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GUEST: Olara A. Otunnu, President of LBL Foundation for Children, former UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict

Today, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will be sworn in as president for the third term after he scrapped presidential term limits. Museveni secured 59 percent of the vote on February 23. The Supreme Court legalised his victory on April 6 after ruling against a petition filed by Museveni’s main challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye – who had secured 37 percent of the votes. South African president Thabo Mbeki has called Museveni’s election “a true reflection of the democratic will of the people of Uganda.” Uganda’s presidential election this year was held against the background that multiparty politics was restored, with a referendum held last July, after it had been banned for more than 20 years in the east African country. Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed Uganda’s external debt by almost 90 percent. It’s part of an initiative by the G-8 organisation of the world’s wealthiest nations to ease the financial burden faced by the world’s poorest nations. In the context of the political and economic events, the 20 year war in Uganda continues. It’s a war in which more than 30,000 children have been abducted, held in captivity and forced to fight in the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Mr. Otunnu’s speaking events:

Friday May 12th, 7:30 pm, African Cultural Center
3018 W. 48th Street, Los Angeles

Saturday May 13th, 6 pm, St. Mark Episcopal Church
14646 Sherman Way, Van Nuys
For more information, call 818-785-4251

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

Desmond Tutu: “I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.”