Ugandan Yuweri Museveni, not the Usual Black African

By Steve Paterno

May 8, 2008 — President Yuweri Museveni of Uganda is arguably among the very few from the African leaders who are able to deal squarely with the Arabs, especially those Arabs in Khartoum (Sudan). Museveni places the Arab manufactured war in Sudan into its proper context. He seems to understand the potential consequences of that war to the entire region better than most regional leaders.

In addressing the issue of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group which is long been supported from Sudan, Museveni explains in a clear tone of voice that for the last two decades since the Uganda government is fighting with the rebel, it is in fact “fighting with the Khartoum government.” He goes on to warn the Arab regime in Khartoum that the regime has just recently “discovered that we were not the usual Black Africans. If you create problems for us we create more problems for you.”

The Arabs’ march from Arabian Peninsular with the intention of conquering not just Africa but the entire world started in the 7th century. Matter of fact, the conquering Arabs did not just march but sprinted fast through the desert and in the process, plundering, killing, converting, enslaving, conquering and eventually ruling whoever is on the way. All the areas under their sphere of control including the Sudan are placed under Arab Islamic rule.

Strategically enough, the Sudan has become springboard for the Arabs to spread their project of Arabization and Islamization south of equator and proceed all the way deep into Southern Africa. However, for centuries, the people of South Sudan put a hold on their advancement by strongly resisting against it. For centuries, the people of South Sudan keeps reminding the African south of equator that the people of South Sudan are fighting the war of all those Africans south of equator, and for centuries, the people of South Sudan are soliciting the support of the African south of equator to help in the resistance against the advancement of Arabs southward.

In their part, the Arabs use all available options at their disposal to press with their agendas of Arabization and Islamization and forcefully move south across the equator. One of such options is that the Arabs use the Africans to do the work for them. They install and sponsor puppet African leaders to speak or act on behalf of the Arabs. They create several armed groups. In South Sudan those armed groups are infamously referred to as militias. Some of the groups, the foreign ones, become rebels or terrorists, causing havoc throughout the region. Among the foreign groups at disposal of the Arabs of Khartoum’s is the brutal LRA of Uganda.

The case of LRA is just among the most interesting ones, given the twist it has recently taken. For some obvious reasons, the officials at the government of South Sudan (GOSS), inherited and adopted the LRA and all its problems. Just at a critical moment at LRA’s history when the LRA is pushed outside Uganda; its sanctuaries in the South Sudan were denied; its logistic from Khartoum was cut off; and the whole international community was about to pound on its members with all means possible including legal; then the misguided officials of the newly created GOSS, invited the LRA to stay. A poorly contemplated peace talks was proposed and organized. The LRA, are then supplied with cash money, food, and other necessary logistics just as Khartoum used to do. Specially designated areas are demarcated to the LRA combatants as their newly found sanctuaries. In short, the GOSS, which is representing the people of South Sudan, becomes the host of the LRA just as Khartoum was the host of LRA. And the LRA takes advantage of the situation to inflict even more harms to the suffering population of South Sudan, spread beyond their area of control, and resurge in numbers and recruitments—posing more threats than ever before in its history.

Such a twist of events will leave many to wonder. Nevertheless, it is becoming more obvious that President Museveni is the only lone voice and fighter against the Arabs of Khartoum and those who act on their behalf. The GOSS, which Museveni came to its rescue, seems to have abandoned him already in this fight. However, there is still hope for the suffering people of South Sudan that Museveni still stands with them. Museveni made that point clear when he sympathetically states, “nevertheless, the government of Uganda and her people are standing firm with the people of Southern Sudan who suffered so much from LRA atrocities and we the government of Uganda have the means to solve some of these problems posed by the LRA.” One will guess, it will not be too much for the suffering people of South Sudan to ask for the help of their neighbor, Uganda, “to solve some of these problems posed by the LRA” and partly cause by their government, the GOSS. Since their government, the GOSS or is it the Ghost, fails them, Museveni should hear the request of the suffering people of South Sudan for you are “not the usual Black African!”

Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure, A Romain Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at [email protected]