Uganda made international news this past week as riots, looting and violence encompassed downtown Kampala and the surrounding areas. The riots started as tensions between the Central Government lead by President Museveni and the Buganda Kingdom reached a boiling point. Buganda is the largest cultural people group (tribe) that is located in Kampala and the surrounding counties. Buganda has their own cultural leader, King Kabaka Ronald Mutebi, as well as their own form of governance, land, radio stations, etc. Politics seem to be at the heart of the latest confrontation as both parties feel threatened by the power of the other. Crowds were dispersed by tear gas and rubber bullets by the police, but they were soon overwhelmed. The military was brought in to squelch the unrest and real bullets began to fly. Praise the Lord, things have quieted down but the fall out still continues and nothing has really been resolved. All of us serving here in the Kampala area stayed secured in our compounds. The riots took some us by surprise. There was a power blackout for several days prior to the riots so many of us were unaware of what was happening right away. Things can change so quickly here. Many of our friends had children in school when the riots expanded outside the city center to the surrounding suburbs. There were some pretty scary moments as parents received emergency calls from the school to pick up their children as gunfire, unrest, and fires were burning in the streets blocked normal travel. Sunday was really the first time many of us ventured out since last Thursday when the rioting began. Calvary Chapel Kampala is located right at the heart of the unrest in downtown Kampala. We were unsure if services were going to be held until we passed by the entrance and saw the doors to the building open.
Unfortunately, most of the property damage and injuries have been caused by the idol youth which took advantage of the situation. The news recently reported that the youth make up 50% of Uganda’s population and that unemployment is 83% here, the highest in the world.
I thought a writer from the local newspaper, Daily Monitor, today summarized the real roots and heart of the riots and unrest. The writer said that “The war, however, is ultimately economic. The divide-and-rule policy of sponsoring tribal identities and alliances may create short-term political gains and keep national issues from emerging but it cannot paper over the cracks of poverty, high unemployment, corruption, and the growing gulf between the rich and the poor.” The writer went on to say that “for many rioters the violence was a vehicle to vent against the regime. Tribal identity can be used to divide the masses but nothing unites them more than poverty and a sense of disenfranchisement – and that is one war that cannot be fought with bullets.”
Please pray for:
- Continued safety and security of all of us living and serving in Uganda, including the nationals who have been innocently plundered or injured.
- For the leaders of Uganda to deal with the real issues underlying the recent spread of violence such as poverty, corruption, unemployment and the gulf between the rich and poor.
- For peace between and within the cultural groups and the cultural groups and the Central Government.
In Christ,
Luan
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