UPF: Police guaranteees safety and security of the tourism industry

PRESS STATEMENT

1.    The Police and its sister security agencies have boosted security in the Western districts of Kasese, Bundibugyo and Ntoroko following the tragic events surrounding the ethnic and cultural conflicts in the area.
2.    The area that comprises the Mountain Rwenzori National Park has very significant Safari attractions that have drawn an increase in the number of visitors in the area.
3.     This is to therefore, inform all domestic and international tourists that the combined forces of the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) and the Uganda Police (UPF) successfully countered the attackers who were linked to the Rwenzururu Kingdom and arrested several of whom it arraigned before the courts of Law.
4.    Apparently, calm has been fully restored in the area and recreation centers opened by the Government in the districts of Bundibugyo and Kasese that has led to the recovery of several guns and ammunitions as well as accommodating people seeking shelter and protection. The local leaders and elders managing these centers have taken the lead for the immediate restoration of calm by dialoguing and engaging the locals and all other stakeholders in the area to solve the current issues.
5.    The deployment of appropriate Police and Military assets and supporting infrastructure has created safety for visitors selecting the Rwenzori region as a holiday destination. The Tourism Police that is tasked with the primary mandate of ensuring the safety and security of both international and domestic tourists, tourist attractions and facilities in Uganda is fully deployed covering all facilities in and around both the Queen Elizabeth and Mountain Rwenzori National Parks.
6.    The Police therefore, urges the public and all tour companies to resume their operations in the area and benefit from the security infrastructure in the area.

Fred Enanga
Press and Public Relations Officer
Uganda Police
Kampala.
16.07.2014

– See more at: http://www.mediacentre.go.ug/press-release/police-guarantees-safety-and-security-tourism-industry#sthash.z2eUFVh9.dpuf

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Speech the 24th July 2014, Nairobi – Fight against youth Unemployment

Uhuru 1

Uhuru 2

Uhuru 3

Uhuru 4

FUF – The struggle to redeem and renew Uganda continues (Letter from Prof. Amii Omara-Otunnu)

Written by FUF Chairman:

Prof. Amii Omara-Otunnu.

I write as Chairman of Freedom and Unity Front (FUF) to report to members, friends and well wishers that the organization that was formed on October 6, 2013 to perform the historical missions to champion national reconciliation and healing, to banish the culture of violence and militarism that has blighted the lives of millions of citizens through gratuitous use of force, to fashion institutional mechanisms for democracy, accountability and checks and balances on power, to inspire hope and faith in the future, and to seek understanding and solidarity from the international community to assist us in our struggle, is well and robust and continues to grow in leaps and bounds.

We formed FUF because we were gravely concerned about, among others, the fragmentation of the country through divide and rule tactics employed by bankrupt politicians; the growing cancer of corruption that is disabling the country; the chilling assassinations and torture of political opponents; the devastating military adventures into neighboring countries; fostering of poverty as means of control; and the muzzling of free and independent press in the country.

Why has FUF inspired so much hope and following since its inception? This is essentially due to five main reasons.

First, it is because of its vision, mission and objectives, which are informed by ethical values and principles of compassion, tolerance, inclusiveness, reciprocal respect, equality of treatment, social justice, economic empowerment, political emancipation and unity of the country.

Second, because its leadership is committed to listen, to see and to feel the suffering and aspirations of the great majority of people and to take into account the experiences of people to fashion strategies and policies that would enable individuals and groups to engage meaningfully in affairs that affect their lives.

Third, because a cross-section of people see that the leadership of FUF is dedicated to a new approach to politics, which is designed to bridge the gap between rhetoric and practice. This imposes upon the leadership a duty to lead by example. In other words, the FUF leadership holds that it is not sufficient to profess to stand for laudable goals; but that we must walk the talk in the ways we conduct ourselves and treat others.

Fourth, because the leadership of FUF has made it clear that the struggle to oust the current dictatorship is neither personal nor for the purpose of simply changing musical chairs. For FUF, the new Uganda must be a country in which all those who live in it are treated with respect and dignity and enjoy all rights equally.

And fifth, because the leadership of FUF is driven by a wider vision and an abiding desire to see an Africa at peace with herself and at peace with the rest of the world. Accordingly, we seek to form constructive partnerships with the international community that would foster international peace, human security and stability not only in Uganda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa, but in the entire continent.

Since the establishment of Freedom and Unity Front, a lot has been achieved. This includes enormous progress in the diplomatic and political arenas.

In the international arena, we have managed to publicize the duplicity and indeed criminality of President Museveni policies that have resulted in the loss of millions of lives and the plunder of resources, as well as in undermining international peace and security in the Great Lakes and Horn Region of Africa.

We have managed to sensitize people to the fact that the current regime in Uganda is a threat to international peace and security in the Great Lakes Region and Horn of Africa.

In the difficult task of promoting freedoms and of bringing together people of various ideological, social, religious and regional backgrounds, FUF has worked diligently to form practical and productive working relationships with other Ugandan groups for the common and greater good of the country.

Arguably the most robust relationship with various groups is the partnership between the Federal Alliance for Democracy and Development (FADDU) and FUF. We have done this by acknowledging, respecting and celebrating the diversities in the country and by recognizing that Uganda is big enough for all her children regardless of where and how they were born.

The experience of Uganda, combined with the ethical values and principles that guide members of FUF, have instilled in them a deep determination to fashion a formula that would not simply remove the current dictatorship, but also curtail abuse of power while at the same time creating enabling environment in which Ugandans can exercise to the optimum, fundamental rights and freedoms as citizens.

As indicated in FUF’s Manifesto, this would require radical decentralization of powers — not simply delegation of authority — to the regions.

FUF is committed to a formula of decentralization as the most reasonable means of minimizing abuse of power while at the same time engaging people meaningfully in affairs that affect their lives. This means, in the political grammar understood in Uganda, federalism.

FUF subscribes to and advocates federal system of government not for purposes of political expediency or as political dogma; but rather, because it was under the federal system of government in Uganda from 1962 to 1966’s that the country enjoyed optimum freedoms, social peace and robust economic development.

Most historians regard this period as the golden period in Uganda’s history.

In the current political climate in the country, federalism offers the most reasonable opportunity to citizens to engage in activities that affect their lives, as well as allows people to be involved in determining the best policies for their localities and for the management and control of their resources and governance.

In due course, FUF will announce other partnerships with other groups and organizations, as it calls upon all Ugandans to transcend their petty differences for the purpose of achieving not simply the change of the current dictatorship but also to usher in a new dawn in Uganda where all her citizens and those who live in it enjoy optimum freedoms, rights and a unity of purpose.

The march of history is on the side of the great majority of Ugandans. The suffering of Ugandans in every region of the country, coupled with conscious education, have awakened the great majority of the people to engage in struggles to unite and defeat the authors of their servitude.

FUF emphasizes the simple and profound point that Uganda is large enough for all her children. Based on intellectual, moral and practical solidarity, and on the ethical principles of equality and non-discrimination, the struggle for freedoms and unity to which FUF is providing leadership, will sooner than later usher in a new dawn of social peace and justice in which all citizens enjoy their rights.

As we enter a new phase of the struggle to emancipate ourselves from the tyranny and corruption of the current regime, our resolve is firm and solid. We are emboldened by the fact that our cause is right and just and that the means we have chosen is proportionate to the task at hand.

The flame of our just cause and struggle has been fueled by ethical values that do not discriminate on the grounds of ideological, ethnic, religious or racial affiliations. As long as the fire of struggle so fueled burn in our hearts and minds, no person can extinguish it.

With our ethical values and faith that are far stronger than the tyranny of the regime, we shall redeem and renew Uganda and build institutions that enable citizens to realize their fundamental rights and freedoms regardless of where and how they are born. We shall build an inclusive Uganda for God and our children.

A better Uganda, informed by ethical values and principle of compassion, empathy, inclusiveness and tolerance, is possible

Discussion: There is two sides to every story (both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinians – their stories are biased just as this one)

This had to be done, especially because of the race between the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinians and how they try to rule the media and also the public opinion. I have not intended to bend you into either direction. Who? Where? What? Nah, I won’t answer that. The thing I will do is instead look into how biased we can be, and also little insight we sometimes have. In the end I will just ask a simple question.  Does that sounds feasible in our day and age? If not, well, still have a blessed journey through my very simple piece.

We live in a time and day where wars are happening. There are certain rules to the proceedings right? Still, when we discuss them we still take sides. Hiram Johnson senator in US from 1917-1945, he said: “Truth,’ it has been said, ‘is the first casualty of war” (…) “Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages” (WikiQuote, 2014).

Even Protagoras said: “there two sides to every story, and one truth. Tell the story, and get out of the way; let the reader figure it out” (Cousineau, 2010).

Now I won’t go to ethical or historical down. Because then my thoughts we’ll be gone in the wind. Like tiny little leafs that being caught with the rush of the wind.

I am writing this because in my own country there is hard headed discussion about the innocence and righteous war for either Israel or the Palestinians on the Gaza stip. They are both going at it like every drunken uncle at the barbeque. Both blaming each other just like they are doing on the stip. Sending grenades from neighbor to neighbor and it never ends.

Why I am saying this like that, because the bickering and discussing over the matter, like you doesn’t give the cause anything, neither to you nor the other guy who disagree. We know that both side of the story. It’s hard from a far even in our day and age to know who is actually accurate. We trust in this media, sometimes government controlled as such. Which even has some reporters that can be biased. Let me get serious! We are all a bit biased. Like I am biased on the matter of which leader in Uganda I respect the most – not Yoweri K. Museveni but Dr. Kizza Besigye. So when people are saying directly all the time and addressing each other, they seem like their forgetting this.

Especially when we know that the truths are the first to die in a war. Therefore the story that is going to be told shouldn’t have the issues of falsehood in them, but still they might not be the whole picture. The whole picture isn’t clear until the weapons have been put into a storage unit and the sad loss on each side is counted. Like Protagoras said: there are two sides to every story. That is because there is to side’s view to what they saw and felt occurred during the events.

Zdenek Urbánek said in the 1970s Checkoslovakia: “In one respect, we are more fortunate than you in the west. We believe nothing of what we read in the newspapers and watch on television, nothing of the official truth. Unlike you, we have learned to read between the lines, because real truth is always subversive” (Pilger, 2006). This was in the 1970s Iron Curtain and when the Soviet was under the rule of Stalin and staying strong. We can just live into the words that he is saying. Can we imagine it or will it all ends into an Orwellian nightmare?

What I am not saying is that we should be bleak about the factors and the injustice that is happening worldwide. It’s natural to react to people losing their lives and people living under circumstances way beyond what we should wish for our worst enemy. More of what I am asking for both parties in a discussion, as viral as the discussions between pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. Act real please! You both can’t have all the information and the whole facts on the situation on the ground. The last piece of the history we got is from the last strongest part, which took the core measurement and got on top.

The, Who? Where? What? We all live in different places all around the world. We have had different teachers, different parents, different childhoods, eaten all kind of foods, drinking local kind of drinks, being a part of some faith, political views, this all will be a part of margins of error in our judgment on recent events. Wouldn’t we hear a different view on Russian annexation from a Slovakian then a brother from Greece? Wouldn’t the thoughts on Ukraine be different seen by a brother in Sierra Leone versus Chinese? It might be the same even, but if the context and our luggage in our mind and our conscious should have any indication, then it should at least differ a bit.

The stories from direct line might be tainted as much as the outsiders discussing it. They have deal with losses, with victories and also being in the fire day after day. We from afar can never feel that pain or loss. That’s another reason why we should be a bit careful to discuss the matter at hand.

Especially we all should know that when we pick and make cases, articles, blogs, we’re all usually picking certain links and quotes. Or copy/pasting certain sources and making a case on the matter. To put our view into the world and develop a understanding on the matter from the different places and writers, journalist and commentators, as I do often, I hope they have caught and asked the right questions to the ones close to the matter at hand. So the story will not only be shallow piece. But actually something that shade a little bit of light on the matter at hand. I know in my pieces that I am biased. If a writer says that they are neutral. Then their lying to you and most importantly; nobody can be non-biased. You can work towards that goal. It’s a nice mission, but kind of impossible. More impossible then a mix of Matrix, Mission Impossible and Crank movies into wild goose chase where none of the actors can’t see the forest for the trees.

So please when we discuss matter that are deep, conflicted and sometimes out of reach where our knowledge doesn’t stand to deep. Could we please take a few sips of brew, before we throw stones, then since we’re sitting and drinking the brew (we might start to actually have a conversation…).

Links:

Cousineau, Phil – ‘The Oldest Story In the World’ (Utgiver: 2010) Phil Cousineau.

 

Pilger, John – ‘The real first casualty of war’ (24.04.2006) Link: http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-real-first-casualty-of-war

 

Wikiquote – ‘Hiram Johnson’ (13.04.2014) Link: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hiram_Johnson

Attention: CLF (Coalition of Liberation Forces) claims to be responsible for the Rwenzori attacks

CLF claims responsiblity for the Rwenzori attacks and is saying that everybody as is taken to custody by the Police is innocent oppisiton figurs: 

A new group the coalition of liberation forces (CLF) has claimed it carried out all the attacks against police and army units in the Rwenzori region, and the regime after failing to get them, it turned to arresting innocent kingdom officials and members of the FDC.The Group says that the regime had always wanted to clamp down on the Rwenzururu kingdom, and also had wanted a reason to disorganise the FDC party which has the largest support in the region, and now it has struck and struck hard.The CLF says the charging of these innocent civilians beforea general Court marshal will backfire in the face of M7 and will spel disaster for him.On its part. the CLF says its fighers are spread across the country and shall continue to wage war of resistance to the system.The former UPDFin opposition has since joined CLF, which has about 5 other Groups (Ikazeiwacu.fr, 2014).

Of this CLF group most of them are in the diaspora.

Link:

http://ikazeiwacu.fr/2014/07/19/uganda-coalition-of-liberation-forces-clf-claims-rwenzori-region-attacks/

What do you think, do you think this is true and if it is, can a brother ask for more clear sources?

Peace

Statement to Parliament on the recent attacks in the districts Of Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntokoro. (Thursday 10.07.2014)

Here is parts a statement with new information dropped to the Parliament and it should be interesting too thoose who has followed the skirmishes in Kasese and Bundibugyo.

(1)          Introduction

1.1       The right Honourable Speaker of Parliament and Hon Members of Parliament, our country on Saturday the 5th July witnessed a very tragic and sad event that led to the death of at least 90 Ugandans in the districts of Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntoroko.

1.2       I beg to move Madam Speaker that Parliament rises to observe a minute of silence in respect of these deceased Ugandans, I beg to move.

1.3       The characteristic  of the events that unfolded show that some people in our society still hold firm beliefs in witchcraft, can easily be duped into criminality and can be very callous  in causing death to their brothers and sisters.

 

(2)            The main characteristics and details of the attacks

2.1       The attacks took place on Saturday 5th July between 2 PM and 4 pm in the districts of Bundibugyo, Kasese and Ntoroko

2.2       The main targets were police and army positions, wananchi in the case of Kasese, the palace of the ObundingyawaBwamba and stanbic bank in Bundibugyo

2.3       The attackers were mainly armed with spears,pangas sticks and some guns

2.4       The objectives were mainly to ,get guns and money.

 

(3)          The places attacked in each of the affected districts are; 

3.1       In Bundibugyo the places attacked included

(i)              Kanyamirima barracks – 5 kilometers from the town of Bundibugyo,

(ii)            Bundibugyo town where the stanbic bank and the palace of the OmundigyawaBwamba were key targets.

(iii)          Kirindi shrine

(iv)           Ntandi

(v)             Katumba

3.2       In the district of Ntoroko the attacks were at the trading centre of Kibuuku and  the police station in Karugutu town council.

3.3       While in Kasese, the places affected are:

(i)          a weighbridge opposite KCCL factory on the highway from Kasese to Bushenyi and

(ii)        The villages of Bigando and Ibuga.

 

(4)           The Table below summarises the estimates of the people killed as of Tuesday 8/7/2014.

Statement 9

(1)          Response to the crisis by Government

(a)            Early on Sunday 6th the Inspector General of police and the Commander Land Forces UPDF moved into the area

(b)            The battalion commanding offices in Bundibugyo were already joined by the 305 brigade based in Hima, Kasese

(c)             I left Kampala on Sunday evening heading for Bundibugyo. My colleague the Hon Minister of Internal Affairs at the time we received the news of the attacks was in the Acholi sub region following the National ID registration but we kept in close touch over the issue.

(d)            The President and Commander in Chief has been kept briefed about the events and as Hon Members are aware, he has issued a preliminary statement on the tragic situation

(e)            I returned to Kampala on Tuesday night and yesterday morning I briefed the Cabinet and a good proportion of the time of Cabinet was spent discussing this tragedy and laying out strategies on how to prevent such tragedies in the future.

(f)              The deployments in the affected districts have been stepped up both by police and the army

(g)            The Inspector General’s  attention is now fully focused on the region and up to yesterday he was still in the region.

(h)            Intensive investigations are going on to find the basis of the attack and the leaders of this plan.

 

(2)          While in Bundibugyo, I held a number of meetings and interviews

7.1           I met the senior leadership of the army and police, made a courtesy call on the OmundingyaWaBwamba and interviewed the Deputy Prime Minister of the ObusingaBwaRwenzururu who had been taken in by the police and also with one of the women that was among those captured from the attackers.

7.2           I had a discussion with political leaders of the district of Bundibugyo led by the district chairperson and also met 10 elders of the Bakonzo people in Bundibugyo

7.3           The woman I met was about 35 years old. Her story was that she had been captured by the attackers on her way from her garden on Friday 4th July i.e the day before the attacks of Saturday. Her brief history was that in 1997 when ADF attacked Bundibugyo she responded to the call by UPDF to join military training and she worked with the army for one year. However while working as LDU, she fell in love with a UPDF soldier and had a child with her in 2000. Thereafter the husband now was transferred to Gulu. In 2003 the husband defected from the army and returned with his wife and baby to Mbale where he hails from. She did not find life easy so she returned to her father’s home in Bundibugyo in 2006 and has since lived with the parents until she got involved in this attack.

7.4           When I asked her if she had seen a witch doctor before coming for the attack, she told me she refused to do so because this was satanic and her experience in Gulu had taught her that witchcraft does not protect one against bullets. She however indicated that inorder not to provoke her superiors she accepted to carry some stuff in her pocket which was meant to be protection against bullets. She revealed that while in the camp where she was taken on the Friday night she found about 150 other people.

7.5           The brief by the leaders in the camp was that the struggle was for liberation of the Bakonzo people from the Bamba oppression which was supported by the Central Government. They were told that the mission on Saturday was to get 2 things.

  • guns from Kanyamirima barracks and the police
  • money from stanbic bank

7.6           She further informed me that some of the people killed in the attack were from her village and she believed that these had been undergoing training during the day for at least a week in a place she did not know until that Friday night. On my asking, she told me the father’s name and that the father and sisters had mobile phones. And so I told her I wanted to ring the father. When the police brought me the phone the cell had died and so advised that it be charged. Subsequently I rang the father who collaborated her story in so far as the disappearance on Friday was concerned and her marriage to the UPDF soldier. He also revealed he had lost a son in the attack and until I rang him and informed him about the daughter he thought that she too had died.

7.7           This lady’s story collaborated what the soldiers had told me about the attackers having used witchcraft to protect themselves against bullets.

 

(3)          Let me now give some characteristics of the attacks in Kasese. What happened at Bigando was callous horrible and despicable to say the least.

  • Bigando and Ibuga are two villages in Busongora North the constituency represented in this House by Hon William Nzoghu.
  • on the fateful afternoon 11 civilians, including children were killed in cold blood.
  • A soldier on leave was forced into his house,the house locked from outside and set on fire! and other people hacked to death by the attackers.
  • As I have said this was callous, atrocious and heartless on the part of the attackers.
  • We strongly condemn this and the Government is doing everything possible to find the culprits and bring them to book

 

(4)          Underlying factors

9.1         As I have clearly stated investigations are on and many people including the attackers who were captured alive are being interrogated.

9.2         I will therefore at this stage give the underlying factors operative in the Rwenzori region that will throw light on the causation of this tragedy.

9.3         First there is the matter of cultural institutions in the area. After the ObusingaBwaRwenzururu was recognized by the Government, the other ethnic groups in the place also called for recognition. Accordingly the Government recognized the cultural institution of the Bamba, the ObundingiyaBwaBamba.

9.4         In the meantime the Basongora and the Banyabindi in Kasese have also been calling for similar treatment. This has however not gone well with the ObusingaBwaRwenzururu. As the article in the news papers  has shown, the President has asked the OmusingawaRwenzururu to have a dialogue with the other ethnic groups in the Rwenzururu kingdom.

9.5         There is also the issue of the economy and land mainly in Kasese district. This has been longstanding matter which Government has been grappling with and of recent. Parliament appointed a select committee to follow up the issue. I am made to understand a report will soon be presented to the House.

9.6         The Basongora and Banyabindi in Kasese district have persistently talked about being marginalized in the district while the Bakonzo in Bundibugyo have also claimed marginalization  by the leadership in Bundibugyo.

9.7         The Government is aware of these grievances and is studying the matter carefully.

 

(5)          Conclusion

(i)            The tragic events of last weekend deserve the condemnation of right thinking people.

(ii)          In handling this tragedy, it is important that we separate issues. In particular I have in mind the criminally minded people who hatched this plan and therefore take responsibility for the deaths that occurred. Then there is the persisting belief in witchcraft on the part of some of our people in the country. To have a situation in the country where people still think that witchcraft can protect them from bullets and therefore  daringly attack an army barracks,is a clear indication of the long road we still have to travel to achieve socio-economic transformation.

(iii)         As I have said Government strongly condemns the attacks that took place in the Rwenzori region and is taking every step possible to calm the situation, thoroughly have the matter investigated with the view to bringing culprits to book in accordance with the law of the land.

(iv)         The intelligence failure that occurred in this particular situation is being rectified.

(v)          In the meantime Government is carefully studying the grievances as outlined in this statement.

(vi)         I thank you Madam Speaker and Hon members of Parliament for the attention you have given to this statement.

Air Uganda – Indefinite Suspesion of Operations (Official letter)

Air U

Nelson Mandela’s adress: ‘Africa, Colonialism and War’ on the 23. August 1953

Because today is Nelson Mandela International Day. Therefore I will also publish an old and maybe forgotten adress by him.

The one that Nelson Mandela had at the Natal Peace Conference in South Africa on the 23. August 1953.

Here it is:

‘Africa, Colonialism and War’

The events now taking place in Africa constitute the most serious threat to the peace, security and the freedom of the people of this Continent.

For years now, the capitalist countries have lived on raw materials and cheap labour from Asia and Africa. The rise of the national liberation movements in Asia and the Pacific Regions and the loss of these vast countries as war bases and centres for investment has forced the imperial powers to turn their eyes on Africa.

Riches of Africa

It is here that we have rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium. Our Continent produces sisal, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and other products. It is in Africa that we have vast supplies of land and cheap labour. Being without any strong trade union movement, the people of Africa are exposed to the most vicious and cruel forms of colonial exploitation. It is this situation that makes the danger of war in Africa very real and close.

Here the imperial powers of Britain, Belgium, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain have either their chief or their only colonial dependencies. The internal contradictions and conflicts within this imperial camp are broadening daily. In their mad lust for markets and profits, these imperial powers will not hesitate to cut one another’s throats, to break the peace, to drench millions of innocent people in blood and to bring misery and untold suffering to humanity. The rivalries amongst these colonial powers contain the seeds of an extremely dangerous situation to peace and security in Africa.

Military Bases

To protect their markets and investments, to crush the national liberation movements and forestall the rise of revolutionary democracy in Africa, and ensure an abundant cheap labour supply, America and her satellites have established military bases all over the Continent. America has land, sea and air bases in Morocco and Libya. There are British military bases in Egypt, East Africa, Somaliland and the Sudan. Field-Marshal Wilson, the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean in 1944, puts the matter very clearly:

“…the spread of Communism to China and the uncertain political situations in other countries in the Far East are bound to have the effect of contracting the sources of supply of certain raw materials necessary for the manufacture of armaments, which will result in the intensification of prospecting and development in Africa”.

According to him the role of the two Rhodesias and Kenya should be to protect and develop sea communications; to be ready to send forces overseas; to develop its industries to maximum capacity for war needs. In 1946 the Daily Mail made the position equally clear:

“The British decision to quit Palestine, Burma’s secession from the Commonwealth, the weakening of ties with India and the uncertainty of Britain’s tenure in Egypt have hastened the adoption of plans for a new Commonwealth defence system…. Kenya is the new centre of Commonwealth defence and South Africa its arsenal “.

Africa is a War Base

Almost simultaneously the Daily Express wrote:

“East Africa is expected to become a main atomic-age training ground of the British Army and a main support base in the Empire defence system”.

Africa has now become a war base for the imperial powers in their war preparations and for their schemes of world domination. This is the true explanation of the callous determination and indecent haste of the British Government in ramming through the Federation Scheme in Central Africa, in spite of the united opposition of the African population of those territories.

This is the true explanation of the bitter conflict in Kenya between imperial Britain, whose aim is to rob those people of their country and land, and the Kenya people who are fighting to save their land and country from being transformed into a military base to attack other people.

Victims of a Future War

The people of Africa will be the first victims of a future war. Their industries will produce armaments, their raw materials will be used, not to develop their own economies, but to destroy those of others. The war danger in Africa is very close indeed.

People throughout the world are coming to understand how closely the struggle for peace and against the menace of war is linked with the preservation of the right of the nation and the individual to a peaceful existence. This Conference shows that more and more people in South Africa have come to understand the most serious threat to the peace, security and freedom of the peoples that exists at the present time.

Foreign Armies

The threat to the national liberation movements in Africa resulting from the presence of foreign armies arouses the deepest indignation of all patriots. The people of Africa are being forced to realize that peace is their most immediate concern. They demand the withdrawal from the Continent of Africa of all foreign troops and the end of colonial oppression and exploitation.

 

Annex:

Item type: Address
Acquisition method: From website
Source: ANC website
Unique ID: NMS002


Notes

Description notes:

Editorial changes: Paragraph beginning: “…the spread of Communism to China and the uncertain political situation…” Sentence in web text: “…the spread of Communism to China and the uncertain political situation in other countries in the Far East are bound to have the. effect of contracting the sources of supply of certain raw materials necessary for the manufacture of armaments…” Changes made: “the. effect” changed to “the effect”

 


Presentation(s)

Occasion: Natal Peace Conference
Date:  Sunday, August 23, 1953
Presentation notes:

Exhibit No. E-62 at the treason trial (1957-61), pages 7-10
Links:
Nelson Mandela Center of Memory page:

UN: South Sudan arms embargo crucial after massive Chinese weapons transfer

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, PRESS RELEASE:

17. July 2014.

The United Nations Security Council must impose a comprehensive arms embargo on South Sudan, Amnesty International urged after receiving reports of Chinese small arms and ammunition proliferation amongst both sides in the conflict.

The organization also has confirmed that China supplied a further 1,000 tonnes of small arms and light weapons worth US$38 million to the country just over two weeks ago.

“China is playing a dangerous diplomatic game with the lives of millions of people in South Sudan. It has pledged to provide peacekeeping troops to protect civilians, and at the same time has sent over 1,000 tonnes of arms,” said Elizabeth Ashamu Deng, South Sudan Researcher at Amnesty International.

“Such arms are likely to fall into the hands of both parties to the conflict and be used to fuel the atrocities threatening civilian lives.”

The Security Council, of which China is a permanent member, has already condemned violations of international humanitarian law in South Sudan, including extrajudicial executions and ethnically targeted violence.

In May, the Security Council amended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan (UNMISS) to focus on protection of civilians, supporting the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement, investigating human rights abuses and violations and creating conditions for delivery of humanitarian assistance. China has pledged a full battalion of some 850 troops to join this peacekeeping operation.

A UN arms embargo designed to help stop gross violations of human rights and war crimes would require every state to take all necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of arms to South Sudan. Pending such an embargo, states should immediately suspend international arms transfers to South Sudan.

The Chinese shipment

Chinese state-owned defence manufacturer NORINCO sent more than 1,000 tonnes of weapons and munitions worth millions of dollars to the South Sudanese government armed forces in a shipment that arrived last month. It included rocket systems, thousands of automatic rifles and grenade launchers, 20,000 grenades, hundreds of pistols and machine guns, and several million rounds of ammunition.

According to the shipping documents and related information, the massive arms shipment was loaded onto the Hong Kong-based vessel Feng Huang Song in two batches before leaving the Chinese ports of Dalian on 8 May and Zhanjiang on 15 May 2014. It reached Mombasa, Kenya on 7 June and the cargo was unloaded three days later, destined for the South Sudanese government in Juba in fulfilment of a contract signed on 3 April, 2013.

Amnesty International is aware of reliable reports that Chinese ammunition manufactured in 2013 for Chinese-made CQ assault rifles has recently been used by armed opposition fighters as well as government-aligned armed groups. CQ 5.56×45 assault rifles were first observed in South Sudan in 2013 with South Sudanese rebel groups, some of whom stated they had been armed by Sudan. In addition, Chinese heavy machine-gun ammunition manufactured in 2013 has been found in the hands of fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfuri rebel group that has fought alongside South Sudanese government forces and committed grave human rights abuses.

“This additional flow and proliferation of deadly equipment from China into South Sudan’s raging war will set the country back decades and pave the way for increased criminality and violence among civilians – even long after the current armed conflict ends,” said Elizabeth Ashamu Deng.

“Given the ongoing pattern of atrocities in South Sudan, it is a no-brainer that these weapons and munitions will be used to commit and facilitate further serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Security Council must roundly condemn any such flows of weapons and impose a comprehensive embargo on all arms transfers to South Sudan.”

Ongoing atrocities

Since the armed conflict erupted on 15 December 2013, the USA and European Union have already suspended military support to South Sudan. The decisions came amid ongoing crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by both South Sudanese government and opposition forces.

On two recent missions to South Sudan, including one this month, Amnesty International documented how both sides have targeted people, including women and children, based on their ethnicity. They have killed individuals seeking refuge in hospitals and places of worship. These atrocities have generally involved the use of small arms and light weapons.

“The rebels shot dead the four people in the beds next to mine,” a civilian patient named John told Amnesty International, referring to a raid on Malakal hospital by forces loyal to former Vice President Dr Riek Machar in mid-February 2014. Individuals have also been shot dead in hospitals in Bor and Bentiu.

In the South Sudanese capital Juba, too, civilians have repeatedly been targeted using small arms and light weapons. A resident of the city’s Jebel Kujur area described to Amnesty International how government soldiers attacked his home on 17 December 2013:

“My house was surrounded with heavy artillery and many soldiers as well. Gun shots were fired at me and my relatives in the house, and three of them were killed on the spot.”

Nyaliap witnessed the massacre of 11 men in Pariang County, Unity state by government forces in December 2013. A group of about 20 soldiers “stripped them naked and tied their hands behind their backs. They lined them up…and they [shot] them from behind.”

Amnesty International continues to call for accountability for all those responsible for such actions by government and opposition forces, which constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights violations.

Background

The Bloomberg news agency reported on the Chinese arms transfer on 9 July (“China Sells South Sudan Arms as Its Government Talks Peace” by Ilya Gridneff) and also released the shipping documents to Jane’s Defence Weekly (“South Sudan takes delivery of Chinese ATGWs” by Jeremy Binnie).

The Chinese company NORINCO combines manufacturing, research and trading of arms and related equipment.

Between 2007 and 2008 various large shipments of arms arrived in South Sudan from Ukraine via Mombasa. It is not clear if Ukraine was aware that South Sudan government forces were the intended end-user, and not Kenya, as stated in the documentation.

Links:

Wel, Paan Luel – ‘AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: South Sudan arms embargo crucial after massive Chinese weapons transfer” (17.07.2014)

Link: http://paanluelwel.com/2014/07/18/un-south-sudan-arms-embargo-crucial-after-massive-chinese-weapons-transfer/