LIFE PRESIDENTS
One of the key messages of Dr. Kiiza Besigye, during his nomination campaign around the country for FDC flag bearer position is about removing power from the guns and restoring it in the hands of the masses. The role of the military in entrenching tyranny and dictatorship is a widespread problem in Africa. President Museveni's strength is organized around his monopoly over the military that he uses to coerce voters and rig elections. Unless the partisan use of the military in politics is resolved, it will continue to perpetuate the abuse of peoples' power.
In this respect, Dr Kiiza Besigye's struggles is legitimate and must be contextualized for us to fully, or partially understand the magnitude of militarization of democracy in Africa and how it affects human rights and the enjoyment of fundamental human liberties.
The rampant emergence of new breed of tyrants who want to rule for life in Africa is perpetuated in part by the U.S. war on terrorism. President Obama administration's strategy on war against terrorism in Africa has created allies among tyrants by beefing up their military capabilities that in turn, is used to suppress internal democracy. Ken Opalo at Stanford University, wrote an excellent piece on the consequences of the U.S war on terrorism in Al Jazeera which attracted my attention.
According to Opalo, the Obama administration's approach to fighting terrorism was designed to build "new, effective and efficient small footprint locations and developing innovative approaches to using host nation facilities or allied joint-basing". What this "new, effective and efficient small footprint" means is that, the US will sell to these countries weapons, train their soldiers in commando counter-terrorism and military surveillance. This means reducing the presence of American soldiers in front lines with terrorists. A handful of countries; Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Mali, Mauritania, Kenya, the Seychelles, Niger and Burkina Faso, have already embraced this policy.
Recently, President Museveni's son, the Commander of the Special Forces, Brigadier Muhoozi Kainerugaba was shown walking alongside Brig. Gen. Bolduc of US Special Operations Command Africa at Sera Kasenyi Special Forces training school in Entebbe after completing a year-long pre-mission counter terrorism training.
It is important to understand that the U.S war against global terrorism, however noble, entrenches dictatorship in Africa. This fact should feed into the ongoing debate on whether President Obama's recent admonition of African leaders who overstay in power, had some authenticity to it. Arguably, President Obama's utterances only served to arouse false hope and excitement among the population that the US values human freedoms, supports genuine democracy, and good governance in Africa, when in reality, their policies are designed to achieve the opposite.
We ought to appreciate the formations of US policies on Africa, its motivations, applications and effects since the cold war era. What has never changed is that no leader in Africa is bad in the eyes of the US as long as the tyrants can posture as puppets to its interests. Opalo argues that in exchange for their cooperation, "the US consistently looked the other way in the face of gross human rights violation and anti-democratic tendencies of its allies". Incidentally, all US allied partners in the fight against terrorism have either scrapped Presidential term limits (or are in the process), the Presidents have served for more than 15 years, conduct rigged elections, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of opposition and media, and known for restriction of human liberties and freedoms.
In conclusion, Dr. Besigye may be a charismatic visionary leader, however, his mission requires more than the grass-root mobilization of the oppressed masses. With the Anti-terrorism and Public Order Management Acts, there is no chance for a democracy in Uganda. Such campaigns must extend to the US State Department, Congress or Senate, and to the doorsteps of every global powerhouse that have perpetuated tyranny in Africa. Incidentally, the Museveni greedy lobbyists at Washington, London, Beijing, and The Hague, should be exposed and shamed for their roles in oppressing Africans.
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