Riots in Kampala, and the Muzungu café

Since my last entry, I have carried 10L of water, on my head, from the water pump to my house (~5-7min walk), and eaten chicken gizzard, twice! Yay for new cultural experiences! ...Kind of. Chicken gizzard is one of those delicacies that foreigners have no desire to eat, a fact which the local people do not understand at all. It’s reserved specially for the guest, meaning I get to eat it every time they serve chicken… ugh. Those of us who have eaten the gizzard agree that the texture is similar to what you would expect a human ear to taste like (kind of rubbery) with a chicken-like flavor.

I want to note that I should have mentioned in my last post that it’s incredibly hypocritical that Santo is all about “human rights” but the women in his family have an inferior position to the men. More on this later (maybe in the next post).

I thought I’d write about the riots in Kampala, since I don’t know how much they’re being reported in the US. First of all, Kampala is very far from where I am staying right now (over half a day’s drive over a bumpy, poorly-managed highway), and the political issue that is causing these riots is not related to the conflict with the North. So the riots shouldn’t affect my program or my safety at all, which is good.

Some history to the present riots:
Before the colonial period, there were a number of kingdoms in Uganda, including Acholi (in the North, where I am right now), Buganda, and Bunyoro. The Baganda had a highly organized political system, and were therefore considered superior by the British, who contributed to their development (economically, educationally, etc) much more than to the other kingdoms. Baganda were given positions of authority, while the Acholi in the North were used for manual labor—creating some of the underlying tensions of the conflict between the North and the rest of the country, including the rise of Kony and the LRA. To this day, the Baganda and Acholi hold to certain stereotypes about themselves and each other: the Baganda consider themselves the most intelligent and developed, while the Acholi pride themselves on being strong and brave.

This part of the history is not related to the riots in Kampala, however. The king of the Baganda, the Kabaka, continued to hold much power throughout colonialism, and the extent of his power has been a point of extreme contention since the end of colonialism. Most of the post-independence political parties were formed over the issue of whether the Kabaka would be returned to his former position of absolute authority over the Baganda, who would form their own state or whether he would only play a partial role in a country-wide democracy. Ultimately, after different parties agreed to join forces, the country was left with a federal government, and the Kabaka was given a special status, with power over the Baganda. The power of traditional government has been a source of tension ever since. They were abolished under Obote I (I’m pretty sure), and reinstated by Museveni in the late 1980s, but denied any political role.

During the colonial period, the Bunyoro kingdom partnered with chiefs in Northern Uganda to launch a revolt against the British, the Baganda and the Kabaka. The rebels were defeated, and the British decided to reward Buganda for its loyalty by granting the kingdom some land from its neighbor, Bunyoro. These are known as the “Lost Territories.”

After independence, a referendum was held over the status of the Lost Territories, which were mostly comprised of Bunyoro. However, through political manipulation, Buganda kind of held on to them, and the issue has sort of lain dormant for a while. [Ok, there’s probably more history here, but I’m forgetting]

The riots:
On Thursday, the Kabaka announced a visit to the Lost Territories, which are ambiguously part of his territory, but not really (the indigenous people are all Bunyoro, but the main language spoken there is Lugandan – the language of the Baganda). Museveni told him he was not allowed to go visit them, sparking riots in Kampala, as the Baganda feel that Museveni is simultaneously stepping on the traditional power of the Kabaka and siding with Bunyoro against Buganda. Bunyoro, meanwhile, has warned/threatened the Kabaka not to come to the Lost Territories.

The riots were pretty intense, from the reports we’ve been getting here. About 7-10 people were killed on the first day, and I think around 5 or 6 in the next couple of days (it’s hard to get reliable news around here, as the radio is mostly in Acholi and we don’t have tv, internet, etc, and it’s a long walk to town to buy a newspaper). Somewhere around 60 people were injured or hospitalized, and all the roads into and out of the city were blocked. Tires and buses were burnt by the mobs, until the state brought in the army to reinforce the police – tear gas was released, crowds were beaten, etc etc. I don’t really know the details, since news is so hard to come by.

I have to say, it was really entertaining to see my homestay family debate the riots, because they hate the Baganda/Kabaka AND they hate Museveni – so they couldn’t decide which was worse. They still kind of waver back and forth, but I think they’ve settled on hating the Kabaka for claiming that the Lost Territories belong to him, and Museveni for they way he’s handled the situation. They think that there shouldn’t be any traditional government—they have been quizzing me on what exactly the Queen of England does, thinking that that would be a good compromise solution. [[As a side note, they were also very intrigued by Obama’s healthcare speech – as they are with all things Obama – and had me explain the US healthcare system Uganda-style: in terms of the road-sweeper and the district commissioner]]

Personally, I do think that Museveni has authority over the Kabaka, and I think that the role of the traditional chiefs should be as limited and depoliticized as possible. Really the chiefs only reinforce the tendency among Ugandans to identify with their ethnic group (Acholi, Baganda, etc) instead of with a civic identity of “Ugandan.”

Mostly I just want the riots to end [and hopefully by the time I post this they will have] especially because it’s one more thing keeping my “sister” Nancy from going to school. Her school is in Kampala, and she hasn’t been able to get the money to go, so she’s still at home even though school started last week. As much as I love having her around, she should be in school, and she definitely wants to be there. I really hate how the people with access to the best education complain about it so much, when so many people are doing everything they can just to get to their school.

I also want to mention what was possibly the highlight of my week: the muzungu café. Muzungu is the Kiswahili word for “white person,” and little kids often gather by the side of the road to shout “Muzungu!” at us. So someone found the café where all the muzungus in Gulu hang out. It’s run by a white person, and I actually thought I might have died and gone to heaven when I walked in. It’s like the quintessential NYC cafés that I spent my summer exploring, transported to Gulu. There’s internet, various types of coffee/espresso/mochas/etc, grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt and granola, candy bars, banana bread, nutella banana crepes, ice cream (really bad ice cream, but ice cream…). We were in muzungu ecstasy.