Calm

The riots of Monday and Tuesday gave way to calm on Wednesday. But despite the peace and quiet, there is a palpable air of uncertainty. More and more it seems that, despite almost 20 years of successful and relatively peaceful rule, President Museveni is acting like yet another strongarm African leader who refuses to relinquish power. It certainly doesn't make any sense to me. Museveni recently paid $US 1 million to promote Ugandan tourism on CNN, probably money wasted now. Over half of the Ugandan budget comes from foreign aid. If the president continues along this path, donors are sure to pull funding, and the results won't be good. At Besigye's court date Tuesday the room was full of representatives from the UK, Japan, the U.S., Scandinavian countries, etc.. They are watching.

Fourteen of Besigye's co-accused were granted bail yesterday, but elected to return to jail as a group of unidentified armed men in black t-shirts were waiting for them outside the court. The BBC has good coverage here. The BBC also has a good piece summarising some of the commentary in the local press. For anyone interested in following the news, I have linked to Uganda's two main dailies in the link section of this blog. Another good publication is the East African, published weekly.

I am going to a Scottish dancing class tonight and heading to Jinja for the weekend to see the source of the Nile and partake in other thrilling activities. So, assuming things remain as they are, I'll have more lighthearted fodder for my next entry.