Bomb blasts cannot break Kampala’s spirit

I quickly lost interest in the 2010 World Cup when Ghana was cheated out of the tournament by the Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez. It was therefore not surprising that I watched the final game between Netherlands and Spain with utmost reluctance. Towards the end, boredom got the best of me and I found myself reaching for my phone and logging onto the social networking site, Facebook. Unlike most posts that were in support of Spain, one particular post from a friend in Kampala, Allan Lwetabe simply went “bomb blast at Kyadondo.” Kyadondo is a popular rugby club in the eastern part of Kampala. I soon realised from later posts and internet news sites that not everyone was enjoying the Spanish victory or lamenting the third Dutch loss at a World Cup final. Something terrible had happened in Ugandan capital of Kampala. Three deadly bombs had gone off at two locations and by the time of writing this, 76 people are no longer citizens of this world because of those bombs. One went off at an Ethiopian restaurant in the Kabalagala suburb killing 16 people. Soon after two bombs went off at the Kyadondo Rugby Club in a space of one minute killing scores of people who were busy watching the World Cup final. I thought about all the people I know in Kampala and immediately called a cousin of mine who is known to watch football from the popular drinking joints in Kampala. Just a few months back I was at his wedding as the best man. The slight delay in him answering the phone quickly drew sweat in my palms. He then picked up and told me that he had dropped the habit now that he was a family man. A journalist friend advised me to call my family in Kampala to find out if they were all ok. Of course I knew it was the right thing to do but trust me it was not the simplest. For how was I to tell the difference between a phone that was just switched off from one whose owner had been blown to pieces? In the end it was a little refreshing to know that all the people I called were not in the mortuary, not on hospital beds but simply at home but in total shock. As the sad tales of the tragedy continued to unfold on Facebook and in various media outlets I started recognising some of the dead as my friends. Al Shabaab a militant Islamic group that controls a large part of Somalia has claimed responsibility for the blasts and called on Uganda to pull its forces out of Somalia or face worse attacks. Our southern neighbour Burundi is already in fear after being notified by Al Shabaab that they are next on the list. Terrorism is not new in East Africa but the scale at which the July 11 blasts occurred left many people in Kampala devastated. Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and Mombasa have already been victims of this global threat of terrorism. The objective of terrorism is embedded in the word itself. It is to cause unprecedented fear especially among the civilians so that they can exert pressure on their government to address the demands or concerns of the terrorists. Al Qaeda wants America to remove its military bases from the holy lands of Saudi Arabia while Al Shabaab wants Uganda and Burundi, to remove their soldiers from Somali territory arguing that they are only there to protect the US backed transitional government which they consider illegitimate. On the social perspective, the terrorists should forget instilling fear in ordinary Kampalans. The city is awash with resilience and will rise from this disaster even before the wounded can leave hospital. Kampala has a reputation as a party city in the region and it is normal to see people here spending weekends in the city to get a feeling of its famed night life. The Kabalagala-Kansanga-Muyenga stretch has seen bombs before but has gone on to become a key town for Western expatriates as well Kenyan and Tanzanian university students. More so, it is one area where everyday is a weekend. The list of those killed included an American, a Kenyan, Ethiopians, Eritreans and an Irish citizen shows how we are all affected by events in Kampala. As we take time to understand terrorism and how best to respond to it, may the souls of the departed rest in peace. ssenyonga@gmail.com