Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has been defending his move to run for a third term as campaigning is stepped up ahead of next month's general elections. Both he and his biggest challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye, have been touring the country to try and secure votes in the country's first multi-party elections in 20 years. Elections are due on 23 February.

The Ugandan Electoral Commission has created 2,480 new polling stations, triggering a wave of protests from the country's opposition camps. Opposition politicians claim this move could be a ploy for massive vote rigging. Electoral Commission officials are yet to tell Ugandans where the new polling stations are located.

The brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency enters its twentieth year with no end in sight, made more complicated by the troubling political events in Kampala over the past few months, including the arrest of opposition figures, notes the International Crisis Group in a new report. The ICG says the rebels' new strategy of ambushing vehicles, including those of humanitarian aid agencies, has worsened the humanitarian situation in northern Uganda; while peace processes in Sudan and the Congo (DRC) are being disrupted as the LRA crosses borders without response from the UN Security Council.

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killed three revellers at a disco hall in northwestern Uganda over the weekend (January 7-8) and critically injured 12 others, the military said. "A group of 15 rebels attacked a disco hall in Zaipi sub-county in Adjumani District at around 1:00 am on Sunday," Lt Chris Magezi, army spokesman in northern Uganda, said on Monday.

Two opposition MPs from northern Uganda have been found not guilty of murdering a local official in 2002. MPs Reagan Okumu and Michale Ocula are from presidential challenger Kizza Besigye's party, who is facing multiple court charges himself. The MPs said the charges were politically motivated. The judge said the prosecution case was "a crude and amateur attempt at creative work".

Painting a rosy picture of Uganda's Aids story at the expense of the bare realities only does a disservice to the country's fight against HIV/Aids, says this ananlysis in The Monitor newspaper. Admittedly, considerable progress has been made in the fight against Aids. Nonetheless, the progress should not dismiss the reservations about Uganda's so called success story in the fight against Aids.

Inspite of an assurance to Ugandans that he would leave if defeated, President Yoweri Museveni has said he will only retire if the people and his NRM party plan it properly. Addressing a campaign rally he said "you don't just tell the freedom fighter to go like you are chasing a chicken thief from the house."

Uganda’s power sector is pretty well on a cliff, with the sudden announcement of a possible closure of the Kiira hydro-power dam. The government appears lost out on what exactly can be done to arrest a looming disaster. On January 5, the Minister of Water, Lands and Environment, Major General Kahinda Otafiire disclosed, shockingly, that a plan is underway to shut down Kiira, apparently to stem the unusual water loss to Lake Victoria, which is causing dangerous lowering of the lake level and subsequently weakening the River Nile's flow force.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a qualified candidate to serve as a Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow and Leader of its Country Strategy Program in Uganda for a two-year, fixed-term, renewable appointment. The Fellow will be responsible for conducting research, policy advice, and capacity strengthening and policy communications in Uganda and leading IFPRI's country strategy program in that country.

Relegation of the trade ministry to peripheral roles in anticipation that the private sector will drive development has made Uganda fail to benefit from regional and bilateral trade associations. A statement issued recently by the trade ministry and the Uganda Programme for Trade Opportunities and Policy said Uganda is a signatory to many regional and bilateral trade agreements. Some of them include Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, World Trade Organisation, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs and European Union-Africa Caribbean and the Pacific. "However, Uganda has not benefited from them because she paid more attention to conditionalities for international loans and grants at the expense of building capacity in the trade sector," the statement said.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour will undertake an official mission to Uganda from 7 to 14 January 2006. The mission, the first by a High Commissioner for Human Rights, will focus on the general human rights situation in Uganda in keeping with her mandate; as well as on the protection of civilians, particularly Internally Displaced Persons; the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights; and the United Nations human rights presence in the country. In addition to Kampala, Ms. Arbour will visit Gulu in the north of the country and the Karamoja region, in northeastern Uganda. During the mission, Ms. Arbour will meet senior Government officials. She will also hold talks with state institutions and civil society organizations, including the National Human Rights Commission, as well as with traditional leaders, according to the UNHCHR.

The International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest judicial body, recently delivered what may perhaps emerge as its most memorable ruling. Titled "Armed Activities in the Territory of Congo," the ruling found Uganda liable of violating Congo’s territorial integrity while in the course of a five-year spate of unlawful military intervention on Congo’s territory between 1998 and 2003.

Reports indicate that Uganda has begun negotiating payment terms with the Democratic Republic of Congo after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Kampala should compensate the neighbouring country for invading and plundering her neighbour's resources. Congo sued Uganda in the UN's highest court in 1999.The two countries have an option of negotiating between themselves to reach a compromise amount and terms of payment.

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change leader Kizza Besigye walked to freedom after the High Court ordered his immediate release. However, the public celebrations after his release was announced turned sour when riot police engaged his supporters in running battles. The presidential candidate has been in jail since his arrest on November 14 on treason and rape charges. The government immediately filed a notice of an intention to appeal against the ruling.
* Uganda Goes Through a Rough Patch
http://allafrica.com/stories/200601020005.html

WentAfrica2005 on Blogger.com (http://wentafrica.blogspot.com/) is an electronic record of the Women's Electronic Networking Training, which began in early December at Kampala, Uganda. WENT Africa training workshops aim to build the capacities of women and their organisations in Africa to utilise new Information and Communication Technologies in social development work and policy advocacy.

According to an opinion in a local Ugandan daily, the events of the last couple of weeks (an incumbent president triggering a legal process resulting in the arrest and incarceration of his leading opponent in an election to be held within five months on arguably dubious charges) belong in the annals of infamy of Ugandan political history.
Related Link:
Address by the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, to the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda
http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#4178

The situation endured by most of the nearly 2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Uganda continues to worsen as rebel attacks have caused fresh human displacement. A recent study conducted by the Ugandan Ministry of Health found that over 1,000 deaths occur each week in the north, with the majority of deaths being attributed to malaria and HIV/AIDS. The study revealed the multitude of protection concerns related to the government’s forced encampment policy as overcrowding in IDP camps has a direct affect on health.

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted permission to sign his presidential nomination papers from prison by the attorney general. He is accused of treason and terrorism in civil and military courts. The government says it has the evidence to convict Dr Besigye but his lawyers say the trials are designed to prevent him from competing in polls next year. Meanwhile, Uganda's foreign minister has called for a speedy trial for President Yoweri Museveni's opponent. Dr Besigye has been granted bail by the High Court, but remains in prison because of charges he faces in a military tribunal.

According to a BBC news report, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted permission to sign his presidential nomination papers from prison by the attorney general.

Uganda has increasingly come in the spotlight at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta as activist groups lobby for "stringent" action against the country following the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Human rights and other civil society organisations have also threatened to demonstrate when President Yoweri Museveni arrives in Malta. The development puts in jeorpardy Uganda's bid to host the 2007 CHOGM.