LIBYA : Re – That article by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of
Uganda
The article
http://english.alshahid.net/archives/19376
I've read through the unabbreviated version of Museveni's article and
intend to do a critical blow by blow commentary on all that he says,
beginning with what I believe to be his deliberate miss-
interpretation and concealment of Gaddafi's anti-Semitism as a
motivating factor – - the rabid passion that motivated Gaddafi to
exploit and manipulate Idi Amin the way he did, with this,ultimately
leading to Operation Entebbe on 4th July 1976… I was in New York on
that day…..celebrating 200 years of American Independence.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Operation+Entebbe
I say " deliberate miss-interpretation and concealment of Gaddafi's
politics of anti-Semitism", because we are all fully acquainted with
the facts, and Mr. Museveni himself has had time to consider and
reflect on what happened, how it happened and we why it happened, so
it's not as if he is failing to give an accurate picture, due to any
oversight.
Museveni writes:
"Idi Amin came to power with the support of Britain and Israel because
they thought he was uneducated enough to be used by them. Amin,
however, turned against his sponsors when they refused to sell him
guns to fight Tanzania. Unfortunately, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, without
getting enough information about Uganda, jumped in to support Idi
Amin. This was because Amin was a 'Moslem' and Uganda was a 'Moslem
country' where Moslems were being 'oppressed' by Christians. Amin
killed a lot of people extra-judicially and Gaddafi was identified
with these mistakes. In 1972 and 1979, Gaddafi sent Libyan troops to
defend Idi Amin when we attacked him. I remember a Libyan Tupolev 22
bomber trying to bomb us in Mbarara in 1979. The bomb ended up in
Nyarubanga because the pilots were scared. They could not come close
to bomb properly. We had already shot-down many Amin MIGs using
surface-to-air missiles. The Tanzanian brothers and sisters were doing
much of this fighting. Many Libyan militias were captured and
repatriated to Libya by Tanzania. This was a big mistake by Gaddafi
and a direct aggression against the people of Uganda and East Africa."
I will narrate the exact nature and content of the relationship
between Gaddafi and Amin later. Their relationship prior to the
Entebbe Operation.
There are a number of holes to be discerned in Yoweri Museveni's
apologies on behalf of Colonel Gaddafi, Libya's dictator of the past
42 years.
I'll identify some of them, one at a time and I intend to do so on
Sunday, as I do not have time to do so between now and then. I should
take a good shot at this and treat the matter most seriously, since he
is after all one of the more serious-minded presidents of Africa and
probably someone who by Sheikh Abdul's standards could be called a
"great thinker"
For just now, first of all let's take a look at the man who is doing
the tattling:
Museveni himself ( lived in Sweden for a couple of months in the 70s)
is one of the long-lasting presidents of Africa – he's been president
of Idi Amin's Uganda for the past twenty five years, and on his way to
the Ugandan presidency he fought against Dada Idi Amin and was part of
the rebellion that deposed Milton Obote in 1985. Since 1986 when he
first became president of Uganda he has given himself two presidential
life extensions by amending the Ugandan Constitution to allow himself
to run for President for the fourth and fifth and sixth time…. and so
it's understandable that he would tend to apologise for his brother
Gaddafi's extended reign of 42 years without pause or interruption or
even an election,democratic or sham – with all the added powers that
come with incumbency.
Mr Museveni expressing some understanding : "However, in condemning
his ( Gaddafi's) long stay in office, it is important to take a closer
look at the monarchical culture of the Arabs."
In Gaddafi's case, it's been a sort of self-appointment-for-life,
achieved through overthrowing the monarch, King Idriss of Libya by a
military coup in 1969 – and it should be in place to note, the fact
that he later on crowned himself "King of Kings of Africa" only goes
to show how deeply this desert revolutionary esteems the institution
of monarchy which he overthrew in Libya, only to confirm it in
himself, by crowning/ enthroning himself as the " King of Kings of
Africa" – king of Kings over Youweri Museveni himself and the rest of
Africa, without as much as a squeak of protest from the likes of
Museveni who were gathered around King Gaddafi's throne, to adore him
– not at the Royal Palace but presumably at his Bedouin Arab tent….
I wonder what Chancellor Williams himself would have thought of the
event.
Or Duke Ellington. Would he have composed a special piece for Yoruba
drums and Abdullah Ibrahim on Jungle piano?
And Paul Robeson?
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment