A Week after the Bombings

---

(these photos have nothing to do with the post, but photos are always good so I have attached them.
Here are some photos of the best signs and ads I've come across in Uganda)


It's been a week since the bombings but they largely remain the centre of the media attention here. The front page of today's newspaper had the photographs of two of the suspected dead bombers (bloody faces and all) as well as computer imaging mock-ups of what they probably looked like before the blast. Apparently the FBI has a number of operatives here who are working with the Ugandan police force to find the bombers.

As of Friday, the reported death toll was:
62 Ugandans
11 Ethiopians/Eritreans
1 Irish
1 US
1 Sri Lankan
1 Indian
1 Kenyan

Museveni has responded to the bombings by pledging to send an additional 2,00 troops to Somali and is pushing to increase the overall size of the AU mission to 20,000. The of one newspaper on Friday stated "Museveni declares war on Al-Shabaab!" while the headline of the Red Pepper (essentially a tabloid that often has raunchy content) had a bunch of photos of dead mens' heads with a headline that read "These are the Men that Killed our Families!"

There was a whole bunch of other sections focusing on the bombings including a two page spread with photos and bios of the victims. Among them the most heart wrenching was the description of one of the victim's daughter's wearing a t-shirt that said “Dear best mummy, rest in peace.” Perhaps papers should run more of these kind of stories to get people to care? Also, speaking of very unfortunate events that many readers will not care about, has anyone else seen the story about 17 people getting killed at a birthday party in Mexico when suspected gangsters burst in and opening fire on the crowd? Just awful.

Of course, because religion is such a big mainstay of life here there was also this story on page A2 of the paper: “God did not plan Sunday’s bomb attacks that killed 76 people and injured scores, an Anglican Church pastor has said. Rev. Canan Wagwa Ssemanda of St. John’s Church Kawuku said it is Satan that caused the unfortunate incident.” Satan.

Other that than bombings things have been getting pretty busy around here as a flurry of friends have showed up in Kampala - among them 3 U of T law students. I think Kampala may actually have seen one of the highest number of U of T Law students of any international city this summer which is pretty crazy (2 were here for the conference and 3 have since showed up). Among them is a friend who will remain nameless but who was hobbling around on one crutch the whole weekend. Have you ever seen a guy with a crutch ride a motorcycle? It's hilarious.

In terms of work, I have spent the past 3 days in a "maximum" security prison gathering data on prisoners who are awaiting trial or have been on trial for an extended period. So far we have gone through about 400 prisoner files (all of whom are pre/mid-trial) and the amount of time they have been stuck in prison is shocking. Like 7 years without a trial shocking. But, enough about that, I'll save all the good stuff about sitting in an unguarded room while prisoners walk in and and for me next post!

---