As part of our begininng of term madness Julius and I are in Kampala en route to Sorotti district. We've paid all the school fees for those studying in higher education in Kampala (quite a frightening sum of money!) and we're just waiting to get up to Acumet in the north east of Uganda to pay some more school fees there. We were supposed to travel today, but some serious riots broke out in Kampala yesterday afternoon and we're a bit marooned!
There has been ongoing tension between the Baganda people (the largest ethnic group in Uganda) and the central government. The King and people of Buganda believe that Kampala should be part of their territory and that they should be the ones collecting revenue from the land in Kampala. The areas surrounding Kampala are all part of the Buganda kingdom, but the government claims Kampala for itself.
The King had made plans to visit an area of his kingdom where there is a bit of unrest - and the government have prevented him from doing so 'for fear that there may be violence'. SOOOO... Baganda people are currently protesting in Kampala and surrounding towns and the army and police have been deployed by the government to beat them down. The whole thing kicked off yesterday afternoon and is likely to continue until Saturday when the King is supposed to travel - but it's possible that it'll go on for longer. The police and army are out in FORCE - tanks and all.
We're staying in a hostel right outside of town and there's no sign of anything up this end - the protests are focused in the town centre and then out towards the area where the king wants to go (which, luckily for me, is in the oposite direction to where I am!) I'm porning information from the American Peace Corps security officer who is here caring for his flocks and we're in touch with people in town who are giving us updates - so we're just gonna have to stay put here until it all dies down! Frustrating to say the least, but am grateful to be in a safe place - a safe place that serves burger and chips.
Using the time to catch up on some rest and find out what has been happening in the rest of the world for the last couple of months. Have also been down to the shops and bought some useful gadgets to help me through the troubles - a particular favourite is a bright orange plastic key ring/comb/bottle opener emblazoned with an elongated picture of David Beckham.
Using the time to catch up on some rest and find out what has been happening in the rest of the world for the last couple of months. Have also been down to the shops and bought some useful gadgets to help me through the troubles - a particular favourite is a bright orange plastic key ring/comb/bottle opener emblazoned with an elongated picture of David Beckham.
Right, i'd best go and entertain Julius - he's feeling particularly miffed and has so far refused to get out of bed!
(Interestingly, the BBC seem to think that it is all over already!)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8250357.stm
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