Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kampala (Agenzia Fides)- “Let us now act in concert and sweep them (terrorists) out of Africa” the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Sunday 25 August at the opening ceremony of the 15th African Union Summit of Heads of State. The Summit, taking place in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, was to focus on maternal and infant health and development in Africa, however the double terrorist attack on 11 July attributed to Somali Islamic extremists, which left 76 dead and hundreds injured, (see Fides 16 July 2010), led to a change in the Summit agenda.
The civil war in Somalia is one of the principal issues being discussed by the representatives of African nations. When claiming responsibility for the attacks, Shabab (Somali insurgents fighting Somalia's internationally recognised interim government), said the attacks were an act of retaliation against the participation of Ugandan soldiers in the African Union military mission Amisom which supports Somali government army troops.
The attacks in Kampala (which coincided with the final match of the World Football Championships in South Africa) are considered Shabab's first action outside Somalia.
The African Union has decided to reinforce Amisom (presently consisting of some 6,000 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers): Guinea and Djibouti have offered to send another 2,000 military to bring the African force to a total 8,100 men.
Another point of discussion at the AU Summit is the situation in Sudan in the light of another warrant of arrest issued by the International Penal Court CPI in The Hague for President Omar El-Bashir, charged with genocide in the war in Darfur. The CPI had issued a previous warrant of arrest for Bashir on charges of war crimes. Bashir did not go to Kampala, a fact, according to local observers, not only for fear of possible arrest but due to tension between Uganda and Sudan. Rotating AU President, Bingu wa Mutharika President del Malawi, criticised both warrants of arrest for the Sudanese President. “To subject a sovereign head of state to a warrant of arrest is undermining African solidarity and African peace and security for which we fought for so many years” said Bingu wa Mutharika.
Sudan is living a delicate moment, awaiting the referendum on the independence of Southern Sudan scheduled for January 2011. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 26/7/2010)
