This is all in relation to the tug-of-war over rights to Migingo Island, but the salient bits are that another East African country is calling Museveni’s regime its proper name (read: “hostile state”), and this:
The Kenyan MPs, calling President Museveni an “aggressor” and an “expansionist” asked their President, Mwai Kibaki “to stand up for Kenya” against the aggression.
Despite the accurate name-calling, I don’t like the implications of standing up against agression — especially when followed by:
Some MPs in the Kenyan parliament have proposed that Kenya deploys its army on the island.
I would say neither country needs this, but I think that’s pretty well understood.
This and That — Housekeeping
I’ve been somewhat complacent in posting the past week, and so I figured I would take a few minutes and cover some stories that are now old news, but that I had intent of discussing.
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Kenyan sues over sex ban ‘stress’ — BBC
I couldn’t not talk about this. I cracked up when I originally found out about the ban. I never could have guessed the story could be escalated to a greater level of hilarity.
I won’t make any attempt at rewording the story from the BBC — mainly because there’s a link — but it basically goes: A man named James Kimondo is suing the organizers of the sex ban because his wife took part, and as a result, he suffered ”anxiety and sleepless nights”.
Wasn’t the boycott a week-long? Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. If this guy was stressed out after a week without sex, then married men everywhere are scoffing at his expectations.
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Over 4,000 former rebels to receive resettlement package — The New Vision
I’m not going to begin to address a side on the issue of granting amnesty to rebels, but it seems to be sweeping across Central/East Africa, recently.
First Kinshasha and Kabila granted amnesty to rebels from the Kivu provinces — turning the CNDP into a real political party and inviting other rebels into the ranks of the government.
Now, and by now, I mean last Friday, one day after the announcement from the DRC, it’s reported that over 4,000 former Ugandan rebels will receive resettlement packages. I’m not going to comment too much because I don’t know all of the details and The New Vision doesn’t really offer much in the way of specifics… But, I’ll just say, it’s one thing to offer a resettlement package to an abductee, but, and specifically in Uganda, it’s another thing entirely to offer resettlement packages to voluntary rebels or abductors.
I’m just saying.
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And now it seems, as of a couple days ago, that the amnesty deal in the DRC is already backfiring.
Former Congo Rebels Threaten to Re-Start Insurgency Over Pay Dispute — VOA
I don’t think this should come as a shock to anyone. In fact, and I can’t remember where I saw it (I’ll update this if I find it), I’m pretty sure that Didier Bitaki made it quite clear that he was accepting amnesty on the grounds that he could and likely would rebel again. I’m just shocked at his turnaround time.
Apparently, Kinshasha isn’t meeting the demands of the rebels. Wait… Kinshasha isn’t meeting demands? And rebels former rebels demand a lot?
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And just briefly:
Have you written your letter to Oprah yet? — Denialism Blog
Though they’re calling for letters over the O’s support of Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vaccine flag waving, I say let’s steal their idea and write Oprah over her blind support for Invisible Children (here and here).
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I have another post coming up, but it’s recent, so I’ll keep it separate from my housekeeping.
(via Chris Blattman’s Blog)
“‘Ida Odinga, wife of Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga, has joined a Lysistrata-like nationwide sex boycott aimed at forcing the countries leaders to overcome a political impasse.
Kenyan women’s groups started the boycott in an effort to end the feud between the factions led by Mr. Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki that has paralyzed Kenya’s government for weeks. Kenya’s Federation of Women Lawyers has urged the wives of both leaders to withold sex from their husbands until the feud is resolved.’
You can’t make this stuff up. Via FP.”
This is wonderful, and if it works it’s going to have a lot of world leaders sweating. Play nice or forget about the strange.
I wonder if this is a rather isolated incident or if something big is about to happen in Kenya. I’ll be keeping an eye on it.
One thing is for sure — After taking religion and conflict this semester, the Mungiki are beyond fascinating from a scholarly point of view.
