riots in Kampala today

Today I had planned to go to a coffee shop in City Center to check email and catch up on my backlog since Malaysia.  I needed to print a letter of recommendation that I wrote for an AIESEC member, draft a proposal to partner with the Faculty of Computing & IT, and submit a grant proposal to USAID on behalf of API.  Then this evening I was going to meet AIESEC members at Mateos Club, the weekly informal gathering where I would hear the status of recruitment and discuss plans for projects.

The first sign that today was different was after I walked up from my hostel to Makerere University.  I called my professor when I saw that he wasn’t in, since I needed him to sign a letter for me.  He said he was picking up his children from school because there were reports of tear gas.  It’s common here to stretch the truth to excuse one’s busy schedule, so I thought nothing of it.

I called my favorite driver to take me into town, and I was in the midst of bargaining for the price over the phone.  I couldn’t understand why he was refusing the fair price I offered.  Then I understood: “It’s not safe to go.  There are riots in the street.”

Riot police advancing from Wandegeya intersection toward
Main Gate of Makerere University

I was still incredulous, thinking it was a small demonstration in City Center.  I decided to walk to the other coffee shop, just outside Makerere University in Wandegeya neighborhood.  As I exited the university Main Gate, I was blocked by two police officers in normal brown uniform, who asked where I was going.  I said I was going to buy water from the market, and they let me pass.  I proceeded to walk toward Wandegeya intersection.

I then noticed that all shops were closed – apparently a police order.  It was now 3:30pm, and I learned that there had been massive riots at the main intersection in Wandegeya around 2pm.  I was curious to hear from bystanders what was happening, so I continued forward to speak with some shopkeepers standing outside their closed stall.  They said the police had come firing rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd, who in turn were throwing stones at police officers.  The police were still around & menacing anyone who approached.

I watched with interest, and moved back down the road when it was clear that the riot police were approaching the street I was on.  They began halting traffic leading toward Wandegeya intersection – especially taxi-vans and boda-bodas (motorbike taxis).  The few bodas who dared to approach were threatened and hit with police clubs.  I kept my distance, and tried to stay behind a stall or tree as I watched & discretely snapped photos. 

I thought things had mostly subsided.  I couldn’t smell tear gas, although I assumed that’s what was inside the blue canisters that the police were brandishing.  There were only about 15 people standing around the side of the road where I was, similarly retreating.  So it came as a surprise to see one of those blue canisters hurled by an officer toward the boda drivers, then roll to a few feet from where I was standing.

My hand after stumbling while running
away from a canister of tear gas

I had no time to think, since the tear gas canister was about to burst and release its noxious contents.  I scrambled and ran from the tear gas canister, nearly crushing my camera as I tripped on a stone.  I heard the canister BAM open as I ran, and I luckily avoided most of the tear gas – the wind must have worked in my favor.  I assume it was intended to dissuade boda-boda drives from approaching the intersection … but it seemed to be a complete indiscriminant use to me.  I blindly ran toward Makerere Main Gate along with the rest of the small crowd that had been unfortunate like me to be standing there.

I took refuge inside Makerere University.  Each person was stopped and asked for a Student ID Card to enter, and my US passport sufficed (I was carrying it today since I intended to extend my visa).  I heard the radio say that Makerere was the ONLY safe place in town.  I stayed around the Main Gate, seeing other people come in.  They said they had to walk from town, since all vehicles were stopped.  I called the four AIESEC interns in the country, cautioning them about their commute home.

View from Makerere University Guest House,
seeing smoke rise from Old Kampala

From the university, I got a view of smoke plumes rising from other neighborhoods, since people were burning tires in the street.  So far, I have gotten personal accounts from people around Makerere, many of whom belong to tribes other than Baganda.  For details on the cause of the riots, see the developing story in the Daily Monitor newspaper.  The U.S. Embassy gave this brief summary in an email to all American citizens currently in Uganda:

The U.S. Embassy in Kampala wishes to advise U.S. citizens that this weekend the leader of the Kingdom of Buganda is planning his annual visit to Kayunga District against the wishes of the central government.  The disagreement has resulted in a stand-off which appears to be fueling long-standing grievances between the Kingdom of Buganda and the central government, and between different political factions within the kingdom.

There have been tensions between President Museveni’s government and the dominant tribe (Baganda) in central Uganda, where Kampala is situated.  Museveni is from the Nyankole tribe, and he has been in power for 23 years.  The Baganda were provoked this morning when Museveni’s government halted the Baganda Prime Minister from visiting a neighboring district.  Incited by Baganda FM radio stations, huge crowds of people across Kampala poured into the streets to protest, starting around lunchtime.  Although the government police dispersed the riots quickly, a common refrain that I heard from observers was, “Museveni is losing control of the country.”