In his memoir, President Yoweri Museveni gives a vivid account of his life from early childhood until the presidential elections of 1996, focusing in large part on the tumultuous two-and-a-half decades leading up to his taking power in 1986.
We see Mr. Museveni growing up in the late 1940s as the oldest child
of a cattle-raising nomadic family in south-western Uganda, then attending
elementary school in Mbarara town (where his biggest challenge was battling
hunger, as the school administration did not seem to appreciate the needs
of its wards). We follow his progress to high school where the seeds of
his political outlook are sown and where he meets like-minded friends, with
whom he will later begin a movement to change the political order of Uganda.
While at Dar es Salaam University in Tanzania in the late 1960s, he founds
and chairs a Pan-Africanist student group, and meets such luminaries as
writer and political activist Walter Rodney, Samora Machel, and Julius Nyerere.
Graduation in 1970 lands him a job as research assistant in Ugandan President
Milton Obote's office, which he holds until Idi Amin takes power in 1971.
Sowing the Mustard Seed: The Struggle for Freedom and democracy in Uganda (Macmillian, London; 1997, 224 pp.)
The book moves swiftly to Mr. Museveni's political career and his central role in the struggle to oust President Idi Amin Dada's regime (1971-79), and, later, the guerrilla campaign under his leadership (1981-85) to unseat the second Obote regime which, Mr. Museveni says, usurped power by rigging the elections of 1980. Key events chronicled include President Amin's invasion of Tanzania in 1978 and Tanzania's counter-attack; the fall of Kampala to Tanzanian forces in 1979; the creation of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) by Mr. Museveni in 1981 and the ensuing armed struggle; and the brief rule of President Tito Okello.
Although filled with analysis of Uganda's colonial and post-colonial political realities, descriptions of military strategies, and enumerations of the prerequisites for a successful guerrilla campaign, the book, with its steady, no-nonsense, matter-of-fact tone, is not without its flashes of humour. The narrative abounds with descriptions of comic military fiascos, near disasters and false alarms; and the account of Mr. Museveni's courtship of his future wife, taking up all of two sentences, must be the tersest ever written on such a subject. The segment on his early childhood -- with details on how he deduced the year of his birth, his relationship with his grandmother, his parents' experience with Christianity and his people's affectionate regard for their cattle -- is also full of charm and warmth.
The book concludes with an account of the presidential elections of 1996, an exposition on multi-party politics in the African context, what is needed for Uganda's economic development, and for Africa's economic integration. It also details the challenges faced by the NRM on assuming power. In 1986, infrastructure was in a state of virtual collapse, and there were severe shortages of basic consumer goods. The economic growth rate was 2 per cent; inflation hovered around 240 per cent; and foreign exchange reserves were $254 mn in the red.
The adoption of free-market policies and macroeconomic measures such as the liberalization of prices and the stabilization of exchange and interest rates, says Mr. Museveni, helped raise economic growth to 10 per cent by 1995 and cut inflation to 5 per cent. However, Mr. Museveni admits to the continuing challenges of rural poverty and insurgencies in the north and north-east of the country (see below).
In the final chapter, Mr. Museveni reflects on political power in a developing country, which he sees as an endless personal sacrifice. After reading this narrative of his life, one is easily inclined to agree with his view.
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The Scars of Death: Children Abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, by Human Rights Watch (New York, 1997, 137 pp.)
This report chronicles atrocities committed against children of northern Uganda by a rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). With a stated aim of overthrowing the government on behalf of the Acholi people of northern Uganda, but lacking broad support among the Acholi, the LRA abducts children to make up most of its "fighters," the report says. A similar study recently released by Amnesty International also details the LRA's abduction of up to 8,000 children over the last three years.
Numerous children, ranging in age from 10 to 17, who have managed to escape from the LRA, give harrowing accounts of their captivity in the Human Rights Watch report. After being abducted in Gulu or Kitgum district, the children are made to take part in the looting and pillaging of villages, the abduction of other children and the killing of those who attempt to escape. They are then made to march for days, without adequate rest or food, carrying heavy loads of arms or looted food, to LRA camps in southern Sudan. The report alleges that the Sudanese government provides the LRA with food, arms and shelter in exchange for fighting against the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which, according to the report, is in turn aided by the Ugandan government. In addition to labouring as farmers, cooks and nurses, and, in the case of girls, serving as "wives" to LRA commanders, the children who survive are given rudimentary military training and are forced to form the front line and lead charges in battles against the Ugandan army and the SPLA. Many children perish in such battles.
The Scars of Death calls on the LRA and on the governments of Sudan and Uganda to do all they can to stop the abduction and killing of children. It also calls on the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict to investigate the actions of the LRA. Finally, it urges the international community to raise to 18 the minimum age for recruitment of soldiers.
-- F.B.
