)
API development contest results:
Choosing the winners of our $10,000 price API contest hasn't been an easy task.
Amongst all the very smart projects received, 3 have been selected :
First place: Oigaa (www.oigaa.com)
Second place: IVR Factory (www.ivrfactory.com)
Third place: DTL R Manager (www.hostedvpnswitch.com)
Meet us at the ITEXPO show in Los Angeles, 10-12 September 2007:
Please come and meet us at booth #444.
More info on http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference
Countries currently covered by Voxbone:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Chile - El Salvador - Guatemala - Mexico - USA
Asia Pacific
Australia - Japan - New Zealand - Pakistan
EMEA
Austria - Belgium - Bulgaria - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - UK
The list of cities available in each country is available on our coverage page
Questions ?
For any questions feel free to reply to this email.
Kind regards,
Voxbone sales [BRAVO VANCOUVER, WESTERN CANADA.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Latest news from Voxbone ...
Expanded coverage
API development contest results
Voxbone at the ITEXPO in Los Angeles
Expanded coverage:
- New country added : El Salvador is now available
- Expanded coverage in Australia (2 new cities), Brazil (11 new cities), Chile (4 new cities), Mexico (5 new cities), Portugal (14 new cities) and Spain (20 new cities)
- Toll-free numbers are now available in 2 additional countries : Spain, Portugal
Ordering can be done anytime using the menu Purchase -> DID's (registration needed)
API development contest results:
Choosing the winners of our $10,000 price API contest hasn't been an easy task.
Amongst all the very smart projects received, 3 have been selected :
First place: Oigaa (www.oigaa.com)
Second place: IVR Factory (www.ivrfactory.com)
Third place: DTL R Manager (www.hostedvpnswitch.com)
Meet us at the ITEXPO show in Los Angeles, 10-12 September 2007:
Please come and meet us at booth #444.
More info on http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference
Countries currently covered by Voxbone:
The Americas
Argentina - Brazil - Canada - Chile - El Salvador - Guatemala - Mexico - USA
Asia Pacific
Australia - Japan - New Zealand - Pakistan
EMEA
Austria - Belgium - Bulgaria - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Hungary - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - UK
The list of cities available in each country is available on our coverage page
Questions ?
For any questions feel free to reply to this email.
Kind regards,
Voxbone sales [BRAVO VANCOUVER, WESTERN CANADA.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS NEWSLETTER IS A SUMMERY
This message was written in a character set other than your own. If it is not displayed correctly, click here to open it in a new window.
This Newsletter is a summary and analysis of the most important trends in economic
co-operation and development policy. This is a public version of the file sent to
professionals of AGEG Consultants eG (www.AGEG.de) by its Economic Development
Department. If you wish to subscribe from another account, send a blank email to:
AGEG-WiRAM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Current and back issues may be accessed at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/
_____________________________________________________________________
CONTENT
1. EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium Development Goals
2. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
3. Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
4. EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
5. Training and Events
6. Publications
7. Websites of the Month
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 2015-Watch report: EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium
Development Goals
On the occasion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) mid-point, Alliance2015
published its 4th ‘2015-Watch’ report addressing the crucial question whether Europe
is still on track to fulfil its commitments and deliver on its promises.
The European Commission is currently finalising its aid programmes for countries in
Africa for the period 2008 – 2013. Officially, the main objectives of these programmes
are the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
but it appears that these are being pushed aside in favour of the EU’s own interests,
as evidence suggests: the report cites the example of the new ''Governance Facility”
which, the Commission claims, will boost the EU’s support for health and education in
its partner countries. However, according to the report, the evidence suggests
otherwise. The Governance Facility uses a set of 23 indicators to determine which
countries will be eligible for additional funding. Of these, only one is related to
the Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.alliance2015.org/index.php/news/alliance_update/eu_aid_programme_to_africa_fails_to_address_millennium_development_goals
_____________________________________________________________________
2. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled
''Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development''. The full report can
be downloaded freely online. Introduction: ''The least developed countries (LDCs) are
a group of countries (presently 50 States) that have been officially identified by the
United Nations as ''least developed'' in the light of their low income, weak human
assets, and high economic vulnerability. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the
view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the
development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment.
The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on
knowledge accumulation, technological learning and the ability to innovate as vital
processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries.''
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=8674&intItemID=4314&lang=1&mode=highlights
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
The rich are growing richer faster than the poor in developing Asia, and widening
disparities in standards of living can threaten the growth process in one of the most
dynamic region's of the world, says a new ADB report. Absolute inequality has
increased virtually everywhere between the 1990s and 2000s. One consequence of this is
that the most well-off have experienced considerably larger increases in their
standards of living than the least well-off. For example, the expenditures of the
''rich” (top 20%) have increased much more than those of the ''poor” (bottom 20%).
This has happened even in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where relative
inequality declined.
http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/12077-asian-developments-reports/default.asp
_____________________________________________________________________
4. EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
The negotiations between the EU and Central America for a comprehensive Association
Agreement have started today in Brussels on the occasion of a high level meeting
between the European Commission and Central America. The Association Agreement is
envisaged as a comprehensive agreement, embracing the whole array of the multifaceted
relations of the EU with Central America. Its objective is to enhance the political
dialogue between both regions, intensify and improve their co-operation in a vast
variety of areas, as well as to enhance and facilitate bi-regional economic links,
including trade and investments. The Agreement will be negotiated with Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. As soon as Panama takes the decision to
join the economic integration process SIECA in Central America, it will be fully
involved in the negotiations. The European Commission recently adopted an aid package
of some €840 million for the period 2007-2013 to assist the region and its countries
to address the most important challenges.
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/ca/index.htm
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Training and Events
Global Forum on migration and development
http://www.eu2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/news1o.htm
More than 120 governments as well as regional and International Organisations met for
the first meeting of the Global Forum on migration and development in Brussels on 10
July. This meeting aimed to discuss more consistent ways of strengthening the positive
impacts between migration and development policies.
Online Course in Practical Microfinance
http://www.snhu.edu/856.asp
Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development will host
an online course in Practical Microfinance this fall. The 11-week course, to be held
from Sept 17 - Dec 18, is the first in a series of three courses for SNHU's Graduate
Certificate in Microfinance Management. SNHU Professor Malcolm Harper will facilitate
the program, which is open both to the students pursuing a master degree and to
development practitioners working in the development field.
Geneva Private Capital Symposium, on the theme of '' Investing Private Capital in
Emerging and Frontier Market SMEs ”, 24-25 September 2007.
http://www.geneva-private-capital-symposium.com/
The 2nd Geneva Private Capital Symposium focuses on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
investment in emerging markets as a viable and often overlooked investment option. The
Symposium makes the business case for investing private capital in emerging and
frontier market SMEs. It will showcase today's leading investment vehicles and
business models for SME financing and prove how such vehicles are making it easier to
invest in this segment.
Seminar on developing Business Service Markets and Value Chains
http://learning.itcilo.org/entdev/bdsseminar/Chiang Mai, Thailand, 24 - 28 Sep 2007
Over 900 people from 100 countries have participated in the first 7 Seminars-now the
8th in the Series offers you the opportunity to learn about current trends,and to
network with your peers. As you would expect from an event in its 8th year,there is
also the chance to hear from people who have used the approaches and tools from
previous Seminars. And you will be able to hear how some of the most interesting work
presented in previous years has progressed and scaled up. Contact: Peter Tomlinson &
Cristiana Actis, tel. +39 011 6936580, PSDSeminar@itcilo.org
Ownership in Practice, Paris, 27-28 September 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/42/0,3343,en_21571361_37824719_37948138_1_1_1_1,00.html
This Informal Workshop will examine what the principle of ownership looks like in
practice, both within developing countries (democratic ownership) and in the
relationship between developing countries and donors.
‘International Negotiations: Practical Skills and Techniques’
http://www.unitar.org/dfm/DFMelearning/Registration/form.asp
Online, 5 - 30 November 2007
Offered by United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Donor Committee Conference: African and global lessons for more effective donor practices
http://www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/besearch.details?p_phase_id=142&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6
Accra, 5-7 November 2007 (English/French)
Donor Committee Conference: Asian and global lessons for more effective donor
practices,
http://www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/besearch.details?p_phase_id=107&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6
Bangkok, 29 November to 1 December 2006
Governing for Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Actors under
the New Aid Paradigm
http://eadi.org/database/database/?dataset=training&table=data&id=292
Antwerp, Belgium. April - May 2008, Institute of Development Policy and Management
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Publications
African Economic Outlook 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,2340,en_2649_15162846_38561046_1_1_1_1,00.html
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), African Development Bank
Beyond Good Intentions: Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/42300_file_FocusNote_41.pdf
A publication in the CGAP Focus Note Series of the Consultative Group to assist the
Poor (CGAP). This Focus Note highlights the emerging emphasis on social performance in
microfinance and reviews some of the assessment tools recently developed.''
Business engagement in humanitarian relief: key trends and policy implications
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/corporate-responsibility&id=32669&type=Document
This paper explores the new roles that companies are playing in humanitarian action.
It examines the various forms corporate engagement, with a particular focus on
partnerships, and explores the underlying motivations behind this involvement.
Business for Development: Fostering the Private Sector 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,3343,en_2649_33731_38639328_1_1_1_1,00.html
This OECD book details the activities of the private sector in developing and emerging
economies. It demonstrates how these activities are inter-related with government
policies. Understanding these activities and public-private interactions is
indispensable for allowing the private sector to play its fullest role in a nation’s
development process. To this end, several case studies are presented to provide
concrete examples from Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Their analysis includes, among
others, the opportunities for expanding markets and upgrading skills in global value
chains, the regulatory conditions that could best promote private sector development
and the respective roles that government, business and donors can play in that process.
Business Licensing Reform: A Toolkit for Development Practitioners
http://rru.worldbank.org/Toolkits/BusinessLicenses/?cid=1295
guide gives project managers the tools for reforming business licensing regimes at the
national level. Good licensing regimes rest on laws, have clear appeals procedures,
and validity across sub-national jurisdictions. With guidance on identifying levers of
reform, designing programs, involving stakeholders, and assessing impacts from start
to finish, the reform process is broken down into four distinct phases: foundations,
preparation, design, and implementation.
Corporate social responsibility: an implementation guide for business
http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf
This document presents a corporate social responsibility CSR implementation guide for
international businesses. It provides an overview of the basic steps to, and
instruments for, implementing a CSR strategy adapted specifically to your business or
organisational context.
Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/43/38900592.pdf
The OECD Global Conference on Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains, held
in Tokyo on 31 May-1 June 2007 brought together experts from governments,
international organisations, academia, business and civil society to examine the
conclusions of the study, review best practice policies and programmes and draft the
Tokyo Action Statement – including policy recommendations -- for further work in this
area.
Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Open.aspx?id=7874
The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the
importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more
countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between
entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how
the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And
analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly
reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for
pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.
Global Corruption Report 2007
http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr
Transparency International
Growth with Responsibility in a Globalized World - Findings of the Shadow G-8
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/04472.pdf
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES); Occasional Papers, Authors: J. E. Stieglitz, S.
Griffith-Jones
Jump start to the outcome oriented M&E System
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/businessenvironment/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1106953
The modular approach should be used for the M&E System (www.pacplan.com) where modules
could be implemented as needed by organisation and situation and slowly progress to
cover the entire organisation’s Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System. It is
important to note that the M&E System is the on-going progress measurement in the
organisation. The original design of M&E System should allow for this modular approach
where better approach and new technologies can be modularised and added on at a later
stage.
Local and Regional Economic Development in Leyte Province:
http://www.smedsep.ph/Download/SMEDSEP%20LRED%20TOT2%20Report%20Speit%20May06.pdf
Report on the Action Planning 2006 / Training of Trainers II for LRED-Facilitators
Mission, by Rolf Speit / GTZ, Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable
Employment Programm (SMEDSEP)
Six-Pack for SME Development
www.bds-forum.net/6-pack-for-sme.htm
Product descriptions for the development of small and medium enterprises (SME), by
Dieter Gagel, Heidelberg 2007
Skills Development Policies and International Cooperation in East and South-East Asia
http://www.norrag.org/wg/papers.php
Paper on the Hong Kong Meeting, hosted by the Comparative Education Research Centre
(CERC) of the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. It focused on skills
development policies and international cooperation in East and South-East Asia, with
particular attention to Asian approaches to skills development. , TVET System
Development, Skills Development for (Self-)employment
Technical and Vocational Skills Development
http://www.norrag.org/issue.php?id=38
Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD) seems to be on the rise again. This
appears particularly to be the case in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst
factors that may have sparked the renewed interest is a sense that high quality
technical and vocational skills have played a critical role in East and South East
Asia’s dramatic rise. Precisely what the contribution of labour force skills has been
is still debated, and we carry the debate forward in this special issue. Equally in
Latin America and in Europe, technical and vocational skills remain a key element in
the discussions about sustaining the moves towards a knowledge economy.
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/mdg2007.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007:
Making Sustainable Development Count in Global Markets
http://www.accountability21.net/uploadedFiles/publications/The%20State%20of%20Responsible%20Competitiveness.pdf
This AccountAbility paper argues that responsible competitiveness is partly delivered
by market forces but requires global rules to ensure sustainable development. It goes
onto state that low-carbon technologies, closing the gender gap, building governance
and accountability and enhancing labour standards provides enormous opportunities for
business. The section also includes recommendations on how to improve responsible
competitiveness and efforts to advance the CRI.
Transparency in the Supply Chain
http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/00A76265-1C82-4FE8-8DE3-802491ECE250/0/SupplyChain_0607.pdf
This document presents the findings of research conducted to evaluate the benefits of
increased transparency in the supply chain of Multinational Enterprises (MNE's).''
Who fears competition from informal firms ? evidence from Latin America
http://www.ruralfinance.org/servlet/BinaryDownloaderServlet/51816_Empresas_Asociativas.pdf?filename=1185554797019_emars2006_3.pdf&refID=51816
This World Bank paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and
how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using
newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14
countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by
head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them.
_____________________________________________________________________
7. Websites of the Month
World Bank's MDG Atlas
http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/large.html
This attractive website provides maps of accomplishments under most of the indicators
defined for the eight Millennium Development Goals. The information and its display
are provided by the World Bank. The site provides added data in some pull down graphs,
and has other features, such as help buttons.
Doing Business Map
http://www.doingbusiness.org/map/
In partnership with the World Bank, Google recently released a map showing the ease of
Doing Business around the world. 175 countries are color coded: green for easy,
yellow for moderate, and red for difficult. Countries that have an additional green
star are among the top 10 reformers. Similar to Google Maps, the user can choose a
satellite map of the world or a map with political boundaries superimposed over a
satellite map. Both include the markers that reference the World Bank’s Doing
Business report. Users can also zoom in and out as desired.
Evidence-Based Policy in Development Network (EBPDN)
http://www.ebpdn.org
ODI has launched this new website for EBPDN. In addition to viewing relevant
documents, and information about forthcoming events, visitors can participate in
online forums (after registration). Specifically, this website is designed as a
community website which provides: knowledge on bridging research and policy; details
of members of the network; a directory of training and advisory expertise; discussion
forums; project areas; and a partnership brokering area.
Focal Point for Rural Development
http://www.sdc-ruraldevelopment.ch/index.php?userhash=1317698&lID=2&navID=47
The Swiss SDC Focal Point for Rural Development is an answer to the challenge of
effectively managing knowledge, learning and joint work around rural development
across sectors and thematic specialisations, and across globally dispersed programmes
and partners.
Economic Policy Institutes Network’s (EPIN)
http://www.epinetwork.org
A bi-lingual on-line resource to serve the needs of experts and researchers in
information sharing and experience exchange in CIS countries and Central and Eastern
Europe. The on-line resource aims at facilitating cooperation and networking among
economic policy institutes (EPI) to strengthen their potential in policy advice.
IDEAS Centre
http://www.ideascentre.ch
IDEAS Centre is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping
low-income countries to integrate into the world trading system - in a way that
supports their national poverty reduction and economic development efforts. The Centre
offers practical, results-oriented advisory services and executes projects aimed at
strengthening the capacities of developing/transition country governments to shape
both their domestic economic policies as well as the international policies that
affect them.
BalkanKult
http://www.balkankult.org/bk/
BalkanKult is a foundation that aims to support the development of creative industries
and cultural diversity in the Balkan region.The foundation provides an information
network of databases of cultural institutions and associations, transnational
foundations, networks, awards, programs, scholarship/bursary schemes, artists and
competitions in over 15 artistic and cultural disciplines in South East Europe.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:AGEG-WiRAM-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:AGEG-WiRAM-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
AGEG-WiRAM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com BRAVO.
This Newsletter is a summary and analysis of the most important trends in economic
co-operation and development policy. This is a public version of the file sent to
professionals of AGEG Consultants eG (www.AGEG.de) by its Economic Development
Department. If you wish to subscribe from another account, send a blank email to:
AGEG-WiRAM-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Current and back issues may be accessed at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/
_____________________________________________________________________
CONTENT
1. EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium Development Goals
2. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
3. Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
4. EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
5. Training and Events
6. Publications
7. Websites of the Month
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 2015-Watch report: EU aid programme to Africa fails to address Millennium
Development Goals
On the occasion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) mid-point, Alliance2015
published its 4th ‘2015-Watch’ report addressing the crucial question whether Europe
is still on track to fulfil its commitments and deliver on its promises.
The European Commission is currently finalising its aid programmes for countries in
Africa for the period 2008 – 2013. Officially, the main objectives of these programmes
are the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
but it appears that these are being pushed aside in favour of the EU’s own interests,
as evidence suggests: the report cites the example of the new ''Governance Facility”
which, the Commission claims, will boost the EU’s support for health and education in
its partner countries. However, according to the report, the evidence suggests
otherwise. The Governance Facility uses a set of 23 indicators to determine which
countries will be eligible for additional funding. Of these, only one is related to
the Millennium Development Goals.
http://www.alliance2015.org/index.php/news/alliance_update/eu_aid_programme_to_africa_fails_to_address_millennium_development_goals
_____________________________________________________________________
2. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007
The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled
''Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development''. The full report can
be downloaded freely online. Introduction: ''The least developed countries (LDCs) are
a group of countries (presently 50 States) that have been officially identified by the
United Nations as ''least developed'' in the light of their low income, weak human
assets, and high economic vulnerability. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the
view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the
development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment.
The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on
knowledge accumulation, technological learning and the ability to innovate as vital
processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries.''
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=8674&intItemID=4314&lang=1&mode=highlights
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Rich Growing Richer Faster Than Poor in Developing Asia - ADB Study
The rich are growing richer faster than the poor in developing Asia, and widening
disparities in standards of living can threaten the growth process in one of the most
dynamic region's of the world, says a new ADB report. Absolute inequality has
increased virtually everywhere between the 1990s and 2000s. One consequence of this is
that the most well-off have experienced considerably larger increases in their
standards of living than the least well-off. For example, the expenditures of the
''rich” (top 20%) have increased much more than those of the ''poor” (bottom 20%).
This has happened even in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where relative
inequality declined.
http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/12077-asian-developments-reports/default.asp
_____________________________________________________________________
4. EU and Central America start negotiations for new Association Agreement
The negotiations between the EU and Central America for a comprehensive Association
Agreement have started today in Brussels on the occasion of a high level meeting
between the European Commission and Central America. The Association Agreement is
envisaged as a comprehensive agreement, embracing the whole array of the multifaceted
relations of the EU with Central America. Its objective is to enhance the political
dialogue between both regions, intensify and improve their co-operation in a vast
variety of areas, as well as to enhance and facilitate bi-regional economic links,
including trade and investments. The Agreement will be negotiated with Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. As soon as Panama takes the decision to
join the economic integration process SIECA in Central America, it will be fully
involved in the negotiations. The European Commission recently adopted an aid package
of some €840 million for the period 2007-2013 to assist the region and its countries
to address the most important challenges.
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/ca/index.htm
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Training and Events
Global Forum on migration and development
http://www.eu2007.pt/UE/vEN/Noticias_Documentos/news1o.htm
More than 120 governments as well as regional and International Organisations met for
the first meeting of the Global Forum on migration and development in Brussels on 10
July. This meeting aimed to discuss more consistent ways of strengthening the positive
impacts between migration and development policies.
Online Course in Practical Microfinance
http://www.snhu.edu/856.asp
Southern New Hampshire University's School of Community Economic Development will host
an online course in Practical Microfinance this fall. The 11-week course, to be held
from Sept 17 - Dec 18, is the first in a series of three courses for SNHU's Graduate
Certificate in Microfinance Management. SNHU Professor Malcolm Harper will facilitate
the program, which is open both to the students pursuing a master degree and to
development practitioners working in the development field.
Geneva Private Capital Symposium, on the theme of '' Investing Private Capital in
Emerging and Frontier Market SMEs ”, 24-25 September 2007.
http://www.geneva-private-capital-symposium.com/
The 2nd Geneva Private Capital Symposium focuses on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
investment in emerging markets as a viable and often overlooked investment option. The
Symposium makes the business case for investing private capital in emerging and
frontier market SMEs. It will showcase today's leading investment vehicles and
business models for SME financing and prove how such vehicles are making it easier to
invest in this segment.
Seminar on developing Business Service Markets and Value Chains
http://learning.itcilo.org/entdev/bdsseminar/Chiang Mai, Thailand, 24 - 28 Sep 2007
Over 900 people from 100 countries have participated in the first 7 Seminars-now the
8th in the Series offers you the opportunity to learn about current trends,and to
network with your peers. As you would expect from an event in its 8th year,there is
also the chance to hear from people who have used the approaches and tools from
previous Seminars. And you will be able to hear how some of the most interesting work
presented in previous years has progressed and scaled up. Contact: Peter Tomlinson &
Cristiana Actis, tel. +39 011 6936580, PSDSeminar@itcilo.org
Ownership in Practice, Paris, 27-28 September 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/42/0,3343,en_21571361_37824719_37948138_1_1_1_1,00.html
This Informal Workshop will examine what the principle of ownership looks like in
practice, both within developing countries (democratic ownership) and in the
relationship between developing countries and donors.
‘International Negotiations: Practical Skills and Techniques’
http://www.unitar.org/dfm/DFMelearning/Registration/form.asp
Online, 5 - 30 November 2007
Offered by United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Donor Committee Conference: African and global lessons for more effective donor practices
http://www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/besearch.details?p_phase_id=142&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6
Accra, 5-7 November 2007 (English/French)
Donor Committee Conference: Asian and global lessons for more effective donor
practices,
http://www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/besearch.details?p_phase_id=107&p_lang=en&p_phase_type_id=6
Bangkok, 29 November to 1 December 2006
Governing for Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Actors under
the New Aid Paradigm
http://eadi.org/database/database/?dataset=training&table=data&id=292
Antwerp, Belgium. April - May 2008, Institute of Development Policy and Management
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Publications
African Economic Outlook 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/22/0,2340,en_2649_15162846_38561046_1_1_1_1,00.html
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), African Development Bank
Beyond Good Intentions: Measuring the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions
http://www.microfinancegateway.org/files/42300_file_FocusNote_41.pdf
A publication in the CGAP Focus Note Series of the Consultative Group to assist the
Poor (CGAP). This Focus Note highlights the emerging emphasis on social performance in
microfinance and reviews some of the assessment tools recently developed.''
Business engagement in humanitarian relief: key trends and policy implications
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/corporate-responsibility&id=32669&type=Document
This paper explores the new roles that companies are playing in humanitarian action.
It examines the various forms corporate engagement, with a particular focus on
partnerships, and explores the underlying motivations behind this involvement.
Business for Development: Fostering the Private Sector 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,3343,en_2649_33731_38639328_1_1_1_1,00.html
This OECD book details the activities of the private sector in developing and emerging
economies. It demonstrates how these activities are inter-related with government
policies. Understanding these activities and public-private interactions is
indispensable for allowing the private sector to play its fullest role in a nation’s
development process. To this end, several case studies are presented to provide
concrete examples from Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Their analysis includes, among
others, the opportunities for expanding markets and upgrading skills in global value
chains, the regulatory conditions that could best promote private sector development
and the respective roles that government, business and donors can play in that process.
Business Licensing Reform: A Toolkit for Development Practitioners
http://rru.worldbank.org/Toolkits/BusinessLicenses/?cid=1295
guide gives project managers the tools for reforming business licensing regimes at the
national level. Good licensing regimes rest on laws, have clear appeals procedures,
and validity across sub-national jurisdictions. With guidance on identifying levers of
reform, designing programs, involving stakeholders, and assessing impacts from start
to finish, the reform process is broken down into four distinct phases: foundations,
preparation, design, and implementation.
Corporate social responsibility: an implementation guide for business
http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf
This document presents a corporate social responsibility CSR implementation guide for
international businesses. It provides an overview of the basic steps to, and
instruments for, implementing a CSR strategy adapted specifically to your business or
organisational context.
Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/43/38900592.pdf
The OECD Global Conference on Enhancing the Role of SMEs in Global Value Chains, held
in Tokyo on 31 May-1 June 2007 brought together experts from governments,
international organisations, academia, business and civil society to examine the
conclusions of the study, review best practice policies and programmes and draft the
Tokyo Action Statement – including policy recommendations -- for further work in this
area.
Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Open.aspx?id=7874
The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the
importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more
countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between
entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how
the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And
analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly
reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for
pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.
Global Corruption Report 2007
http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr
Transparency International
Growth with Responsibility in a Globalized World - Findings of the Shadow G-8
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/04472.pdf
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES); Occasional Papers, Authors: J. E. Stieglitz, S.
Griffith-Jones
Jump start to the outcome oriented M&E System
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/businessenvironment/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1106953
The modular approach should be used for the M&E System (www.pacplan.com) where modules
could be implemented as needed by organisation and situation and slowly progress to
cover the entire organisation’s Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System. It is
important to note that the M&E System is the on-going progress measurement in the
organisation. The original design of M&E System should allow for this modular approach
where better approach and new technologies can be modularised and added on at a later
stage.
Local and Regional Economic Development in Leyte Province:
http://www.smedsep.ph/Download/SMEDSEP%20LRED%20TOT2%20Report%20Speit%20May06.pdf
Report on the Action Planning 2006 / Training of Trainers II for LRED-Facilitators
Mission, by Rolf Speit / GTZ, Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable
Employment Programm (SMEDSEP)
Six-Pack for SME Development
www.bds-forum.net/6-pack-for-sme.htm
Product descriptions for the development of small and medium enterprises (SME), by
Dieter Gagel, Heidelberg 2007
Skills Development Policies and International Cooperation in East and South-East Asia
http://www.norrag.org/wg/papers.php
Paper on the Hong Kong Meeting, hosted by the Comparative Education Research Centre
(CERC) of the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. It focused on skills
development policies and international cooperation in East and South-East Asia, with
particular attention to Asian approaches to skills development. , TVET System
Development, Skills Development for (Self-)employment
Technical and Vocational Skills Development
http://www.norrag.org/issue.php?id=38
Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD) seems to be on the rise again. This
appears particularly to be the case in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst
factors that may have sparked the renewed interest is a sense that high quality
technical and vocational skills have played a critical role in East and South East
Asia’s dramatic rise. Precisely what the contribution of labour force skills has been
is still debated, and we carry the debate forward in this special issue. Equally in
Latin America and in Europe, technical and vocational skills remain a key element in
the discussions about sustaining the moves towards a knowledge economy.
The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/mdg2007.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007:
Making Sustainable Development Count in Global Markets
http://www.accountability21.net/uploadedFiles/publications/The%20State%20of%20Responsible%20Competitiveness.pdf
This AccountAbility paper argues that responsible competitiveness is partly delivered
by market forces but requires global rules to ensure sustainable development. It goes
onto state that low-carbon technologies, closing the gender gap, building governance
and accountability and enhancing labour standards provides enormous opportunities for
business. The section also includes recommendations on how to improve responsible
competitiveness and efforts to advance the CRI.
Transparency in the Supply Chain
http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/00A76265-1C82-4FE8-8DE3-802491ECE250/0/SupplyChain_0607.pdf
This document presents the findings of research conducted to evaluate the benefits of
increased transparency in the supply chain of Multinational Enterprises (MNE's).''
Who fears competition from informal firms ? evidence from Latin America
http://www.ruralfinance.org/servlet/BinaryDownloaderServlet/51816_Empresas_Asociativas.pdf?filename=1185554797019_emars2006_3.pdf&refID=51816
This World Bank paper investigates who is most affected by informal competition and
how regulation and enforcement affect the extent and nature of this competition. Using
newly-collected enterprise data for 6,466 manufacturing formal firms across 14
countries in Latin America, the authors show that formal firms affected by
head-to-head competition with informal firms largely resemble them.
_____________________________________________________________________
7. Websites of the Month
World Bank's MDG Atlas
http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/large.html
This attractive website provides maps of accomplishments under most of the indicators
defined for the eight Millennium Development Goals. The information and its display
are provided by the World Bank. The site provides added data in some pull down graphs,
and has other features, such as help buttons.
Doing Business Map
http://www.doingbusiness.org/map/
In partnership with the World Bank, Google recently released a map showing the ease of
Doing Business around the world. 175 countries are color coded: green for easy,
yellow for moderate, and red for difficult. Countries that have an additional green
star are among the top 10 reformers. Similar to Google Maps, the user can choose a
satellite map of the world or a map with political boundaries superimposed over a
satellite map. Both include the markers that reference the World Bank’s Doing
Business report. Users can also zoom in and out as desired.
Evidence-Based Policy in Development Network (EBPDN)
http://www.ebpdn.org
ODI has launched this new website for EBPDN. In addition to viewing relevant
documents, and information about forthcoming events, visitors can participate in
online forums (after registration). Specifically, this website is designed as a
community website which provides: knowledge on bridging research and policy; details
of members of the network; a directory of training and advisory expertise; discussion
forums; project areas; and a partnership brokering area.
Focal Point for Rural Development
http://www.sdc-ruraldevelopment.ch/index.php?userhash=1317698&lID=2&navID=47
The Swiss SDC Focal Point for Rural Development is an answer to the challenge of
effectively managing knowledge, learning and joint work around rural development
across sectors and thematic specialisations, and across globally dispersed programmes
and partners.
Economic Policy Institutes Network’s (EPIN)
http://www.epinetwork.org
A bi-lingual on-line resource to serve the needs of experts and researchers in
information sharing and experience exchange in CIS countries and Central and Eastern
Europe. The on-line resource aims at facilitating cooperation and networking among
economic policy institutes (EPI) to strengthen their potential in policy advice.
IDEAS Centre
http://www.ideascentre.ch
IDEAS Centre is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping
low-income countries to integrate into the world trading system - in a way that
supports their national poverty reduction and economic development efforts. The Centre
offers practical, results-oriented advisory services and executes projects aimed at
strengthening the capacities of developing/transition country governments to shape
both their domestic economic policies as well as the international policies that
affect them.
BalkanKult
http://www.balkankult.org/bk/
BalkanKult is a foundation that aims to support the development of creative industries
and cultural diversity in the Balkan region.The foundation provides an information
network of databases of cultural institutions and associations, transnational
foundations, networks, awards, programs, scholarship/bursary schemes, artists and
competitions in over 15 artistic and cultural disciplines in South East Europe.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGEG-WiRAM/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:AGEG-WiRAM-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:AGEG-WiRAM-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
AGEG-WiRAM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com BRAVO.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
DOWNLOAD UGANDAN MUSIC
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Published Friday, July 27, 2007 6:38 AM by erycom videoz
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Comments
No Comments [Bravo Vancouver, Western Canada.] August,28,2007
This is to inform all ugandans in the diaspora that if you wish to download ugandan music, ugandan videos and also remixes by DJ. Erycom, Kindly logonto www.ugandanmusicians.com or download ugandan music videos from www.ugandanmusicians.com
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Published Friday, July 27, 2007 6:38 AM by erycom videoz
Filed under: www.ugandanmusicians.com ugandan music
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No Comments [Bravo Vancouver, Western Canada.] August,28,2007
SHABANA IS A KIND OF PRE RAMADHAN CELEBRATION
Shabana Is a Kind of Pre-Ramadan Celebration
Zain Al-Alawi, Arab News
MAKKAH, 29 August 2007 — Toward the end of Shaban, which is the Arabic month preceding the month of Ramadan, families around the Kingdom gather and enjoy themselves in an open party known popularly as Shabana.
The concept of Shabana was conjured by women, who say it is a brilliant opportunity to rest and have fun before busying themselves during Ramadan with prayer, recitation of the Qur’an and preparing food. Shabanas are attended by women of various ages and status, who gather at different locations that include homes, hotels, beach resorts, restaurants, coffee shops, and even schools and universities.
Matouk, a 46-year-old Makkah resident, compared Shabana in the past to how it is celebrated presently. “We used to have our Shabanas at different districts in huge houses or open areas... My family and I were keen to attend such parties to enjoy ourselves and to meet our neighbors,” said Matouk, adding that the participants would all contribute cash to make the necessary arrangements for Shabana.
“It hasn’t changed a lot except that people are making these parties in huge halls in which women of various districts come to participate... Some women have been creative in the way they arrange their Shabanas,” she added.
Uhoud Al-Bishi, a singer, said she is increasingly invited to Shabanas to sing. “These parties look very much like weddings. They comprise banquets and music. The difference, however, is that some girls that are present participate in traditional dances. The costs for the parties are shared by the attendees,” she said, adding that each woman would pay SR35 to SR45 as a minimal charge to participate in a Shabana party. She added that she earns SR2,500 to SR10,000 for singing.
A woman, who did not want her name to be published, said that in some parties women play the role of a bride and a groom and wear typical wedding dresses just to add fun to the ceremony. “We ensure having such things in our parties because many people enjoy them,” she added.
Some girls, however, would prefer to gather in coffee shops where they can smoke shisha and have food. “This is the best place where I can meet classmates. We talk about news and gossip. Shabana is no different to other gatherings that take place around the year,” said one girl, adding that people tend to hold them every year before Ramadan because they do not get time to get together during Ramadan.
“In Ramadan, we invest our time in prayer and reading Qur’an as well as preparing iftar meals. There isn’t much time left for socialization,” she said. Amani Al-Said, a university student, said that she has been familiar with Shabana since an early age but did not know what they signified until she grew older. “I love going to such parties and I wait for them. When I was young I didn’t know what Shabana meant but I used to enjoy them. Now I make sure that I have a Shabana with my friends. We’re going to have ours soon,” she said.
Mariam Bukhari, an Arabic teacher at an intermediary school, condemned some practices in Shabanas. “We didn’t use to include any music when we used to have our Shabanas in the past. It’s meant only for cousins and families to gather before women get busy during Ramadan,” Bukhari said, adding that preachers and imams must correct wrong practices.
Sarah Al-Dowsari, also a teacher, said that many people hold such parties before Ramadan in which they have fun and food. She added that some families hold similar parties at other times of the year, including during the middle of Rajab, which is known as the Rajbana. Rajab is significant to Muslims as the month of Isra and Miraj — the name given to the two parts of the journey that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made to the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and then to the Heavens.
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Zain Al-Alawi, Arab News
MAKKAH, 29 August 2007 — Toward the end of Shaban, which is the Arabic month preceding the month of Ramadan, families around the Kingdom gather and enjoy themselves in an open party known popularly as Shabana.
The concept of Shabana was conjured by women, who say it is a brilliant opportunity to rest and have fun before busying themselves during Ramadan with prayer, recitation of the Qur’an and preparing food. Shabanas are attended by women of various ages and status, who gather at different locations that include homes, hotels, beach resorts, restaurants, coffee shops, and even schools and universities.
Matouk, a 46-year-old Makkah resident, compared Shabana in the past to how it is celebrated presently. “We used to have our Shabanas at different districts in huge houses or open areas... My family and I were keen to attend such parties to enjoy ourselves and to meet our neighbors,” said Matouk, adding that the participants would all contribute cash to make the necessary arrangements for Shabana.
“It hasn’t changed a lot except that people are making these parties in huge halls in which women of various districts come to participate... Some women have been creative in the way they arrange their Shabanas,” she added.
Uhoud Al-Bishi, a singer, said she is increasingly invited to Shabanas to sing. “These parties look very much like weddings. They comprise banquets and music. The difference, however, is that some girls that are present participate in traditional dances. The costs for the parties are shared by the attendees,” she said, adding that each woman would pay SR35 to SR45 as a minimal charge to participate in a Shabana party. She added that she earns SR2,500 to SR10,000 for singing.
A woman, who did not want her name to be published, said that in some parties women play the role of a bride and a groom and wear typical wedding dresses just to add fun to the ceremony. “We ensure having such things in our parties because many people enjoy them,” she added.
Some girls, however, would prefer to gather in coffee shops where they can smoke shisha and have food. “This is the best place where I can meet classmates. We talk about news and gossip. Shabana is no different to other gatherings that take place around the year,” said one girl, adding that people tend to hold them every year before Ramadan because they do not get time to get together during Ramadan.
“In Ramadan, we invest our time in prayer and reading Qur’an as well as preparing iftar meals. There isn’t much time left for socialization,” she said. Amani Al-Said, a university student, said that she has been familiar with Shabana since an early age but did not know what they signified until she grew older. “I love going to such parties and I wait for them. When I was young I didn’t know what Shabana meant but I used to enjoy them. Now I make sure that I have a Shabana with my friends. We’re going to have ours soon,” she said.
Mariam Bukhari, an Arabic teacher at an intermediary school, condemned some practices in Shabanas. “We didn’t use to include any music when we used to have our Shabanas in the past. It’s meant only for cousins and families to gather before women get busy during Ramadan,” Bukhari said, adding that preachers and imams must correct wrong practices.
Sarah Al-Dowsari, also a teacher, said that many people hold such parties before Ramadan in which they have fun and food. She added that some families hold similar parties at other times of the year, including during the middle of Rajab, which is known as the Rajbana. Rajab is significant to Muslims as the month of Isra and Miraj — the name given to the two parts of the journey that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made to the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and then to the Heavens.
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Section Navigation
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» Local Press
» Law & You
» Art & Culture
» Weather
» Community News
» Review
» Side Lights
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Prince Ahmed Bin Salman
9/11
Arab News 30th Anniversary Supplement
Life of Prophet Muhammad Bravo.
RE BOOST SAUDI FLIGHTS DURING THE HOLY MONTH OF RAMADHAN
Boost for Saudi flights during Ramadan
Etihad Airways is to double the number of its flights during the holy month of Ramadan between Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, and add special flights to Medina Al Munawara.
United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, August 28 - 2007 at 11:35 PRESS RELEASE
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Etihad set to increase flights
» more Etihad Airways news
The airline will increase its daily service from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah to 14 flights a week, and will introduce during Ramadan two flights a week to Medina Al Munawara.
The extra services will operate between 13 September and 13 October. The Medina flights will operate twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.
The flight uplift also opens a range of short and long-haul connections for air travellers flying via Etihad's Abu Dhabi home base.
Passengers will be able to connect quickly and conveniently from more than 20 Etihad destinations, which include Manila, Johannesburg, Sydney, Jakarta, Bangkok, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Dhaka, Khartoum, and Toronto, as well as European destinations.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: 'The double daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah will cater for the great demand from Umra travellers during the holy month of Ramadan.
'The extra flights to both Jeddah and Medina will enhance significantly the long-haul travel options to the Muslim communities throughout our network with a short transfer time in Abu Dhabi on many routes.'
The additional Umra flights are on top of the airline's recently announced flying programme which will witness a 21 per cent hike in flights when it is introduced at the end of October. In its biggest route network and schedule revamp to date, the UAE's national carrier will boost its weekly flights from 564 to 716.
Etihad launched its first service from Abu Dhabi to Riyadh in December 2004. It began operating in the same month to Dammam and in May 2006 it started flights to Jeddah.
Etihad extra flights to Jeddah and Medina will be operated by two cabin Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircraft. BRAVO.
Etihad Airways is to double the number of its flights during the holy month of Ramadan between Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, and add special flights to Medina Al Munawara.
United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, August 28 - 2007 at 11:35 PRESS RELEASE
sponsored link
Direct access to U.S. Stocks & Options trading.
Trade from $9.99, complete account protection, dedicated Arabic/English services and much more!
Open an account today
What is a sponsored TextLink?
related stories
Etihad Airways RSS feed
Etihad flights set to boost UAE links with Italy
Etihad signs codeshare agreement with Royal Air Moroc
Etihad set to increase flights
Narrow body aircraft set to join Etihad fleet
Etihad set to increase flights
» more Etihad Airways news
The airline will increase its daily service from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah to 14 flights a week, and will introduce during Ramadan two flights a week to Medina Al Munawara.
The extra services will operate between 13 September and 13 October. The Medina flights will operate twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays.
The flight uplift also opens a range of short and long-haul connections for air travellers flying via Etihad's Abu Dhabi home base.
Passengers will be able to connect quickly and conveniently from more than 20 Etihad destinations, which include Manila, Johannesburg, Sydney, Jakarta, Bangkok, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Dhaka, Khartoum, and Toronto, as well as European destinations.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: 'The double daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah will cater for the great demand from Umra travellers during the holy month of Ramadan.
'The extra flights to both Jeddah and Medina will enhance significantly the long-haul travel options to the Muslim communities throughout our network with a short transfer time in Abu Dhabi on many routes.'
The additional Umra flights are on top of the airline's recently announced flying programme which will witness a 21 per cent hike in flights when it is introduced at the end of October. In its biggest route network and schedule revamp to date, the UAE's national carrier will boost its weekly flights from 564 to 716.
Etihad launched its first service from Abu Dhabi to Riyadh in December 2004. It began operating in the same month to Dammam and in May 2006 it started flights to Jeddah.
Etihad extra flights to Jeddah and Medina will be operated by two cabin Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircraft. BRAVO.
THE OPENNING OF THE ZAWIYAH SUNDAY SCHOOL
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
May Allah's Rahmah be with you always, Ameen. It's Finally Here!!! Zawiyah is happy to announce the opening of Zawiyah Sunday School, Alhamdullilah! Here are the highlights...
*Ages 7 to 12
*Special Ramadan Program starts Sunday, September 16, from 11.00am to 1.00pm
*Full Zawiyah Sunday School will start after Ramadan (in early November), from 10.00am to 2.00pm
We would like your children to participate in this one-of-a-kind Sunday School. Register early to avoid disappointment. Please see the attached document for more details and for the registration form. Please feel free to e-mail your completed registration forms to: zawiyahfoundation@gmail.com.
Jazakumullahu Khair.
We hope to hear from you soon, InshaAllah.
Wassalamu alaikum,
Zawiyah.
--
Zawiyah Foundation
http://www.zawiyah.ca
1330 East 66th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5X2W3 Canada BRAVO AUG. 28, 2007.
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
May Allah's Rahmah be with you always, Ameen. It's Finally Here!!! Zawiyah is happy to announce the opening of Zawiyah Sunday School, Alhamdullilah! Here are the highlights...
*Ages 7 to 12
*Special Ramadan Program starts Sunday, September 16, from 11.00am to 1.00pm
*Full Zawiyah Sunday School will start after Ramadan (in early November), from 10.00am to 2.00pm
We would like your children to participate in this one-of-a-kind Sunday School. Register early to avoid disappointment. Please see the attached document for more details and for the registration form. Please feel free to e-mail your completed registration forms to: zawiyahfoundation@gmail.com.
Jazakumullahu Khair.
We hope to hear from you soon, InshaAllah.
Wassalamu alaikum,
Zawiyah.
--
Zawiyah Foundation
http://www.zawiyah.ca
1330 East 66th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5X2W3 Canada BRAVO AUG. 28, 2007.
BOOST SAUDI FLIGHTS DURING THE HOLY MONTH OF RAMADHAN
Etihad airways to double the number of its flights during the holy month of ramadhan between abu dabi and jeddah and Add Special flights to Madina Al- Munawara. read more http://www.ameinfo.com/130162.html secondly, we Appeals to Muslims Nations to send humanitarian Assistence to poor peoply, around the globe, Especialy in Africa and in Uganda in particullar. where some go without meals. the orphans, the Elderly, The widows, the disabled, childrens in the war zones, the people in west nile regions, arua, koboko, yumbe district, bombo & the Entire country. overseas muslims too needs help. this the time for preperation. Ramadhan Fasting starts. sept. 13, 2007. around the world. the muslims to Invites non muslims to the Islamic centers, Masjids, to your homes for Iftar dinner during this holy month. may almighty allah unites the Umah. Increase Iman into your hearts, play to our loved ones who are not with us, the sick in the hospitals. dont misses tarawe prayers in the Masjid/Mosque. coock food and take to the nearest Masjid to you. We wish you all A Happy Ramadhan Karim. From, Mr.&.Mrs. Mariam Majid Alemi Amonye Junior,& Family in Vancouver, Western Canada. August, 28, 2007. Maa Salam. Peace be upon every one AAAmin.
Monday, August 27, 2007
THE SUB SAHARAN ROUND TABLE
Idi Amin - The Greatest Ugandan: Part II
By Dennis Matanda
In Part 1, I argued that Idi Amin was the Greatest Ugandan because he came to epitomize brutality and negativity in leaders – alongside Caligula, Mussolini and Hitler. He, in simple terms, Africanized and Ugandanized state impunity. Because Black People allowed themselves to be led by this buffoon [and others still at large], the buffoon is greater than his equals. In Part II, we continue the discussion and delve into statistics, figures and fantasy.
A Buffoon’s Requiem
The Passing of a Giant
On August 16, 2003, at 8:20 am, Idi Amin passed on to the next life from multiple organ failure. He had been in the hospital since July 18 2003 when he was admitted with high blood pressure. It is rumored that he refused to be treated and wanted to die and be buried in Uganda. Unfortunately, this specific need was not honored; and he was, instead, interred in Jeddah’s Ruwais Cemetery a few hours after his death – a devil’s hole compared to his ancestral resting grounds in Northern Ugandan. And just like that, the Ugandan dictator – Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada was seemingly forgotten. In Kampala, his children and other relatives had hoped that he would be returned and given some kind of official send off. Speaking at the time, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is quoted to have said:
“If Amin comes back breathing or conscious I will arrest him because he committed crimes here,” adding that if his body [was] brought back for burial “… we shall not give him state honours. He will be buried like any other ordinary Ugandan…”
Dude, Where is Your Country Now?
Personal Suffering
At about that time, I chanced to meet one of Uganda’s literary bigwigs, Professor Timothy Wangusa through Michael, one of my best friends - his son. That social evening, we talked of Uganda’s history and Idi Amin inevitably came up. His death being fresh in our minds, I upset the good and gentle professor by basically saying that Idi Amin’s body should have been brought back to Uganda for burial and that Ugandans would, in seeing the Great Dictator dead in real life, move on to other things. The world would subsequently make peace with the man and so lead their roads elsewhere.
I did not realize the discomfiture I had caused until Michael and I were chatting later. Michael said I should have been more sensitive to his father who ‘suffered’ under Idi Amin and that I should not have touched on the subject. I was, to be honest, taken aback for I thought that I was being intellectually engaging and opining something that had merits and demerits.
But then, that was Idi Amin in real life – a juxtaposition of so many things – and like ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ on 18 August 2003 said: “He was a product of multiculturalism, African-style, and able to use relatively advanced methods to achieve brutal, primitive ends. Like every African dictator, he was confusion’s masterpiece.”
Confusion’s Masterpiece & Statistics
Whether he was ‘Confusion’s Masterpiece’ or not, there are a few ghosts we need to exorcize before moving on to the crust of the matter. Amnesty International [who alongside the ICJ and other sources said Amin deliberately created four rival and overlapping agencies to carry out his mass killings - the Military Police, the Presidential Guard, the Public Safety Unit and the State Research Bureau] estimates that between 1971 and 1979, about 500,000 people were killed by Idi Amin and his State of Blood. Other estimates take the numbers to as low as 80,000 – although my friend Timothy Kalyegira believes that not more than 50,000 people lost their lives.
First, if 500,000 people lost their lives to Idi Amin in those 8 years [averaging 62,500 deaths a year]; if you divided the number of the dead; 500,000 by the number of days; 2,920, you will find that about 170 people were killed daily. If you divided this number further by the 24 hours of a day, you will find that about 7 people were killed each hour. Crude as this is, the supposed amount of death and blood on Amin’s hands is amazing.
Secondly, in 1980, Uganda’s population was approximately 12.6 million people – growing at an annual rate of 2.8%. If I was to calculate backwards to 1971, there is a chance that Uganda had about less than 9 million people. If 500,000 were killed between then and 1980, this would have been almost 4 – 5% of the population. These are not small numbers and should be taken seriously.
While I do not mean to dispute the numbers [for it does not seem respectful to the people who lost their dear ones in those days - My Uncle Paul was shot dead in a spate of soldierly indiscipline], there is need to get to the bottom of this – and short of a commission of inquiry, history will slip us by – like it did in 2003 when Uganda’s government failed to see the value in doing everything it could to get Idi Amin buried in Ugandan soils. Because this was not done, its not difficult to have certain people believe that he is still alive in their heads. They have not seen his grave – so how can they know that he is dead? That Idi Amin business is incomplete.
PR & Advertising – An African Fantasy
If the Government, on the other hand, had insisted on bringing Idi Amin’s body back to Uganda, this is what I think would have happened:
a) BBC would have picked up on the story and sent their then reporter Will Ross to Kokoko in North Western Uganda – which is where Idi Amin was born
b) The Americans would have sent someone from Voice of America to cover this story
c) CNN would have, like BBC, sent one of their best – either the now fired Jeff Koinange or Femi Oke [who at the time was not there]
d) Interviews would have been done of people who knew Amin of the day – and how he really was in real life
e)His children who are currently living free and square in Uganda would have been asked to testify to their father’s sins and they would have humanized him in a way that only death can
The whole public relations bonanza would have ultimately benefited Uganda [as part of a world that competes for tourists] and what these TV channels would have covered is the ‘return’ of Idi Amin to his final resting place. They would have followed the cortege from the Entebbe International Airport – showing Uganda as it really is today - different from the Uganda of the 1970s. Our current President – with the pressure of international cameras – would have been forced to be outrageous and upset with the Idi Amin legacy: but because Africans do not speak negatively about the dead, Museveni would have been courteous – even extending support to the Idi Amin family and so getting political and general good will mileage from Ugandans and international people of good sense.
Creating a national wall of shame attributed to Amin would have been the next logical step – for tourists, of course – and this would have ultimately worked as a pressure tool for the Government not to go to the depths that were buried with Idi Amin. Like the Germans did in creating the Hitler Historic Museum, there is no doubt that the first African dictator to have a ‘monument’ drawn in his wake would have done Uganda as a country wholesome good.
Crime & Punishment
I am a firm believer in punishment for evil and pain. I believe that Idi Amin should have faced the International Criminal Court. There is a chance that, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu or the Gacaca Courts in Post Genocide Rwanda, exorcism would have been the way to go. I
The Greatest Ugandan?
But what is it that makes Idi Amin the Greatest Ugandan? I think it’s the overall pain that Ugandans and Africans at large have not followed the European and American [and slowly, East Asian and South American] example of not standing for the rubbish around bad governance. To illustrate: Although America is being run by a cabal of corrupt people, there are still those who will challenge them through institutions. President George W. Bush does not have a legacy. The system has, in simple terms, sentenced the reigning American president to the back of the Great Americans line. There are currently too many Great Americans [including Barrack Obama and Condoleezza Rice] who will gladly endear themselves to the world and replace one hawkish looking American President. Outgoing British Premier Tony Blair who was doing excellently until he touched Bush got his legacy burned beyond repair – but there is still Queen Elizabeth II and the Late Princess Diana if you are really searching for Great Britons.
Africa has, in simple terms, not manufactured enough heroes to ensure that a bad someone can be replaced with a hundred good ones. More than 1,000 ‘good and great’ Germans can replace Adolf Hitler and his dark Nazi legacy. In Uganda – and other African countries, the Great Ones like Archbishop John Sentamu the second most powerful person in Anglican Church – are in exile. Kenya’s former anti corruption Czar John Githongo was forced to flee his home and Chinua Achebe who just won another award for himself and his beloved Nigeria is practically, like his ‘brother’ Wole Soyinka, living off the fat of the American land. In this way, you cannot necessarily say that one of the Greatest Kenyans is Barrack Obama or Helen Folasade Adu a Great Nigerian. Their greatness was manufactured away from the Motherland – and so do not qualify.
Conclusion
A few years after Giles Foden’s work of fiction ‘The Last King of Scotland’ was published, a Scottish businessman who worked for the Saudi royal family rang Mr. Foden and said: “I’ve got a message for you.” It was from Idi. Amin had been read a Swahili transcript of the novel and had some views. “Too much of it is fiction. And the cover; it makes me look like an overfed monkey!”
Do I Look Fat In These
How could a man as uneducated, uncultured, unfettered and especially unskilled in governance have succeeded in making us see less of ourselves and fail to rise above the depths he sent us? Because we allowed him to do this to us, he deserves the Mantle of Greatness. I bestow this on him and he, to me, remains the de facto Greatest Ugandan until someone else does something to push him into the 30,000,000th place he deserves to be.
About this entry
You’re currently reading “Idi Amin - The Greatest Ugandan: Part II,” an entry on The sub-Saharan African roundtable
Published:
6.15.07 / 3pm
Category:
Leadership, East Africa
1 CommentJump to comment form comments rss [?] trackback uri [?]
tears of the sun 6.27.07 / 8am
this is a load of shit. yes he was brutal with what he did to people, but everything happens for a reason. he only wanted what was best for his country so he killed off all of the people who shitted on him. if you dont understand why he did it you have something wrong with you honey, im not giving him thumbs up that it was the right thing to do, it wasnt he could of done things differently, but he didnt.
Alemi Junior &. Family 8.28.07 / 5am
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Re my Late, Father was a good Father, A Wonderful Husband, A great Leader. he was A Founder of Economic Independence In Uganda, he did hold the country together. he keept all religious groups together, in his 8 years rules, no Ugandans kept in IDP. no HIV/AIDS in uganda. at his time, every child attend school. no hunger in the country, his oponents do writes negative stories about our late Father, but millions of Ugandans love him. check more wewrote about in our weblogs. http://ugandan-community.blogspot.com/ http://alemiamonye.blogspot.com/ our prayers to almighty allah to rest his soul in eternal peace. AAAmin. daddy, we love you, we missed you, and you will always remains in our hearts forever. From Mr.&.Mrs. Mariam Majid Alemi Junior, & Family, in Vancouver, Western Canada. The Elder son of Al-Haji Idi Amin Dada Alemi. August, 27, 2007. secondly, Happy Ramadhan Karim to all. The Fasting starts. sept, 13, 2007.
By Dennis Matanda
In Part 1, I argued that Idi Amin was the Greatest Ugandan because he came to epitomize brutality and negativity in leaders – alongside Caligula, Mussolini and Hitler. He, in simple terms, Africanized and Ugandanized state impunity. Because Black People allowed themselves to be led by this buffoon [and others still at large], the buffoon is greater than his equals. In Part II, we continue the discussion and delve into statistics, figures and fantasy.
A Buffoon’s Requiem
The Passing of a Giant
On August 16, 2003, at 8:20 am, Idi Amin passed on to the next life from multiple organ failure. He had been in the hospital since July 18 2003 when he was admitted with high blood pressure. It is rumored that he refused to be treated and wanted to die and be buried in Uganda. Unfortunately, this specific need was not honored; and he was, instead, interred in Jeddah’s Ruwais Cemetery a few hours after his death – a devil’s hole compared to his ancestral resting grounds in Northern Ugandan. And just like that, the Ugandan dictator – Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada was seemingly forgotten. In Kampala, his children and other relatives had hoped that he would be returned and given some kind of official send off. Speaking at the time, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is quoted to have said:
“If Amin comes back breathing or conscious I will arrest him because he committed crimes here,” adding that if his body [was] brought back for burial “… we shall not give him state honours. He will be buried like any other ordinary Ugandan…”
Dude, Where is Your Country Now?
Personal Suffering
At about that time, I chanced to meet one of Uganda’s literary bigwigs, Professor Timothy Wangusa through Michael, one of my best friends - his son. That social evening, we talked of Uganda’s history and Idi Amin inevitably came up. His death being fresh in our minds, I upset the good and gentle professor by basically saying that Idi Amin’s body should have been brought back to Uganda for burial and that Ugandans would, in seeing the Great Dictator dead in real life, move on to other things. The world would subsequently make peace with the man and so lead their roads elsewhere.
I did not realize the discomfiture I had caused until Michael and I were chatting later. Michael said I should have been more sensitive to his father who ‘suffered’ under Idi Amin and that I should not have touched on the subject. I was, to be honest, taken aback for I thought that I was being intellectually engaging and opining something that had merits and demerits.
But then, that was Idi Amin in real life – a juxtaposition of so many things – and like ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ on 18 August 2003 said: “He was a product of multiculturalism, African-style, and able to use relatively advanced methods to achieve brutal, primitive ends. Like every African dictator, he was confusion’s masterpiece.”
Confusion’s Masterpiece & Statistics
Whether he was ‘Confusion’s Masterpiece’ or not, there are a few ghosts we need to exorcize before moving on to the crust of the matter. Amnesty International [who alongside the ICJ and other sources said Amin deliberately created four rival and overlapping agencies to carry out his mass killings - the Military Police, the Presidential Guard, the Public Safety Unit and the State Research Bureau] estimates that between 1971 and 1979, about 500,000 people were killed by Idi Amin and his State of Blood. Other estimates take the numbers to as low as 80,000 – although my friend Timothy Kalyegira believes that not more than 50,000 people lost their lives.
First, if 500,000 people lost their lives to Idi Amin in those 8 years [averaging 62,500 deaths a year]; if you divided the number of the dead; 500,000 by the number of days; 2,920, you will find that about 170 people were killed daily. If you divided this number further by the 24 hours of a day, you will find that about 7 people were killed each hour. Crude as this is, the supposed amount of death and blood on Amin’s hands is amazing.
Secondly, in 1980, Uganda’s population was approximately 12.6 million people – growing at an annual rate of 2.8%. If I was to calculate backwards to 1971, there is a chance that Uganda had about less than 9 million people. If 500,000 were killed between then and 1980, this would have been almost 4 – 5% of the population. These are not small numbers and should be taken seriously.
While I do not mean to dispute the numbers [for it does not seem respectful to the people who lost their dear ones in those days - My Uncle Paul was shot dead in a spate of soldierly indiscipline], there is need to get to the bottom of this – and short of a commission of inquiry, history will slip us by – like it did in 2003 when Uganda’s government failed to see the value in doing everything it could to get Idi Amin buried in Ugandan soils. Because this was not done, its not difficult to have certain people believe that he is still alive in their heads. They have not seen his grave – so how can they know that he is dead? That Idi Amin business is incomplete.
PR & Advertising – An African Fantasy
If the Government, on the other hand, had insisted on bringing Idi Amin’s body back to Uganda, this is what I think would have happened:
a) BBC would have picked up on the story and sent their then reporter Will Ross to Kokoko in North Western Uganda – which is where Idi Amin was born
b) The Americans would have sent someone from Voice of America to cover this story
c) CNN would have, like BBC, sent one of their best – either the now fired Jeff Koinange or Femi Oke [who at the time was not there]
d) Interviews would have been done of people who knew Amin of the day – and how he really was in real life
e)His children who are currently living free and square in Uganda would have been asked to testify to their father’s sins and they would have humanized him in a way that only death can
The whole public relations bonanza would have ultimately benefited Uganda [as part of a world that competes for tourists] and what these TV channels would have covered is the ‘return’ of Idi Amin to his final resting place. They would have followed the cortege from the Entebbe International Airport – showing Uganda as it really is today - different from the Uganda of the 1970s. Our current President – with the pressure of international cameras – would have been forced to be outrageous and upset with the Idi Amin legacy: but because Africans do not speak negatively about the dead, Museveni would have been courteous – even extending support to the Idi Amin family and so getting political and general good will mileage from Ugandans and international people of good sense.
Creating a national wall of shame attributed to Amin would have been the next logical step – for tourists, of course – and this would have ultimately worked as a pressure tool for the Government not to go to the depths that were buried with Idi Amin. Like the Germans did in creating the Hitler Historic Museum, there is no doubt that the first African dictator to have a ‘monument’ drawn in his wake would have done Uganda as a country wholesome good.
Crime & Punishment
I am a firm believer in punishment for evil and pain. I believe that Idi Amin should have faced the International Criminal Court. There is a chance that, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu or the Gacaca Courts in Post Genocide Rwanda, exorcism would have been the way to go. I
The Greatest Ugandan?
But what is it that makes Idi Amin the Greatest Ugandan? I think it’s the overall pain that Ugandans and Africans at large have not followed the European and American [and slowly, East Asian and South American] example of not standing for the rubbish around bad governance. To illustrate: Although America is being run by a cabal of corrupt people, there are still those who will challenge them through institutions. President George W. Bush does not have a legacy. The system has, in simple terms, sentenced the reigning American president to the back of the Great Americans line. There are currently too many Great Americans [including Barrack Obama and Condoleezza Rice] who will gladly endear themselves to the world and replace one hawkish looking American President. Outgoing British Premier Tony Blair who was doing excellently until he touched Bush got his legacy burned beyond repair – but there is still Queen Elizabeth II and the Late Princess Diana if you are really searching for Great Britons.
Africa has, in simple terms, not manufactured enough heroes to ensure that a bad someone can be replaced with a hundred good ones. More than 1,000 ‘good and great’ Germans can replace Adolf Hitler and his dark Nazi legacy. In Uganda – and other African countries, the Great Ones like Archbishop John Sentamu the second most powerful person in Anglican Church – are in exile. Kenya’s former anti corruption Czar John Githongo was forced to flee his home and Chinua Achebe who just won another award for himself and his beloved Nigeria is practically, like his ‘brother’ Wole Soyinka, living off the fat of the American land. In this way, you cannot necessarily say that one of the Greatest Kenyans is Barrack Obama or Helen Folasade Adu a Great Nigerian. Their greatness was manufactured away from the Motherland – and so do not qualify.
Conclusion
A few years after Giles Foden’s work of fiction ‘The Last King of Scotland’ was published, a Scottish businessman who worked for the Saudi royal family rang Mr. Foden and said: “I’ve got a message for you.” It was from Idi. Amin had been read a Swahili transcript of the novel and had some views. “Too much of it is fiction. And the cover; it makes me look like an overfed monkey!”
Do I Look Fat In These
How could a man as uneducated, uncultured, unfettered and especially unskilled in governance have succeeded in making us see less of ourselves and fail to rise above the depths he sent us? Because we allowed him to do this to us, he deserves the Mantle of Greatness. I bestow this on him and he, to me, remains the de facto Greatest Ugandan until someone else does something to push him into the 30,000,000th place he deserves to be.
About this entry
You’re currently reading “Idi Amin - The Greatest Ugandan: Part II,” an entry on The sub-Saharan African roundtable
Published:
6.15.07 / 3pm
Category:
Leadership, East Africa
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tears of the sun 6.27.07 / 8am
this is a load of shit. yes he was brutal with what he did to people, but everything happens for a reason. he only wanted what was best for his country so he killed off all of the people who shitted on him. if you dont understand why he did it you have something wrong with you honey, im not giving him thumbs up that it was the right thing to do, it wasnt he could of done things differently, but he didnt.
Alemi Junior &. Family 8.28.07 / 5am
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Re my Late, Father was a good Father, A Wonderful Husband, A great Leader. he was A Founder of Economic Independence In Uganda, he did hold the country together. he keept all religious groups together, in his 8 years rules, no Ugandans kept in IDP. no HIV/AIDS in uganda. at his time, every child attend school. no hunger in the country, his oponents do writes negative stories about our late Father, but millions of Ugandans love him. check more wewrote about in our weblogs. http://ugandan-community.blogspot.com/ http://alemiamonye.blogspot.com/ our prayers to almighty allah to rest his soul in eternal peace. AAAmin. daddy, we love you, we missed you, and you will always remains in our hearts forever. From Mr.&.Mrs. Mariam Majid Alemi Junior, & Family, in Vancouver, Western Canada. The Elder son of Al-Haji Idi Amin Dada Alemi. August, 27, 2007. secondly, Happy Ramadhan Karim to all. The Fasting starts. sept, 13, 2007.
A MAN RENEW HIS MARRIAGE AFTER 102 OF AGE
The old man of 102 years of age renew his marriage. they live for 37 tears of mariage. the wife is 56years of age. it is a miracle in Uganda. the younger generetion follow his example by keeping their relationships works. read more. congretulation grand pa. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/19/583469 Bravo.
ZAITUNI WEBLOGS ADDED
Heres sister zaituni Weblogs Added in our blogs. http://zaitunikaday.blogspot.com/ Bravo. Good luck you can create and publish posts into your new weblogs, share with family members. peace. from your Elder Brother Alemi Amonye Junior & Family, in Vancouver Western Canada. August. 27, 2007.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
CONNECT TO TRANSLINK IN BC
Re: Connect with translink transportation system in BC will take you to your destinations. just on the website: for more schedules programmes. http://www.translink.bc.ca/ Bravo. [Mr. Alemi Junior & Family. in vancouver, western canada. saturday. August. 26, 2007.
THE GULOMO GATHERING IN KOBOKO WEST NILE
Re. Gulomo Gathering in Koboko [Adibu Clan] the event that took place in koboko, west nile, the one in arua. the group photos and the audio is coming soon here in this weblogs stay tune. http://remoalemidada.blogspot.com/ Bravo.
Friday, August 24, 2007
DID AL-HAJI IDI AMIN DID ALLEGED KILLING COL OKOYA?
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the Daily Monitor published a challenge to my recent three-part Sunday Monitor report on the inside story of the 1971 military coup that brought Idi Amin to power.
The challenge came from Brig. George Nyero, the Commanding Officer of the Military Police from 1968 to 1971. He questioned many parts of my story on the coup.Nyero blames Amin for the murders of the Commanding Officer of the First Infantry Brigade, Brig. Pierino Yere Okoya and his wife Anna Akello Okoya.
There are essential details that Brig. Nyero skipped, the most important of which was the meeting of the National Defence Council that took place in August 1969 at State House Entebbe. In that meeting, the Quarter-Master General of the Uganda Army, Lt. Col. David Oyite-Ojok, urged President Milton Obote to dismiss Amin.
Brig. Okoya objected to Oyite-Ojok’s charges. After listening to Okoya’s rebuttal, President Obote agreed with his view that Amin should not be dismissed. That Okoya spoke out in defence of Amin and that way saved Amin’s career is vital in understanding the whole question of who murdered Okoya. Why would Amin, grateful for Okoya’s defence of him during the State House meeting, go ahead and murder Okoya only weeks later?
Also, Brig. Nyero mentioned that Amin and Oyite-Ojok were friends and respected each other. He mentioned the incident in which Oyite-Ojok appears at Amin's house shortly after the attempt on Obote's life in December 1969 to inform him of the attack. (Other sources say it was Colonel Albertino Langoya who went to Amin's house.)
Amin, on seeing the army officer, escapes by scaling the wall. Why would Amin flee when this officer, a few ranks his junior, appears at his house? To Nyero and many others, who didn't know the Amin-Oyite Ojok tensions, this escape by Amin suggests guilt.
But then, if Amin was involved in the attempt on Obote’s life--- and his escape from his house was the proof --- why would he flee from one part of Kampala to another? Why not flee Uganda altogether, since to be implicated in the assassination attempt would surely lead to his being court martialled?
Then in August 1985, the elderly father of the late Brig. Okoya told a tribal meeting in Gulu that he knew that his son was not murdered by Amin, a claim repeated by a latter head of state General Tito Okello in August 1985 and in Gulu in February 1994.
Perhaps the most compelling overview of the Okoya murder appeared in a book published in 1976 justifying the Israeli side to the raid on Entebbe airport. Written by Yehuda Ofer, the deputy editor of the Israeli airforce magazine, the book titled Operation Thunder: The Entebbe Raid: The Israeli’s Own Story, narrated Okoya’s murder on page 60:
“One day when a Ugandan brigadier-general named [Okoya], a member of the Acholi tribe, had been murdered, President Obote planned to exploit the assassination to oust Amin, and he started the rumour that the [army] Chief of Staff had been involved in it. Idi Amin was then in Cairo...The Uganda minister of defence, Felix Onama...investigated the matter and learned that Obote was planning to detain Amin on his return to Uganda on the trumped-up charge of having assassinated the brigadier-general.”
The Israelis would know. In the 1960s, they had a heavy intelligence and military presence in Uganda, training the Uganda Army and Airforce as well as the intellgence agency, the General Service Unit.
This statement in Ofer’s book is significant because it was written in 1976, four years after Amin fell out with the Israelis and had become a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, as well as during one of the gravest national crises for Israel, with dozens of hostages held at Entebbe.
If Amin had killed Okoya, the Israelis would certainly have known about it from their Ugandan informers in the army and the government. A book published after the 1976 Entebbe hostage crisis, in mentioning this murder, would surely have emphasised Amin’s guilt in order to further demonstrate to the world his brutality and justify Israel’s raid on Entebbe. But the Israelis did not. Why?
Incidentally --- and most astonishing of all --- both this book by Yehuda Ofer and another 1976 book, 90 Minutes At Entebbe, by William Stevenson, although seeking to validate Israel’s raid on Entebbe and as far as possible blacken Amin’s international image, do not portray Amin as a murderer. All they do is portray Amin as an erratic, charming leader full of empty boasting.
Throughout the 1970s, Israeli’s foreign counterintelligence agency, Mossad, had a network of informers inside Uganda. Why would these books, cleared by Israel’s military censor, neglect to mention Amin’s killing of 500,000 Ugandans? There is so much about the Amin legacy as we have come to believe it, that simply does not ring true.
timothy_kalyegira@yahoo.com
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The challenge came from Brig. George Nyero, the Commanding Officer of the Military Police from 1968 to 1971. He questioned many parts of my story on the coup.Nyero blames Amin for the murders of the Commanding Officer of the First Infantry Brigade, Brig. Pierino Yere Okoya and his wife Anna Akello Okoya.
There are essential details that Brig. Nyero skipped, the most important of which was the meeting of the National Defence Council that took place in August 1969 at State House Entebbe. In that meeting, the Quarter-Master General of the Uganda Army, Lt. Col. David Oyite-Ojok, urged President Milton Obote to dismiss Amin.
Brig. Okoya objected to Oyite-Ojok’s charges. After listening to Okoya’s rebuttal, President Obote agreed with his view that Amin should not be dismissed. That Okoya spoke out in defence of Amin and that way saved Amin’s career is vital in understanding the whole question of who murdered Okoya. Why would Amin, grateful for Okoya’s defence of him during the State House meeting, go ahead and murder Okoya only weeks later?
Also, Brig. Nyero mentioned that Amin and Oyite-Ojok were friends and respected each other. He mentioned the incident in which Oyite-Ojok appears at Amin's house shortly after the attempt on Obote's life in December 1969 to inform him of the attack. (Other sources say it was Colonel Albertino Langoya who went to Amin's house.)
Amin, on seeing the army officer, escapes by scaling the wall. Why would Amin flee when this officer, a few ranks his junior, appears at his house? To Nyero and many others, who didn't know the Amin-Oyite Ojok tensions, this escape by Amin suggests guilt.
But then, if Amin was involved in the attempt on Obote’s life--- and his escape from his house was the proof --- why would he flee from one part of Kampala to another? Why not flee Uganda altogether, since to be implicated in the assassination attempt would surely lead to his being court martialled?
Then in August 1985, the elderly father of the late Brig. Okoya told a tribal meeting in Gulu that he knew that his son was not murdered by Amin, a claim repeated by a latter head of state General Tito Okello in August 1985 and in Gulu in February 1994.
Perhaps the most compelling overview of the Okoya murder appeared in a book published in 1976 justifying the Israeli side to the raid on Entebbe airport. Written by Yehuda Ofer, the deputy editor of the Israeli airforce magazine, the book titled Operation Thunder: The Entebbe Raid: The Israeli’s Own Story, narrated Okoya’s murder on page 60:
“One day when a Ugandan brigadier-general named [Okoya], a member of the Acholi tribe, had been murdered, President Obote planned to exploit the assassination to oust Amin, and he started the rumour that the [army] Chief of Staff had been involved in it. Idi Amin was then in Cairo...The Uganda minister of defence, Felix Onama...investigated the matter and learned that Obote was planning to detain Amin on his return to Uganda on the trumped-up charge of having assassinated the brigadier-general.”
The Israelis would know. In the 1960s, they had a heavy intelligence and military presence in Uganda, training the Uganda Army and Airforce as well as the intellgence agency, the General Service Unit.
This statement in Ofer’s book is significant because it was written in 1976, four years after Amin fell out with the Israelis and had become a sworn enemy of the Jewish state, as well as during one of the gravest national crises for Israel, with dozens of hostages held at Entebbe.
If Amin had killed Okoya, the Israelis would certainly have known about it from their Ugandan informers in the army and the government. A book published after the 1976 Entebbe hostage crisis, in mentioning this murder, would surely have emphasised Amin’s guilt in order to further demonstrate to the world his brutality and justify Israel’s raid on Entebbe. But the Israelis did not. Why?
Incidentally --- and most astonishing of all --- both this book by Yehuda Ofer and another 1976 book, 90 Minutes At Entebbe, by William Stevenson, although seeking to validate Israel’s raid on Entebbe and as far as possible blacken Amin’s international image, do not portray Amin as a murderer. All they do is portray Amin as an erratic, charming leader full of empty boasting.
Throughout the 1970s, Israeli’s foreign counterintelligence agency, Mossad, had a network of informers inside Uganda. Why would these books, cleared by Israel’s military censor, neglect to mention Amin’s killing of 500,000 Ugandans? There is so much about the Amin legacy as we have come to believe it, that simply does not ring true.
timothy_kalyegira@yahoo.com
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Thursday, August 23, 2007
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