Free Republic

Four months after an al-Qaida-linked group blew up two night spots here in what is among Africa's safest capital cities, Francis Semwogerere remains in a hospital bed, slipping in and out of consciousness, shrapnel from the blast lodged in his throat and spinal column and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. His brother Emmanuel said that during one of his waking moments recently, Francis was lamenting Uganda's decision to send troops to Somalia -- the reason the Islamic rebel group al-Shabab gave for striking Kampala. "He was saying, 'The president should pull out of Somalia. There's no need for...

An American who recently lived in Raleigh for a year was the lone American killed when explosions tore through crowds watching the World Cup final Sunday at a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala, Uganda, killing at least 64 people. Nathan Henn, 25, who worked with Invisible Children, a San Diego-based aid group that helps child soldiers in Africa, was killed on the rugby field. Henn was a native of Wilmington, Del., but his family moved to Raleigh in 2007, and he lived here for about a year, his sister, Brynne Henn, said this morning in a telephone...

64 die in bomb attacks in Uganda during World Cup By MAX DELANY and JASON STRAZIUSO , 07.11.10, 10:21 PM EDT KAMPALA, Uganda -- In simultaneous bombings bearing the hallmarks of international terrorists, two explosions ripped through crowds watching the World Cup final in two places in Uganda's capital late Sunday, killing 64 people, police said. Americans were among the casualties. The deadliest attack occurred at a rugby club as people watched the game between Spain and the Netherlands on a large-screen TV outdoors. The second blast took place at an Ethiopian restaurant, where at least three Americans were wounded.

..""Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali, a senior commander in the young, told reporters late last night in Mogadishu:" We will make their people crying, we will attack Bujumbura and Kampala, will convey our fight to these cities.."

UGANDA is sending 1,000 troops to Somalia to help the victorious government pacify the Horn of Africa nation after a two-week war to oust Islamic militants. Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa told BBC yesterday that Uganda had offered a battalion, while the Somali government says Nigeria may also give troops to an African peacekeeping mission already endorsed by the United Nations before the war. A triumphant Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose intervention turned the war against the Islamists, said his forces would only remain in Somalia "for a few weeks" while the interim government pacifies the chaotic nation. "It...

Kampala - Uganda's oil reserves could be as much as that of the Gulf countries, a senior official at the US Department of Energy has said. Based on the test flow results encountered at the wells so far drilled and other oil numbers, Ms. Sally Kornfeld, a senior analyst in the office of fossil energy went ahead to talk about Uganda's oil reservoirs in the same sentence as Saudi Arabia. "You are blessed with amazing reservoirs. Your reservoirs are incredible. I am amazed by what I have seen, you might rival Saudi Arabia," Kornfeld told a visiting delegation from Uganda...

IT comes as a surprise to many Ugandans that our country is a member state of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). With Christians making up 80% of the population and Muslims accounting for only 12 %, it is indeed a surprise that Uganda belongs to a Muslim body. Delegates from the OIC member states met in Kampala from June 16 to June 20 to discuss issues affecting them. How Uganda found herself in the same block with Arab countries can be traced to one ambitious leader. His dream was to be a life president, but it was slipping out...