You could hear President Yoweri Museveni biting his words in the speech he gave at the state dinner which was given in his honour by his counterpart (pupil) president, Paul

Kagame. He was obviously finding it difficult to congratulate Kagame on the "tremendous achievements" the latter had chalked up in his stewardship in Rwanda, contrary to

his own profile in Uganda.

1985. The events that brought Kagame to power in Rwanda are very well documented and were set in motion by the Habyalimana's assassination when his plane was downed

as it prepared to land at Kanombe Airport. And these included the scurrilous 1994 genocide in which close to one million people were murdered.

The shared history of these two goes back sometime and some tumultuous events, but what is pertinent here is that, in a return state visit, and if he was sincere, Kagame

would probably say that Uganda has not progressed since he as (Maj. Kagame) was summoned by Museveni from his military course in the United States to direct the assault

on Rwanda at the death of Frank Rwigyema.  Kagame, at Basiima House nicknamed “Pilato”, knows Uganda probably as well as the back of his hand, since it is the country

that nurtured him and still has some business and property connections.

In the recent economic outturn to affect East African Community, Kagame has comparably done a more astute job that his teacher. In that country, there is price stabilization

for commodities in use by the average citizen, a far cry here. It may not include the human rights record; and the DR Congo's Joseph Kabila, would probably see no difference

between the two, taking into account their involvement in Eastern Congo since 1998. (Remember Kisangani 1and 11? And the International Court of Justice's - ICJ - award of

$10 billion in reparations to the DRC, from the looting it had subsequently undergone).

State visits are normally planned well in advance, but what may have brought this one forward are probably two events that have taken place. Firstly, what is taking place in

the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM); apart from the drought, disturbing stories are coming out of the distraught country. The second is the AFRICOM, the US Africa

Command in Stuttgart, Germany, that posits a possible re-ignition of the problem of subduing LRA's Joseph Kony, once and for all. This latter, which may be played out

again in Eastern Congo, will inevitably suck in Rwanda and Uganda.

The magnitude of this still reverberates in Northern Uganda (and for the state visit has to be also looked at through the 1994 Rwanda genocide). I recently came across a report

of the American actress, Melissa Fitzgerald's humanitarian involvement in the north with the international NGO, the International Medical Corps. In it she paraphrases the

report made by former UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, where he termed it "the biggest forgotten, neglected humanitarian crisis in the world

today". Fitzgerald's account still regards it as a crisis, especially the issue of the (former) Internally Displaced People's Camps (IDPs).

The 1994 Rwanda genocide, painful as it is, is slowly becoming a matter for museums and the ICJ court in Arusha, where the former genocidaires are being tried. Kagame may

be credited as trying everything possible to have the situation normalize and take Rwanda to the level of reconciliation. The judgment of how well he has done is likely to come

later, but the situation in Northern Uganda is still festering.

In Fitzgerald's "Voices of Uganda", which has become a film documentary, she narrates her work in the north "side by side everyday for several weeks" with a particular

victim, Josephine, whom she notes thus: "The difference between us was that I had the good fortune to have been born in the United States and Josephine was born in

northern Uganda, her life torn apart by war." On her first return to the US Fitzgerald says that a man begged her; "'Please don't let us die in this horrible place. Please tell the

people of America what is happening here.'"

That was hardly four years ago. And the result is the documentary "Voices", which project is continuing. And Fitzgerald gives an assessment which may well be looked at in

the light of Rwanda's by saying: "These are people who have suffered horrors I can't even imagine. Everyone I met lost at least one family member to the war. And yet in spite

of all they had lost and all the horrors they have had to endure, they still have hope; hope for themselves, hope for their families, hope for their people." And we are talking of

two million displaced people!                 

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