Kampala riots, Saturday Morning update
12 Sep
It’s 8:45 AM, and we’ve had one of the quietest nights in ages. No blaring music from nearby discos, the Munaku stage/trading center closed early, and most importantly, no gunshots.
Kabaka cancels visit to Kayunga
Last night, late news on WBS, NTV, NBS and UBC broke news that the Kabaka had called off his visit to Kayunga, citing a need to end the violence. Reports were confirmed by Tumwijuke (blogs as Ugandan Insomniac ) via Twitter, Daniel Kalinaki (blogs as Daniel Kalinaki) , a journalist with one of the media houses briefly mentioned it. In the mainstream media, the Observer had an article running last evening, The Monitor and New Vision also confirm it.
So what does this mean?
I would like to believe that a majority of the pro-Buganda rioters listen to the Kabaka and Mengo in general. I believe that this means there will be calm for a while (as witnessed by yesterday’s peaceful night), as everyone awaits further communication from the Government and Mengo.
I also believe that it is too early to say life is back to normal. It’s a very delicate standoff, and any wrong move by either side could spark off fresh (and possibly worse) violence.
As always, we can only hold our breath and wait.
Citizen Reporting
A few of us have been reporting whatever news we can lay our hands on. See my previous post for details. For now, the quickest way to get realtime information is to be on Twitter and BlogSpirit;
Follow @UgInsomniac, @dailymonitor, @UgandaTalks, @mugumya, @UgandaTalks, @appfrica for details.
Use the #Kampala and #Uganda. hashtags on twitter to get updates.
Many Ugandan bloggers have shared their personal experiences and perspectives. See what they’re saying on Node Six BlogSpirit.
Although most Ugandan bloggers have been locked up in their homes without internet access, I think there should be some blogging activity today.
There’s also a Flickr group that was started by @citizenuganda. I’ve uploaded a few photos from Day 1 of the riots that Rhino generously allowed me to share. Please join and post whatever photos you can.
Otherwise, right now, the most scintillating thing on TV is a rerun of The Teletubbies.
Viva Uganda!
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i might be going into town later today. saw the news and yes. trip was canceled. hope the calm holds.
any news from the other outskirts? bwaise?
Planning to head into town too. No news yet from the other parts of town.
I am in town. Business is going on normally, but with military everywhere. When in town avoid crowds and don’t walk side by side with any military personnel, otherwise it’s safe now.
Thank you for your updates on Twitter. My wife is at Nile River Explorers camp near Jinga and needs to get to Entebbe airport sunday. Is it safe to for her to travel there?
Hello David. Sorry for the late reply. Judging from the relatively low violence today, tomorrow should be safe. Jinja side should also be okay. Please crosscheck before she travels. All the best!
Thanks for the Update SK.
But you’re the king of Twitter! Thanks for the updates.
LOL. I’m just filling in a gap. And you’re welcome.
been in town the whole of today(saturday) and it’s been calm, save for the small scare at abt 11am when some wankers in kisekka market thought it wise to cause some ruckus…calm is back for a while
Gwe, rest of the wknd was ok. Run to ebbs on saturday for some peace. Had some guy named Tom Rhodes [trhodes@cpj.org] send me an email abt the photos. Thanks for putting them up. I’m uploading all the ones I took to my picasa web album. Hope you’re cool. Holla at lulu and see if there’s scrabble this coming wknd.
I actually went for a wedding…