With respect to the reckless looting of the resources of the complainant State the Commission confirmed the allegation that “Rwanda and Uganda took over control of fiscal and customs revenue collected respectively by the Directorate General of Taxes.” Since President Museveni could no longer rely on the illegal exploitation of the vast resources of the DRC his government has had to depend on foreign aid to fund the annual budget of Uganda. According to the Overseas Development Institute, Uganda received $1.6 billion in 2011, making it the 20th world’s largest aid recipient. Comrade Tajudeen Abdulraman, the respected pan Africanist of Nigerian extraction who worked closely with President Museveni in Kampala until he died in a car crash in 2009, must have turned in his grave over the unprecedented reliance of Uganda on foreign aid to fund its annual budget today.
It is indisputable that the record of atrocities of LRA is by far worse than that of the Boko Haram sect. It is common knowledge that the abduction of children and women is the hallmark of the LRA. From the account of the Human Rights Watch between 1987 and 2006 “at least 20, 000 Ugandan children were abducted. More than 1.9 million people were displaced from their homes into camps and tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians died. Nearly the entire population of Acholiland was displaced due to a combination of LRA actions and the Ugandan government’s forcible resettlement of people in camps. Living conditions in the camps were horrific, and for years communities were largely cut off from basic necessities. The death toll from cholera and other diseases was often higher than from the conflict itself.”
Last week, the Chairman of the Editorial Board of ThisDay newspaper, Mr. Segun Adeniyi noted that “it is over six years since LRA wreaked any havoc in Northern Uganda…”. While that is an irrefutable statement it ought to be pointed out that the LRA has only been pushed into DRC and South Sudan where it has linked up with other criminal gangs to continue its atrocious attacks on the people of both countries.
In the renewed fight on terror in Nigeria the armed forces should wipe out terrorism and not behave like Uganda by driving them to neighbouring countries. That will not guarantee regional peace which is badly needed for the development of a continent that has been raped by imperialism and its local lackeys who parade themselves as African leaders.
