Uganda promises security after riots target Asians
13 Apr 2007 15:06:07 GMT Source: Reuters
(adds activist's quote para 15) By Euan Denholm and Francis Kwera KAMPALA, April 13 (Reuters) - Uganda's president assured Kampala residents of their safety on Friday, a day after rioters targeting Asians stoned one man to death during a protest over an Indian firm's plans to develop part of a rainforest reserve. Soldiers patrolled the capital where police fired tear gas and bullets on Thursday to scatter hundreds of people demonstrating against a proposal to axe nearly a third of one of Uganda's last natural forests to make way for growing sugarcane. "To attack, insult or damage the property of any Ugandan or guests of Uganda is something the government will not tolerate," President Yoweri Museveni said in a statement, expressing his condolences to the families of the three people killed. An Asian man was stoned to death by a mob and at least two rioters were shot dead, apparently by private security guards. "I want to assure Ugandans that such hooliganism will not be allowed to happen again, and to warn those that do not want to follow the law they will pay heavily," Museveni said. Scenes of Asian men dragged off motorbikes and beaten while others cowered in besieged city centre shops and a Hindu temple brought back bitter memories of 1972, when Uganda's late former dictator Idi Amin expelled the country's 75,000 Asians. Several thousand have since returned, but are viewed with suspicion by some Ugandans who resent their domination of many businesses, particularly small scale retailing. Many of Thursday's demonstrators carried placards telling Indians to leave Uganda, and as the protest turned bloody armed police had to rescue more than 100 Asian men. "I was sitting in class when people gathered outside making signs through the window that they were going to kill us," said a 20-year-old Asian student, Prakash. "We could see one Indian guy getting beaten really badly. It was terrible." The latest controversy began last year when Museveni ordered a study into whether to slash 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres), or nearly a third, of Mabira Forest to expand the sugar plantations of the Indian-owned Mehta Group. S.C. Sharma, regional director of the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, a Mehta subsidiary, said the violence was tragic. "We are extremely sorry about what happened. The loss of life was most unfortunate," Sharma told Reuters. "The whole thing is taking a political turn and we are sorry about that." Mabira, which lies about 50 km (30 miles) east of Kampala, has been a nature reserve since 1932. Critics say losing part of it would have grave ecological consequences, from increased soil erosion to the drying up of rivers and rainfall, and the removal of a buffer against polluting nearby Lake Victoria. Museveni says conservation is a luxury not afforded by poor countries seeking development, and that he will not be swayed by people who fail to see Africa's future lies in processing goods. Frank Muramazi, an organiser of Thursday's protest, said the fight would go on. "One thing is clear: we are not going to stop," he told a news conference. "Mabira must be saved."
