Circumcision doesn’t reduce HIV spread’
Posted by FLAVIA LANYERO
on Tuesday, March 6 2012 at 00:00
http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/News/-/691252/1360190/-/format/xhtml/-/dgvsgyz/-/index.html
Kampala
Contrary to recent popular claims that male circumcision reduces HIV/Aids transmission by 60 per cent, a group of researchers has disputed the findings, saying the action will only increase the spread of HIV/Aids and can only reduce its transmission by 1.3 per cent at most.
Researchers Gregory Boyle and George Hill in a study published by Australia’s Thomson Reuters, base their argument on a recent male-to-female transmission of HIV study in Uganda, which showed that more women contracted the virus after unprotected intercourse to infected circumcised male partners.
They concluded that male circumcision is associated with a 61-per-cent increase in HIV transmission. “Across all the three female-to-male trials, of the 5,411 men subjected to male circumcision, 64 (1.18 per cent) became HIV-positive while among the 5,497 controls, 137 (2.49 per cent) became HIV-positive,” Boyle and Hill said.
“So the absolute decrease in HIV infection was only 1.31 per cent, which is not significant. Examination of epidemiological data shows that male circumcision does not provide protection against HIV transmission in several sub-Saharan African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, all of which have higher prevalence of HIV infection among circumcised men,” they concluded.
Uganda rolled out medical male circumcision drive two years ago after the World Health Organisation-UNAIDS in 2007 recommended male circumcision as an HIV preventive measure based on randomised clinical trials in female-to-male sexual transmission in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, which suggested that circumcision could reduce infection by up to 60 per cent.
Thousands of men have undergone the surgical pinch in Uganda. However, President Museveni in July last year castigated the call for male circumcision as a measure to curtail HIV/Aids, saying it was “diversionary” and called for abstienence.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Asuman Lukwago, yesterday, said he was not aware of the new findings but said should it be proved otherwise, the country will drop the method for other viable ones.
“We do not strongly condone it and neither do we dispute it. We work in a world of information and evidence and when it is proven otherwise we shall be alerted and we change our policies just like we did for malaria medicine,” he said.
flanyero@ug.nationmedia.com
Circumcision and HIV: are we being fed on half-truths?
Posted by Agnes K. Namaganda
on Thursday, March 22 2012 at 00:00
http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/LifeandStyle/-/691254/1371084/-/format/xhtml/-/s4x2i2z/-/index.html
You have probably heard an advert calling upon men to get circumcised - “Circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV/Aids,” word goes. However, is this really true? Sylvia, a 27-year-old feels ripe for marriage, but there is a problem. She hasn’t found that man who fits the bill. The men in her age group are just starting out with their careers and with a little money and freedom from the clutches of their parents, they think more in terms of having fun-nights out and parties- till their 30s when they have made strides in their careers and have the money to run a family. All they want is a girlfriend. No babies. No commitment.
On the contrary, quite the go-getter, Sylvia is already at managerial level in a multi-billion company. So the ‘boys’ in her age-bracket are somewhat intimidated and find her too mature because by the end of this year, she will have finished her first three rental apartments with a plan to immediately start on others thereafter.
That is how older married men-10 years and more-have managed to find a soft spot in Sylvia’s life.
“When you have a financial problem, they can easily bail you out with that kind of money because most of them are building as well and properly understand the challenges,” she says.
However, it is the men she is having affairs with that quickly give her this kind of financial help without expecting anything in return. The catch with committed men however, is that they are more reluctant than your ordinary bachelor, to want anything to do with condoms.
“It is alarming the reasons they give,” she says, reeling off some of them. “Some say they itch, some that it breaks the fun because he has to take time off to wear it, some say it burns them, and others that they don’t enjoy it as much. I literally have to fight with them into putting one on but it’s tough,” Sylvia, who says her friends have had similar encounters, explains.
Stories like Sylvia’s may explain the 2009 findings that indicated an increase in the HIV infection rate among married and cohabiting couples to over six per cent in comparison to individuals who were not in a union at 1.6 per cent. In fact, it was found that 65 per cent of all new infections in Uganda occur in married people amongst whom only three to four per cent, regularly tested for HIV.
Armed with this information, the scientists whose role is to see an end to the scourge commendably started looking for solutions to address this problem as thus, rolling out a number of being faithful campaigns including the famous ‘get off the sexual network’ campaign.
Eventually, new research findings came out, showing there is a 50-60 per cent chance of an HIV-negative circumcised man not contracting the disease from an infected female partner. These findings could have been truly godsend, an avenue for reducing on the infection rate especially among the promiscuous men who are reluctant to wear condoms for one reason or another. But there are sections of people, including scientists, raising dust on the findings.
May be, it is the way this campaign is being done that could somewhat be distorting the message. First, stakeholders in the fight against HIV/Aids have been at a loss for some time now. With ARVs, there aren’t as many people dying due to HIV/Aids, a different scenario from the mid-90s when everyone knew someone who had died in a dreadful way due to the disease as thus imparting the fear.
With victims living longer now, the initial terror with which HIV/Aids was regarded, is gone - it is no longer considered a serious threat by the public inspite of the intense awareness campaigns. The rates of new infections instead of going down have actually gone up from 6.4 per cent to 6.7 per cent in the last one year, according to a preliminary Aids Indicator Survey 2011. This means the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful or Condom use) strategy is not as effective as it was in the 90s. And that is why the circumcision findings were probably timely as a way of scaling down the HIV infection rate.
However, one would be excused to think that a cure for the disease has been found given the long queues at the health facilities that are offering free circumcision services. The campaign has been somewhat successful but at what cost.
First, it is not fair on both sexes. For the women, it seems to suggest that they should not worry about their partners straying as long as they are circumcised.
“Just look at those posters with a woman’s saying, “I am proud, I have a circumcised husband because we have less chances of getting HIV.” Isn’t that totally absurd? Isn’t it like saying we can disregard corruption just because it has been done to a smaller degree? No woman would be proud of a promiscuous albeit circumcised husband,” an angry Engineer Geraldine Mwesigye says.
Faith Namulindwa, a social worker, also thinks the campaign is to an inadvertently introducing the idea of promiscuity injecting the idea that men can avoid HIV to a certain extent if they are circumcised; that circumcision is a permanent condom of sorts? Because half a chance at infection is so much indeed if someone’s life is at stake. Isn’t also like taking it for granted that men do not have the ability to stay faithful? Isn’t this an insult to the faithful men out there?
Phillip Ssesazi, a businessman dealing in online forex trading however disagrees with the suggestion that this campaign will only increase promiscuity. Infact, he thinks the campaign is serving the intended purpose of promoting safety, even if it is 50 per cent. “To an African man, having one or two other women he can go to, on that ‘rainy’ day is not being promiscuous. It is only when we are sleeping with five or 10 women that we start to feel a little uneasy, but two three, is normal,” he argues. Ssesazi does not think the men going for circumcision are itching to go on rampage since they now have a permanent condom of sorts. “Men have been straying even while uncircumcised without using condoms or even going for an HIV test with these partners. But now that this option is here, they are thinking, well, just in case she has HIV, I have a chance of staying safe.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Aids Information Centre, Marion Natukunda explains that the circumcision campaign is not being used as that one silver bullet that can pull down the infection rates. “Since no single intervention is 100 per cent effective thus providing total protection, circumcision is part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package in our programme. We are not saying that circumcise and be safe, but that you should use a condom when necessary as well staying faithful.” Dr Vincent Kawooya of Makerere University, School of Public Health, who has participated in developing communication strategies and policy as regards circumcision disputes the notion that men will go on rampage as circumcision offers them some form of permanent protection against contracting the disease. He explains; “We are just adding circumcision to the existing strategies of combatting HIV. It is not a stand-alone strategy and the message has been very clear that it is not 100 per cent safe. Take an example of the malaria medication Coartem, it is a combo of two or three drugs that together, effectively fight the parasite.”
He further explains that those getting circumcised under this campaign undergo counselling both before and after to clearly understand that circumcision alone will not protect them. It is important to note therefore that circumcision alone without behaviour change will not stop the new HIV infection rate.
The debate: others say circumcision only makes the HIV/aids fight absurd
Delilah Tamble says:
The Rakai District study showed no difference in the chances of catching HIV with an intact (non-circumcised) or mutilated penis. This study was closed half way through because too many women were catching HIV. The Head Researcher, Dr Maria Wawer said of the study’s results that “circumcision of HIV-infected men did not reduce HIV transmission to female partners”. The BBC News reported this in 2009, but it failed to get a mention in Uganda’s media.
The South African study also found no definite link between Male Genital Mutilation (MGM) and a lowered risk of HIV infection, likewise intact men did not have an increased risk of HIV, nor did their partners. In their research conclusion they warned against using MGM as a HIV prevention tactic, saying that the risks and life-long negative effects of MGM were not worth the possible, and as yet unproven, protection.
The Garenne study of 2006 was the only study which found any HIV decrease amongst mutilated men, which was in Kenya and Uganda, which is where Jerry Lanier was getting his 50 per cent – 60 per cent. In other words there was about a half/half chance of HIV, which in real terms makes no difference to an individual’s risk. Mr. Lanier also failed to mention that the same Garenne study found absolutely no difference in HIV rates amongst intact and mutilated men in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, whilst Cameroon, Lesotho and Malawi had a much higher rate of HIV, as much as a 22.8 per cent increase of HIV amongst mutilated men than intact men. If you are a fan of statistics like Mr. Lanier appears to be this would actually mean that the chances of HIV increase when mutilated, even though by a slight amount; it certainly can not be used to draw the conclusion that mass MGM in Africa could ever hope to decrease HIV.
Not mentioned are two other studies which both found that penis mutilation does not lessen the chances of catching HIV, or any other STI. The studies were done by the US Navy in 2004, and Australia in 2011. According to the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey (Kais) released September 2009, the North Eastern and Coast provinces, where 97 per cent of males were circumcised, registered an increase in HIV prevalence, whilst Nyanza Province, where about 60 per cent of men are intact had the lowest HIV rate in the country. In 1999, Robert Van Howe, MD, subjected the data from 35 articles on HIV/Circumcision to rigorous statistical analysis. Van Howe found that, based on the combined data, “a man with a circumcised penis is at greater risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV than a man with a non-circumcised penis…based on the studies published in the scientific literature, it is incorrect to assert that circumcision prevents HIV infection.”
anamaganda@ug.nationmedia.com
Male circumcision for HIV prevention: What does the scientific evidence say?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/-/691232/1384560/-/dg3bb/-/index.html
By Joseph KB Matovu, Rhoda K. Wanyenze & David Serwadda
Posted Thursday, April 12 2012 at 00:00
In Summary
Medics from Makerere University School of Public Health answer in detail the recent concerns over the male circumcision drive aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/Aids
Of recent, the media has published a number of articles related to male circumcision, including two articles in the Daily Monitor. The first article entitled ‘Circumcision does not reduce HIV spread’ (Daily Monitor, March 6, 2012) was written by Flavia Lanyero. Flavia’s article is based on a paper published by Gregory J Boyle and George Hill in the Journal of Law and Medicine in 2011. This paper is one among many articles authored by self-proclaimed anti-circumcision crusaders. Indeed, George describes himself as the Vice President for Bioethics and Medical Science under a programme known as ‘Doctors Opposing Circumcision’ based in Seattle, Washington, D.C. As B.J. Morris and his colleagues have concluded, these anti-male circumcision crusaders “misrepresent good scientific studies, selectively cite references, some containing fallacious information; and draw erroneous conclusions” in order to reframe the male circumcision debate in their favor. The second article entitled, “Circumcision and HIV: are we being fed on half-truths?” (Daily Monitor, March 22, 2012) was written by Agnes Namaganda. Agnes questions the truth in the statement, “male circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV”, and presents contrasting views about male circumcision without necessarily helping the reader to reach a definite conclusion about the effect of male circumcision in HIV prevention. While she did not explicitly state which side of the debate she falls, we believe that the taste of her article hinged more on the side of those who are opposed to male circumcision, considering the nature of evidence cited. In writing this article, we intended to not only respond to these issues but also provide a more elaborate view of male circumcision and its role in HIV prevention based on scientific evidence at hand.
How the male circumcision debate begun
Male circumcision has been practiced for generations. It is one of the oldest surgical procedures known to mankind. Over time, the scientific community observed that the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, was lower in men who were circumcised than in those who were not. While nobody could clearly explain the science behind these observations, there was a general perception that male circumcision could be the reason for the observed differences.
However, since there was evidence of high HIV prevalence in some circumcising communities, it was not possible to come to a conclusion about the protective effect of male circumcision, before subjecting it to rigorous scientific scrutiny. Whereas proponents argue for increased scale-up of male circumcision programs, opponents have initiated campaigns to discredit male circumcision. But what does science tell us about male circumcision?
Some studies indicated lower HIV prevalence in circumcised men vis-à-vis uncircumcised men, but these studies had methodical challenges. For example, in many parts of Africa where circumcision was shown to be associated with low HIV prevalence in men, these areas also happened to have a high number of Muslim men. It was, therefore, not clear whether it was circumcision per se that was protective or whether it was because of other attributes already known to be associated with Muslim men (e.g. Muslim men do not drink alcohol) that reduced their risk for HIV infection. On the other hand, there are studies that have shown that circumcised men have high HIV prevalence, which, on close examination, found that most of these men were circumcised as result of having STIs. All these observations made it difficult to conclude whether male circumcision per se reduced chances of acquiring HIV among adult men.
To respond to this question, scientists designed further research studies known as randomized clinical trials. These types of studies are taken as the “gold standard” of research evidence. In these studies men who were not circumcised and who were free from HIV infection were divided into two groups with one group circumcised immediately while the other group was asked to wait for some time to receive circumcision and thus acted as the comparison group. Scientists followed both groups for a defined period of time, and tested them for HIV at regular intervals. They also provided free counseling services to all men as well as free condoms to those who were interested in using them. These trials, conducted in three countries (South Africa, Kenya and Uganda) between 2000 and 2006, involving a total of 5,411 men in the circumcised arm and 5,497 in the comparison group indicated that circumcised men were less likely to acquire HIV than those who were not circumcised. The level of protection of male circumcision from the risk of HIV infection ranged between 50 per cent to 60 per cent across the three countries. These findings, from studies conducted in different countries and communities, were so convincing that in 2007 the World Health Organisation (WHO) together with the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (Unaids) recommended male circumcision as part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy (alongside condom use, being faithful to one’s HIV-free sexual partner, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, among others) in ‘countries with heterosexual epidemics, high HIV and low male circumcision prevalence’, such as those found in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is important to note that the WHO guidelines refer to ‘medical’ or ‘safe’ male circumcision as opposed to the culturally performed circumcision which may be associated with other risks such as serial use of unsterilized instruments that could potentially transmit HIV. This and other cultural practices around circumcision may partly explain the high HIV prevalence among communities that perform circumcision for cultural reasons, as has been cited in some communities in Botswana and elsewhere.
Recent evidence on the impact of male circumcision at the community level
Studies done after the end of the clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda have found that male circumcision’s protective effect against HIV is sustained and may even become stronger over time. The risk of HIV infection among circumcised men was reduced by 67 per cent after 4.5 years in Kenya and by 73 per cent after 4.8 years in Uganda.
Equally exciting are recent results confirming that this level of protection can be achieved outside the relatively controlled setting of a clinical trial.
Share This Story
16Share
Last year, a community-based study indicated that providing male circumcision in a South African township reduced the rate of new HIV infections among circumcised men by 76 per cent in three years. In a recent paper entitled Population-level impact of male circumcision on HIV incidence: Rakai, Uganda, Ronald H. Gray and colleagues found that the number of new HIV infections among non-Muslim men decreased with greater uptake of male circumcision. Dr. Gray and his colleagues conducted an observational study among 14,000 individuals in 50 communities in Rakai District between 2000 and 2009.
Male circumcision among non-Muslim men in Rakai increased from 5.6 per cent in 2000 to 25.3 per cent in 2009. The number of new HIV infections decreased by 37 per cent during the same period among non-Muslim men. No effect on new HIV infections was seen among females in this study. This study focused on non-Muslim men because it is the practice in the Muslim community to circumcise young boys.
There are concerns expressed that male circumcision will lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviors, such as less frequent use of condoms or increased numbers of sexual partners. However, recent evidence suggests that male circumcision does not lead to increased risky behaviors.
For instance, a study done among 2,500 circumcised men who were followed up for up to five years in Rakai did not find increased risk behaviour among these men compared to uncircumcised men with respect to number of sexual partners or condom use. Other studies in Kenya and South Africa have found out that male circumcision does not result in increased risky sexual behaviors such as having sex with multiple sexual partners or abandonment of condom use.
On the contrary, circumcised men report increased safer sexual practices following risk-reduction counselling, suggesting that male circumcision programmes should incorporate risk-reduction messages into the promotional campaigns. It is interesting to note that such concerns were also voiced with the introduction of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), but this did not stop rolling out ARVs.
Does male circumcision protect uninfected women against acquiring HIV?
Although male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV acquisition in HIV-negative men, evidence of protection for HIV-negative female partners of HIV-positive men is not conclusive. Studies carried out earlier in Uganda, particularly among HIV discordant couples (with one partner HIV-negative and the other positive), had indicated that if the HIV positive partner was circumcised, there was a reduced risk of transmission of HIV to the HIV-negative women; these studies were conducted among men who were circumcised at birth.
However, no studies had demonstrated whether the same protective effect could be seen among men circumcised as adults. A randomised clinical trial by Maria J. Wawer and her colleagues shows that female partners of HIV-positive men, circumcised as adults, may be at an increased risk of acquiring HIV if the couple resumes sex before the wound of the HIV-positive partner has healed.
It is important to note that the trend towards increased risk was seen only among women in couples who resumed sex too soon after circumcision, i.e. before proper wound healing. Gregory and George’s article, and indeed other articles from anti-male circumcision crusaders don’t mention this fact. It is crucial for couples to follow the recommendation to abstain from sex for six weeks post-circumcision (after wound heals). One can argue that logically, when fewer men are infected, transmission to women at population level would also reduce over time. Indeed, there are several studies that indicate some protective effect for women, but until such evidence is available consistently across different studies, male circumcision will continue to me promoted as a strategy for the prevention of ‘heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men’, as per the WHO recommendations. Other benefits of male circumcision beyond HIV prevention
There is overwhelming evidence to prove that male circumcision provides other benefits beyond HIV prevention. Male circumcision improves male hygiene, reduces risk of genital ulcer disease and cancer of the penis, and lowers the risk of cervical cancer among women with circumcised male partners by reducing the prevalence of the virus that is associated with this cancer (Human Papilloma Virus).
The role of male circumcision in relation to other HIV prevention approaches
We should point out that a circumcised man can still acquire or transmit HIV (if HIV-positive), except that male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection among initially HIV-negative, circumcised men. We should also point out that the risk of acquiring as well as transmitting HIV among circumcised men increases when sexual intercourse is resumed too early (before complete healing) or when circumcised men increase their risky behaviors due to the belief that they are protected.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Since when did the HIV creators become passionate about HIV spread: US Embassy in Kampala says Circumcision does reduce HIV spread
FIRST READ:
THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES, EBOLA, AND AIDS[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm
‘Circumcision doesn’t reduce HIV spread’: Gregory Boyle and George Hill challenge Uganda’s Bogus Circumcision Crusade
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/03/circumcision-doesnt-reduce-hiv-spread.html
US cannot continue funding treatment and care yet more and more Ugandans are getting infected: Oh! really
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/us-cannot-continue-funding-treatment.html
Circumcision does reduce HIV spread
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/oped03092012.html
By U.S. Ambassador Jerry P. Lanier
Yesterday's headline in the Daily Monitor, "Circumcision doesn't reduce HIV spread", was wrong - dangerously wrong. Safe male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by 60% and does not lead to increased risk-taking behavior. It is an integral part of "combination prevention."
HIV prevention must remain an indispensable public health priority in Uganda, where an average of 340 people become infected every day. Through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the United States is supporting the Uganda's efforts to scale up proven prevention interventions such as safe male circumcision.
Tuesday's newspaper article, based on the writings of anti-circumcision activists and unsound science, could severely damage public health. In the future I hope that the Daily Monitor will check its alleged "facts" with professionally trained Ugandan scientists and academics to ensure that reporting on health is accurate and fact-based.
Three large scientific trials carried out on 6,800 men in South Africa, Kenya, and here in Uganda showed that safe adult male circumcision reduced the risk of these men becoming infected with HIV by 50% to 60%. These studies were carried out by teams of reliable, professional scientists supported by American, French, and Canadian research grants. The Ugandan team included some of the most knowledgeable and respected HIV/AIDS researchers in the world. All three studies were thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts in the field before being published in major scientific journals.
Men from the Ugandan study, carried out in Rakai District, were studied and interviewed for an additional five years after the end of the main study. Also during that time, 80% of the men who were not circumcised in the first study elected to undergo
circumcision. The highly-protective effect of male circumcision for HIV prevention was sustained throughout this period. Of equal importance was the finding that these men did not use circumcision as a reason or excuse to take up riskier sexual behaviors. Contrary to popular belief, circumcised men did not take on more non-marital sexual partners, or use condoms less, than uncircumcised men.
In 2007, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, government representatives (including Uganda's Ministry of Health), researchers, civil society, gender experts, and human rights and women's health advocates, recommended that "male circumcision should be recognized as an efficacious intervention for HIV prevention" and that it should be part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package since no single intervention is 100% effective.
In 2010, Uganda's Ministry of Health conducted a similar review of the evidence regarding safe male circumcision, endorsed the WHO/UNAIDS recommendations, and developed the Safe Male Circumcision Policy. The objective of this Policy is "to ensure that safe medical male circumcision, as part of a national comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, is available to all males."
The U.S. Government fully supports Uganda's safe male circumcision policy, recognizing that no single prevention method provides total protection. That is why we include safe male circumcision as only part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package in our programs. As long as men abstain from sex for six weeks after circumcision, as per WHO recommendations, the preventive effects of the procedure are realized. Male circumcision is also a gateway to a range of male reproductive health and HIV prevention services. The recommended prevention package includes HIV counseling and testing, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, promotion of safe sex practices, condoms and information and tips on how to use them correctly and consistently.
THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES, EBOLA, AND AIDS[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm
‘Circumcision doesn’t reduce HIV spread’: Gregory Boyle and George Hill challenge Uganda’s Bogus Circumcision Crusade
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/03/circumcision-doesnt-reduce-hiv-spread.html
US cannot continue funding treatment and care yet more and more Ugandans are getting infected: Oh! really
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/us-cannot-continue-funding-treatment.html
Circumcision does reduce HIV spread
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/oped03092012.html
By U.S. Ambassador Jerry P. Lanier
Yesterday's headline in the Daily Monitor, "Circumcision doesn't reduce HIV spread", was wrong - dangerously wrong. Safe male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by 60% and does not lead to increased risk-taking behavior. It is an integral part of "combination prevention."
HIV prevention must remain an indispensable public health priority in Uganda, where an average of 340 people become infected every day. Through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the United States is supporting the Uganda's efforts to scale up proven prevention interventions such as safe male circumcision.
Tuesday's newspaper article, based on the writings of anti-circumcision activists and unsound science, could severely damage public health. In the future I hope that the Daily Monitor will check its alleged "facts" with professionally trained Ugandan scientists and academics to ensure that reporting on health is accurate and fact-based.
Three large scientific trials carried out on 6,800 men in South Africa, Kenya, and here in Uganda showed that safe adult male circumcision reduced the risk of these men becoming infected with HIV by 50% to 60%. These studies were carried out by teams of reliable, professional scientists supported by American, French, and Canadian research grants. The Ugandan team included some of the most knowledgeable and respected HIV/AIDS researchers in the world. All three studies were thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts in the field before being published in major scientific journals.
Men from the Ugandan study, carried out in Rakai District, were studied and interviewed for an additional five years after the end of the main study. Also during that time, 80% of the men who were not circumcised in the first study elected to undergo
circumcision. The highly-protective effect of male circumcision for HIV prevention was sustained throughout this period. Of equal importance was the finding that these men did not use circumcision as a reason or excuse to take up riskier sexual behaviors. Contrary to popular belief, circumcised men did not take on more non-marital sexual partners, or use condoms less, than uncircumcised men.
In 2007, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS, government representatives (including Uganda's Ministry of Health), researchers, civil society, gender experts, and human rights and women's health advocates, recommended that "male circumcision should be recognized as an efficacious intervention for HIV prevention" and that it should be part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package since no single intervention is 100% effective.
In 2010, Uganda's Ministry of Health conducted a similar review of the evidence regarding safe male circumcision, endorsed the WHO/UNAIDS recommendations, and developed the Safe Male Circumcision Policy. The objective of this Policy is "to ensure that safe medical male circumcision, as part of a national comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, is available to all males."
The U.S. Government fully supports Uganda's safe male circumcision policy, recognizing that no single prevention method provides total protection. That is why we include safe male circumcision as only part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package in our programs. As long as men abstain from sex for six weeks after circumcision, as per WHO recommendations, the preventive effects of the procedure are realized. Male circumcision is also a gateway to a range of male reproductive health and HIV prevention services. The recommended prevention package includes HIV counseling and testing, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, promotion of safe sex practices, condoms and information and tips on how to use them correctly and consistently.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Pastor Yiga Sued for sexually using a young girl and later dumping her.
First read:
PASTOR AUGUSTINE YIGA : LUCIFERIAN OR BORN AGAIN
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2008/03/pastor-augustine-yiga-luciferian-or.html
Pastor Yiga Sued
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/?p=34159
Pastor Augustine Yiga of the Revival Christian Centre in Kawaala, Kampala has been dragged to the Uganda Human Rights Commission by a saucy babe who accuses him of …… and later neglecting her.
In a complaint dated March 26, 2012, Josephine Nino told the director of complaints, investigations and legal services at the commission that she entered into a sexual relationship with Yiga on the understanding that the two would get married and that he would meet all her needs which he later refused to do.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission has since referred the complaint to the Officer in Charge of Central Police Station in Kampala after Nino also claimed she has been receiving threatening messages. The commission says it lacks jurisdiction to handle the complaint advising that the police is better placed to assist her.
How Nino Met Yiga
Nino told the human rights commission that on December 15, 2011 at around 3:00pm, Nino approached Pastor Yiga at his office in Kawala for counselling. She followed the procedure of paying Shs50,000 for private prayers in the ‘HOLY’ room which is attached to the church.
She was given a seat and allowed to narrate her woes so that Pastor Yiga (commonly known as Abizaayo) could pray for her. Among other problems Nino told the pastor to pray for her to get a rightful and responsible husband.
The Man of God picked interest in solving the problem of finding a suitable husband. To cleanse her of the troubles blocking her possible chances of getting married, he told her to kneel down, he laid his hands on her head and in a raised voice he prayed for her.
After the prayer that lasted 12 minutes, he anointed her with olive oil on the forehead.
Before she left the office to allow in other believers, Yiga asked for Nino’s telephone contact. After few days, Yiga rang her saying God had appeared to him in a dream telling him Nino was his future wife.
He therefore asked her to meet him at Airport View Hotel in Entebbe to discuss the matter further. Despite being very busy with festive season schedules, he spared time and offered to pick her from her home in Nansana.
As earlier planned, the pastor picked her and drove to Entebbe direct in his Toyota Noah UAQ 041U. On reaching the hotel, the pastor requested her to enter into a relationship with him, with the intentions of marrying her on the promise that he would meet all her needs.
Following the pastor’s reputation and wealth, Nino welcomed the suggestion and started boozing freely like anyone whose prayers had been answered. Soon the two were embracing.
Moving in italics with lots of love, Nino kept referring to the pastor as honey. That night, they engaged in sexual intercourse at the hotel. According to the letter she wrote to UHRC, Nino says Pastor Yiga did not use a condom.
During the course of making love, the girl felt so much pain as her …. was ruptured by the pastor’s huge ….. Having been promised verbally that she would be loved till death, she persevered and kept making love amidst pain. The session lasted more than an hour non-stop without the pastor finishing.
In the morning, he gave her Shs200,000 and delivered her in Nansana. Nino who was promised a good life was over the moon telling whoever cared to listen in Nansana that she had hooked up a top pastor.
The two kept on meeting until they fell out a few weeks ago over reasons to be published in Saturday Pepper tomorrow.
When we called Pastor Yiga yesterday, he said he needed to meet our reporters in person adding that he sees many people daily and wanted to see Nino’s picture before commenting on the allegations.
Who is Pastor Yiga
Pastor Yiga was born on April 14, 1975 in Mawogola, Masaka District. He is the senior Pastor of Revival Christian Church (RCC) in Kawala. He is also one of the directors of Knowledge Center High School in Kawala, director at CARCOP, an orphanage project.
He started RCC on April 18, 2004 with a small following but currently it has more than 800 followers. The man of God who was inspired by Holy Spirit is well known with a slogan “Abizayo” meaning sending back the witchcraft to the original sender.
In a country that believes in witchcraft, Yiga came to rescue innocent people and send back the evil to the senders so that they can feel a taste of their own medicine.
The first church was located in Kiwunya in Nankulabye and after a period of one year, he transferred it to Kawala. The church is planted on a born again foundation but with a policy of welcoming all people of all kinds of beliefs. T.F Tinywana, Special Projects Team
PASTOR AUGUSTINE YIGA : LUCIFERIAN OR BORN AGAIN
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2008/03/pastor-augustine-yiga-luciferian-or.html
Pastor Yiga Sued
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/?p=34159
Pastor Augustine Yiga of the Revival Christian Centre in Kawaala, Kampala has been dragged to the Uganda Human Rights Commission by a saucy babe who accuses him of …… and later neglecting her.
In a complaint dated March 26, 2012, Josephine Nino told the director of complaints, investigations and legal services at the commission that she entered into a sexual relationship with Yiga on the understanding that the two would get married and that he would meet all her needs which he later refused to do.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission has since referred the complaint to the Officer in Charge of Central Police Station in Kampala after Nino also claimed she has been receiving threatening messages. The commission says it lacks jurisdiction to handle the complaint advising that the police is better placed to assist her.
How Nino Met Yiga
Nino told the human rights commission that on December 15, 2011 at around 3:00pm, Nino approached Pastor Yiga at his office in Kawala for counselling. She followed the procedure of paying Shs50,000 for private prayers in the ‘HOLY’ room which is attached to the church.
She was given a seat and allowed to narrate her woes so that Pastor Yiga (commonly known as Abizaayo) could pray for her. Among other problems Nino told the pastor to pray for her to get a rightful and responsible husband.
The Man of God picked interest in solving the problem of finding a suitable husband. To cleanse her of the troubles blocking her possible chances of getting married, he told her to kneel down, he laid his hands on her head and in a raised voice he prayed for her.
After the prayer that lasted 12 minutes, he anointed her with olive oil on the forehead.
Before she left the office to allow in other believers, Yiga asked for Nino’s telephone contact. After few days, Yiga rang her saying God had appeared to him in a dream telling him Nino was his future wife.
He therefore asked her to meet him at Airport View Hotel in Entebbe to discuss the matter further. Despite being very busy with festive season schedules, he spared time and offered to pick her from her home in Nansana.
As earlier planned, the pastor picked her and drove to Entebbe direct in his Toyota Noah UAQ 041U. On reaching the hotel, the pastor requested her to enter into a relationship with him, with the intentions of marrying her on the promise that he would meet all her needs.
Following the pastor’s reputation and wealth, Nino welcomed the suggestion and started boozing freely like anyone whose prayers had been answered. Soon the two were embracing.
Moving in italics with lots of love, Nino kept referring to the pastor as honey. That night, they engaged in sexual intercourse at the hotel. According to the letter she wrote to UHRC, Nino says Pastor Yiga did not use a condom.
During the course of making love, the girl felt so much pain as her …. was ruptured by the pastor’s huge ….. Having been promised verbally that she would be loved till death, she persevered and kept making love amidst pain. The session lasted more than an hour non-stop without the pastor finishing.
In the morning, he gave her Shs200,000 and delivered her in Nansana. Nino who was promised a good life was over the moon telling whoever cared to listen in Nansana that she had hooked up a top pastor.
The two kept on meeting until they fell out a few weeks ago over reasons to be published in Saturday Pepper tomorrow.
When we called Pastor Yiga yesterday, he said he needed to meet our reporters in person adding that he sees many people daily and wanted to see Nino’s picture before commenting on the allegations.
Who is Pastor Yiga
Pastor Yiga was born on April 14, 1975 in Mawogola, Masaka District. He is the senior Pastor of Revival Christian Church (RCC) in Kawala. He is also one of the directors of Knowledge Center High School in Kawala, director at CARCOP, an orphanage project.
He started RCC on April 18, 2004 with a small following but currently it has more than 800 followers. The man of God who was inspired by Holy Spirit is well known with a slogan “Abizayo” meaning sending back the witchcraft to the original sender.
In a country that believes in witchcraft, Yiga came to rescue innocent people and send back the evil to the senders so that they can feel a taste of their own medicine.
The first church was located in Kiwunya in Nankulabye and after a period of one year, he transferred it to Kawala. The church is planted on a born again foundation but with a policy of welcoming all people of all kinds of beliefs. T.F Tinywana, Special Projects Team
Catholicism and the Worship of the Dead: Rev. Fr. Ngobya remains exhumed after 26 years
Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: (Romans 3:13)
Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.(Mark 7:6-7)
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (Matthew 15:4)
8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
Rev. Fr. Ngobya remains exhumed after 26 years
Publish Date: Apr 04, 2012
By Ali Mambule
Catholics from different parts of Uganda were on Tuesday astonished to learn that the heart, lungs, part of the brain and the kidney belonging to the late Msgr. Aloysius Ngobya who died 26 years ago were found intact.
Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa of the Masaka diocese told thousands of the believers who turned up for a special mass to pray for Msgr. Ngobya and the Sr. Amedeo Byabari at Kitovu Cathedral that the former’s clothes were also recovered when his grave was dug.
“I would not have said this but I was given the permission to declare what we recovered from the two servants of God’s graves,” Bishop Kaggwa told the Catholics who chanted and sang in praise of God.
The mass was also meant to publicly announce the team that was given the task to investigate and the acts of the two deceased persons to establish the truth about claims that they performed miracles before they are declared saints.
Reynard Cruise told the gathering that the work of investigating the acts of the two people begun earlier in 2002. The mother general Mary Magdalene Nakirijja of the Bannabiikira Sisters requested Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa to initiate the study or opening the ratification for Sr. Amedeo Byabari.
“In the same year, the Bishop also received a similar request from a number of Catholics for Msgr. Ngobya," Cruise, the deputy postulate in this work told the gathering.
He said that after eight years of critically analyzing the claims, Bishop Kaggwa decided to let the investigations into the ratification of the two servants of God to begin as stated by the Catholic faith.
Investigations
On October 10, 2010, Dr. Wadray Rudman was appointed to investigate the issues and Rudman in turn appointed Cruise to deputize him.
"On October 12, I requested Bishop Kaggwa to carry out investigations in the Diocese which investigations the Bishop is officially launching today," Cruise added.
Cruise, the vice postulator read the cause of the investigations of both Msgr. Ngobya and Sr. Amedeo and submitted the copies to the Bishop together with a list of witnesses and opinion of the theological census.
Two historical committees in charge of the two servants of God were sworn in together with other members to carry out the work.
Whereas Fr. John Baptist Kintu was sworn in as the chairperson for Msgr. Ngobya's committee, Sr. Sebastian from Bwanda was sworn in as the chairperson for Sr. Amedeo Byabari's committee.
Rev. Fr. Alex Sekatawa, the notary of the first session which sat in Kitovu Cathedral during the mass on Tuesday said that during the Episcopal conference that sat at St. Augustine's Institute Nsambya, the President of the conference the, Archbishop of Gulu John Baptist Odama asked the assembled Bishops for their opinion regarding the advisability of introducing the ratification and canonization causes of Msgr. Ngobya and Sr. Amedeo Byabari as requested by Bishop Kaggwa of Masaka diocese, and the assembly approved it.
No Rome flight for remains
While preaching to the Catholics, Bishop Kaggwa assured that the remains of the two servants of God would not be flown to Rome as some people had thought.
"We shall keep the remains amidst us and be contented that no-one would take them away," Bishop Kaggwa said but he did not highlight whether Ngobya and Sr. Amedeo would be reburied.
However, Bishop Kaggwa said that permission would soon be granted to believers who wanted to be given a chance to visit the place where Msgr. Ngobya's grave was.
"That place is now holy. Everyone will be given chance to visit it but you only need to be patient," the Bishop added.
He urged Ugandans to respect each other's religion and condemned those who changed religion like clothes, and called upon to respect the issue of matrimonial homes. He lashed at those who went in for trial marriages.
"Msgr. Ngobya and Sr. Amedeo came from religious and respectable families which all of you must fight to achieve," he said.
Bishop Kaggwa stressed that Msgr. Ngobya was a Ugandan who knew politics and prophesied that the National Resistance Army would take over the Uganadan government then before his death, which became a reality.
"Don't ask me what he would say about today's politics because I'll not speak for him," Kaggwa added.He called for justice for everyone saying that there were a number of innocent people rotting in prisons.
Msgr. Ngobya's grave remained enclosed and condoned off.
Ebyewuunyisa ku mulambo gwa Msgr. Ngobya: Teyavunda
http://www.bukedde.co.ug/news/62856-Ebyewuunyisa-ku--mulambo-gwa--Msgr--Ngobya--Teyavunda.html
Apr 04, 2012
Masaka
Bya S. Baagalayina ne Ali Mambule
OMULAMBO gwa Fr. Ngobya guwuunikirizza bannaddiini bwe guziikuddwa ne gusangibwa ng’ebimu ku bitundu byagwo omuli omutima, ensigo n’obwongo nga tebyavunda, byakala bukazi. Ngobya yafa emyaka 26 egiyise.
“Omutima, obumu ku bwongo bwe, ekimu ku bibumba bye, ensigo ze n’amagumba ge bisangiddwa mu ssanduuko mwe baamuziika kw’ogatta n’engoye zonna ezaamuziikibwamu,” Omusumba John Baptist Kaggwa ow’Essaza ly’e Masaka bwe yategeezezza Abakristu abangi abaakung’aanidde ku Lutikko e Kitovu eggulo n’agamba nti kino kyewuunyo kyennyini.
Yabadde ayimba mmisa ng’ogumu ku mikolo egyakoleddwa ng’abakugu abaasindikiddwa Paapa Benedict XVI, okwongera okunoonya obujulizi okunaasinziirwa okulangirira Fr. Aloysius Ngobya ne Sr. Amedeo ng’Abatuukirivu mu Klezia Katolika.
Kaabadde kayisanyo kennyini ng’ebisigala ebyabadde mu ssanduuko ebbiri; emu nga nnyimpi endala nga mpanvu, nga biyingizibwa mu Lutikko e Kitovu wakati mu bannaddiini abaakulembeddwa Abasumba basatu, okwabadde Paul Kalanda eyawummula e Fort Portal ne Anthony Zziwa owa Kiyinda Mityana, abasosoodooti n’abasiisita bangi ddala.
Bano bonna baakulembeddwa bbandi y’Abaseminaaliyo b’e Bukalasa bakira abakuba ennyimba ezitendereza Katonda, olwo abantu bangi abaakedde okweyiwa ku Lutikko ne batandika okuyaayaana nga bagezaako okukwata ku ssanduukop zino ate abalala nga bwe bakoonyaako ssapule zaabwe.
Ng’oggyeko bannaddiini omukolo era gwetabiddwako banene bangi omwabadde Pookino w’e Buddu, Charles Kiyimba Kwewaayo ne Bannabyabufuzi ab’enjawulo.
EBISIGALA TEBABITWALA ROMA
Abantu bangi baawuliddwa nga baalajanira Abayitale abazze okukola omulimu guno nti baleme kubatwalako bisigala bino era Bp. Kaggwa n’ayanguwa mangu okubagumya nti ebisigala bya kusigala tebabitwala Roma.
Wabula yabasabye bwe baba basaba nga bayita mu bantu bano ababiri bakikole n’obwegendereza baleme kukikoleramu nsobi ate n’asaba abakyalina ebibasiba, omuli obufumbo obw’ensonga, babitereeze basobole okusaba essaala zaabwe zituuke.
Mu lukuubo, lwonna omwayisiddwa ssanduuko zino abantu bakira bakunukkiriza ne bazikwatako, okussaako obucupa bw’amazzi n’okubikkako leesu zaabwe n’ekigendererwa ky’okufuna emikisa okuva eri Fr. Ngobya ne Sr. Amedeo.
Omusumba Kaggwa agambye abantu abeetabye ku mukolo guno nti baabadde baamukisa okubaawo ne beerabirako n’okwewulirirako ku by’amagero Katonda by’akolera eggwanga lye nti kuba tewali yali amanyi lunaku ki lwe kiribaawo.
BEEWUUNYA SSANDDUUKO
“Mulaba ssanduuko zino tezenkanankana, n’abantu tetwenkanankana, oluvannyuma lw’emyaka nga bali mu ttaka, baasimmuddwaayo ng’eno ennyimpi mwe muli ebisigala bya Sr. Amedeo nga wayise emyaka 33 ng’aziikiddwa mu limbo e Bwanda ate eno ennamba mwe muli ebya Msgr. Ngobya amaze emyaka 26 ng’aziikiddwa,” Bwe yakkaatirizza.
N’agattako nti obunene bwa ssanduuke zombi, kyabadde kibamala bumazi okumanya, byenkana wa ebyazuuliddwa mu ntaana zaabwe n’agamba nti omubaka eyatumiddwa okuva e Roma, Br. Raynold Kruse yazitaddeko envumbo era tekikyasoboka kubabikkulirako kulaba biri munda. “Mbakakasa nti Msgr. Ngobya ne Sr. Amedeo ssi baakulinnyisibwa nnyonyi kutwalibwa mitala w’amayanja wazira bajja kusigala mu makkati gaffe”, Omusumba bwe yagumizza abantu n’akubirwa engalo nnyingi n’obululu.
Agugumbudde abavvoola Yagugumbudde abavvoola enzikiriza z’abalala n’abagamba nti bwe kiba nga balemeddwa okubuulira ebyo bye bamanyiiko waakiri ebituuti babiveeko nti kuba ye tayimirirangako ku Ataali n’ayigiriza bya Busiraamu.
“Eddiini za njawulo n’ebyezikiriza bya njawulo era tuziwe ekitiibwa, yigiriza by’omanyi, ttovvoola ddiini ya munno, ab’enzikiriza endala mbawa ekitiibwa kyabwe kuba nninayo mikwano gyange bangi, ebyabwe ssibiyigiriza kuba ssibimanyi,” bwe yakkaatirizza.
Abakristu abagenda e Mbuye, ayongedde okubakomako nti ‘teri by’amagero bikolebwayo n’abagendayo beetwalira muliro, nti era tewaaliyo kulabikirwa kwa Bikira Maria.
NGOBYA YALAGULA OKUFA KWE
1. Ku by’amagero bya Ngobya, Omusumba ategeezezza nti olutalo lwa NRA nga lukwajja, Ngobya yalagula nti ye Ngobya okufa nga luwedde era bwe gwali.
2. N’agattako nti ate Ngobya bwe yatunuulira mu kabienti y’omugenzi Polof. Yusufu Kironde Lule nga yaakalangirirwa ku Bwapulezidenti n’alagula nti eyo tejja kuwangaala.
3. Ekirala, abajaasi b’omu nkambi y’e Kasijjagirwa baamukunguzza ku kabangali ng’akutte ekikopo omuli omugaati n’evviini ne bamwegayirira okutuula n’agaana nti tatuula nga Mukama we tatudde wabula bwe baamutuusa mu nkambi, wonna ne wakyankalana okutuusa lwe baamuzzaayo.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Otunnu links Lubanga crimes to Museveni
Otunnu links Lubanga crimes to Museveni
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1377910/-/awnvagz/-/index.html
By Ismail Musa Ladu
Posted Sunday, April 1 2012 at 15:47
Uganda Peoples Congress party president Olara Otunnu wants President Museveni tried for recruiting child soldiers between 1980 and 1986, saying both convicted warlord, Thomas Lubanga, and the president are birds of the same feather.
According to the former UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, President Museveni is a typical candidate for the ICC given his role in co-opting child soldiers into his guerilla outfit that toppled the military government of the late Tito Okello Lutwa in 1986.
In an interview with Uganda Correspondent Newspaper, a UK-based paper, the UPC party chief was quoted as saying that the Uganda’s president should not be treated any different from Mr Lubanga because the warlord did not only commit similar atrocities but was also sponsored by President Museveni.
“Mr Lubanga was a relatively small player in the DR Congo. What gave Lubanga his power and sway in the Congo was actually sponsorship by Ugandan leaders,” Mr Otunnu said while on a working visit to the United Kingdom.
“The little fellow [Lubanga] who was manipulated from Uganda has been charged, but the real fellows who were in charge of his crimes are walking scot-free. That is what is wrong with the application of the Rome Statue.”
He said in the interview that he told ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo that the ICC’s process and choice of those to be indicted has not only been politicised but highly selective too.
“I still very much hope that what was done inside Uganda and elsewhere in Congo will be punished. I hope to see a day of reckoning when the ICC will investigate and bring them to book for what they did,” Mr Otunnu said before adding that, “Thomas Lubanga was not a hugely significant player in the overall scheme of things.”
The government spokesperson, Mary Karooro Okurut dismissed the UPC party boss claims saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously because there is nothing new about it.
“That is what he has been saying since he returned,” said Okurut.
Background
The particular provision in the Rome Statute under which Thomas Lubanga was convicted was drafted by Mr Otunnu himself.
The UPC leader also faulted western countries for turning a blind eye to atrocities committed against Ugandans while they react to similar atrocities in other countries like Cote-d’Ivoire and Mali where he said fewer civilians are massacred on streets.
iladu@ug.nationmedia.com
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1377910/-/awnvagz/-/index.html
By Ismail Musa Ladu
Posted Sunday, April 1 2012 at 15:47
Uganda Peoples Congress party president Olara Otunnu wants President Museveni tried for recruiting child soldiers between 1980 and 1986, saying both convicted warlord, Thomas Lubanga, and the president are birds of the same feather.
According to the former UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, President Museveni is a typical candidate for the ICC given his role in co-opting child soldiers into his guerilla outfit that toppled the military government of the late Tito Okello Lutwa in 1986.
In an interview with Uganda Correspondent Newspaper, a UK-based paper, the UPC party chief was quoted as saying that the Uganda’s president should not be treated any different from Mr Lubanga because the warlord did not only commit similar atrocities but was also sponsored by President Museveni.
“Mr Lubanga was a relatively small player in the DR Congo. What gave Lubanga his power and sway in the Congo was actually sponsorship by Ugandan leaders,” Mr Otunnu said while on a working visit to the United Kingdom.
“The little fellow [Lubanga] who was manipulated from Uganda has been charged, but the real fellows who were in charge of his crimes are walking scot-free. That is what is wrong with the application of the Rome Statue.”
He said in the interview that he told ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo that the ICC’s process and choice of those to be indicted has not only been politicised but highly selective too.
“I still very much hope that what was done inside Uganda and elsewhere in Congo will be punished. I hope to see a day of reckoning when the ICC will investigate and bring them to book for what they did,” Mr Otunnu said before adding that, “Thomas Lubanga was not a hugely significant player in the overall scheme of things.”
The government spokesperson, Mary Karooro Okurut dismissed the UPC party boss claims saying they shouldn’t be taken seriously because there is nothing new about it.
“That is what he has been saying since he returned,” said Okurut.
Background
The particular provision in the Rome Statute under which Thomas Lubanga was convicted was drafted by Mr Otunnu himself.
The UPC leader also faulted western countries for turning a blind eye to atrocities committed against Ugandans while they react to similar atrocities in other countries like Cote-d’Ivoire and Mali where he said fewer civilians are massacred on streets.
iladu@ug.nationmedia.com
UN envoy, clergy clash over genocide claims
UN envoy, clergy clash over genocide claims
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1378076/-/awnduwz/-/index.html
By Sam Lawino
Posted Monday, April 2 2012 at 00:00
A United Nations official and clergy have clashed over a claim that killings in northern Uganda during the insurgency do not amount to genocide.
Mr Patrick Amihere, the United Nations representative in the northern Ugandan, clashed with the clergy during a dialogue on Amnesty Act in Gulu on Friday, when he said the killings do not amount to genocide as claimed by the clergy, because there was no deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of the Acholi ethnic group.
“The bishops and other leaders should be acquainted with the legal instruments and not let their understanding and perception limit the dealing with complexity of the crime,” Mr Amihere said during a meeting organised by the Northern Uganda Transitional Justice Working Group to seek opinions of northern Uganda leaders on the Amnesty Act.
The retired Bishop of Kitgum Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Macleord Baker Ochola II, had earlier said that whereas the Amnesty Act, which will expire in May, should be extended and amended to realise its full goals, the government must also take responsibilities for “genocide” in northern Uganda.
“Government was there and they acted as if there was no government. LRA was killing people and they were not stopped,” Bishop Ochola said.
He said the world should not only prosecute LRA leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also investigate the killings in northern Uganda.
“UN says mental element and how do you judge mental intent to destroy a tribe, of course there was genocide in Uganda and it is clear,” Bishop Ochola said.
Bishop Ochola quoted a report released by African Peer Review Mechanism in 2004 that stated that 1,000 children were dying per week in IDP camps in northern Uganda, adding that although it is difficult to measure mental state to adduce genocide, there were underlying elements that indicates that genocide occurred.
The Bishop of Christ Central Christian Ministries in Teso, the Rev Bernard Ebian, wondered whether the UN was satisfied with any research reports on the killings.
The Rev. Ebian claimed that at times the UN officials were escorted by government agents to people who were told by the government to downplay factual information.
He said the people in Teso were demanding further investigations into crimes committed in the region during insurgency to ensure peace, security and reconciliation.
The Chairman of the Itesot War Victims Association, Mr Papa Imodo, said alleged mass murders carried out by government troops in Teso Sub-region in the 80s amounted to genocide.
He cited Serere were he claimed that 200 people were killed and Mukura where 69 people were suffocated in a train wagon.
The government has previously dismissed claims that the northern war was a genocide, denying allegations that it targeted the Achoil. Most deaths have been blamed on the LRA.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1378076/-/awnduwz/-/index.html
By Sam Lawino
Posted Monday, April 2 2012 at 00:00
A United Nations official and clergy have clashed over a claim that killings in northern Uganda during the insurgency do not amount to genocide.
Mr Patrick Amihere, the United Nations representative in the northern Ugandan, clashed with the clergy during a dialogue on Amnesty Act in Gulu on Friday, when he said the killings do not amount to genocide as claimed by the clergy, because there was no deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of the Acholi ethnic group.
“The bishops and other leaders should be acquainted with the legal instruments and not let their understanding and perception limit the dealing with complexity of the crime,” Mr Amihere said during a meeting organised by the Northern Uganda Transitional Justice Working Group to seek opinions of northern Uganda leaders on the Amnesty Act.
The retired Bishop of Kitgum Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Macleord Baker Ochola II, had earlier said that whereas the Amnesty Act, which will expire in May, should be extended and amended to realise its full goals, the government must also take responsibilities for “genocide” in northern Uganda.
“Government was there and they acted as if there was no government. LRA was killing people and they were not stopped,” Bishop Ochola said.
He said the world should not only prosecute LRA leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also investigate the killings in northern Uganda.
“UN says mental element and how do you judge mental intent to destroy a tribe, of course there was genocide in Uganda and it is clear,” Bishop Ochola said.
Bishop Ochola quoted a report released by African Peer Review Mechanism in 2004 that stated that 1,000 children were dying per week in IDP camps in northern Uganda, adding that although it is difficult to measure mental state to adduce genocide, there were underlying elements that indicates that genocide occurred.
The Bishop of Christ Central Christian Ministries in Teso, the Rev Bernard Ebian, wondered whether the UN was satisfied with any research reports on the killings.
The Rev. Ebian claimed that at times the UN officials were escorted by government agents to people who were told by the government to downplay factual information.
He said the people in Teso were demanding further investigations into crimes committed in the region during insurgency to ensure peace, security and reconciliation.
The Chairman of the Itesot War Victims Association, Mr Papa Imodo, said alleged mass murders carried out by government troops in Teso Sub-region in the 80s amounted to genocide.
He cited Serere were he claimed that 200 people were killed and Mukura where 69 people were suffocated in a train wagon.
The government has previously dismissed claims that the northern war was a genocide, denying allegations that it targeted the Achoil. Most deaths have been blamed on the LRA.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Digging into the deception of the American New world order system: Jason Russell’s masturbation and the Invisible children deception
First Watch:
KONY 2012 SCAM - Obama Deploys US Special Forces to Africa ( ALEX JONES INFOWARS )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJFPNn76nFk
Jason Russell (KONY 2012) gets naked, goes crazy & and swings nutz in San Deigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-2BYwMCmbU
THE MAIN REASON THAT THE U.S. IS TARGETING THE LRA IS THAT IT IS "UNSETTLING" AMERICA'S ATTEMPT TO RAPE THE AREA OF ITS OIL AND MINERAL RIGHTS.
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article026.htm
New film on LRA courts controversy
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-film-on-lra-courts-controversy.html
Obama sends 100 US troops to Uganda to fight LRA: It is not what you think!!!
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to.html
My analysis
It is very possible that this Jason Russel guy is a CIA agent. Now, that his invisible children film has been exposed as a documentary intended to hide the evils of the American new world order system, this so called Jason madness is intended to divert attention from critical analysis of the film to Jason’s condition. The truth is that Kony has been terrorizing Uganda for decades amidst the silence of the Americans. But, now that he is an obstacle to their rooting of Congo resources, they want to swing into action. They want to justify their sending of 100 US soldiers to help track Kony. They have protected Museveni and hidden his dictatorship and human rights violations in the war in northern Uganda and Congo.
Jason Russell Arrested? Co-Founder Of Invisible Children, 'Kony 2012' Creator, Not Charged In San Diego (VIDEO, UPDATE)
Posted: 03/16/2012 4:45 pm Updated: 03/19/2012 7:04 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-arrested-invisible-children-kony_n_1354455.html
Jason Russell, the co-founder of Invisible Children, the advocacy group behind the "Kony 2012" viral video, was detained and taken by police to a medical facility for evaluation on Thursday morning after he was reported to be in his underwear, yelling incoherently and disrupting traffic in a San Diego neighborhood.
Law enforcement officials say there are no charges pending against Russell.
Lt. Andra Brown of the San Diego Police Department told The Huffington Post that a 33-year-old white male was not arrested but "transported to a local medical facility for evaluation and treatment." She would not confirm the identity of the man involved in the incident, but various media outlets report that it was the 33-year-old Russell.
In a statement posted online, Ben Keesey, the CEO of Invisible Children, also confirmed that Russell had been involved in an incident: "The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue."
Scroll down for Keesey's full statement.
According to the San Diego Police Department, officers responded to reports of a male in his underwear pounding his fists on the sidewalk and yelling incoherently, disrupting traffic in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego. Police said that one caller reported that the man was nude and could have been masturbating, but officers did not confirm that when they arrived.
According to TMZ, Russell was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. Police also told TMZ that he was vandalizing cars.
Russell created the 30-minute film featuring himself, his son, Gavin, and a former child soldier from Uganda named Jacob. Last week, the film received millions of views and rocketed Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, to fame. However, many were quick to respond with criticisms of the film and the organization's spending practices.
Russell is described on the organization's website as a "grand storyteller and dreamer" who dreams of "redefining the concept of humanitarian work" and having "nine more children" with his wife.
"Kony 2012" has received nearly 100 million views on Vimeo and YouTube.
Updated 6:25 p.m. EDT:
KONY 2012 SCAM - Obama Deploys US Special Forces to Africa ( ALEX JONES INFOWARS )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJFPNn76nFk
Jason Russell (KONY 2012) gets naked, goes crazy & and swings nutz in San Deigo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-2BYwMCmbU
THE MAIN REASON THAT THE U.S. IS TARGETING THE LRA IS THAT IT IS "UNSETTLING" AMERICA'S ATTEMPT TO RAPE THE AREA OF ITS OIL AND MINERAL RIGHTS.
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article026.htm
New film on LRA courts controversy
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-film-on-lra-courts-controversy.html
Obama sends 100 US troops to Uganda to fight LRA: It is not what you think!!!
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to.html
My analysis
It is very possible that this Jason Russel guy is a CIA agent. Now, that his invisible children film has been exposed as a documentary intended to hide the evils of the American new world order system, this so called Jason madness is intended to divert attention from critical analysis of the film to Jason’s condition. The truth is that Kony has been terrorizing Uganda for decades amidst the silence of the Americans. But, now that he is an obstacle to their rooting of Congo resources, they want to swing into action. They want to justify their sending of 100 US soldiers to help track Kony. They have protected Museveni and hidden his dictatorship and human rights violations in the war in northern Uganda and Congo.
Jason Russell Arrested? Co-Founder Of Invisible Children, 'Kony 2012' Creator, Not Charged In San Diego (VIDEO, UPDATE)
Posted: 03/16/2012 4:45 pm Updated: 03/19/2012 7:04 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/jason-russell-arrested-invisible-children-kony_n_1354455.html
Jason Russell, the co-founder of Invisible Children, the advocacy group behind the "Kony 2012" viral video, was detained and taken by police to a medical facility for evaluation on Thursday morning after he was reported to be in his underwear, yelling incoherently and disrupting traffic in a San Diego neighborhood.
Law enforcement officials say there are no charges pending against Russell.
Lt. Andra Brown of the San Diego Police Department told The Huffington Post that a 33-year-old white male was not arrested but "transported to a local medical facility for evaluation and treatment." She would not confirm the identity of the man involved in the incident, but various media outlets report that it was the 33-year-old Russell.
In a statement posted online, Ben Keesey, the CEO of Invisible Children, also confirmed that Russell had been involved in an incident: "The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday. Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue."
Scroll down for Keesey's full statement.
According to the San Diego Police Department, officers responded to reports of a male in his underwear pounding his fists on the sidewalk and yelling incoherently, disrupting traffic in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego. Police said that one caller reported that the man was nude and could have been masturbating, but officers did not confirm that when they arrived.
According to TMZ, Russell was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. Police also told TMZ that he was vandalizing cars.
Russell created the 30-minute film featuring himself, his son, Gavin, and a former child soldier from Uganda named Jacob. Last week, the film received millions of views and rocketed Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, to fame. However, many were quick to respond with criticisms of the film and the organization's spending practices.
Russell is described on the organization's website as a "grand storyteller and dreamer" who dreams of "redefining the concept of humanitarian work" and having "nine more children" with his wife.
"Kony 2012" has received nearly 100 million views on Vimeo and YouTube.
Updated 6:25 p.m. EDT:
Mamdani blames World Bank for poor education standards
Mamdani blames World Bank for poor education standards
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/629923-Mamdani-blames-World-Bank-for-poor-education-standards.html
Publish Date: Mar 28, 2012
By Francis Kagolo
Renowned scholar Prof. Mahmood Mamdani has blamed the World Bank for the poor quality of university education in Uganda and across Africa.
Mamdani particularly attributed Makerere University’s current woes and fading glory to the World Bank’s ill-fated structural adjustment policies (SAPs) on education.
He said the Bank ill-advised African governments, Uganda inclusive, to shift investment from higher education and focus on primary education in 1980s. He said the policy did not only kill higher education but also murdered the quality of primary education too.
According to Mamdani, “the World Bank convinced the Government that university education was not only elitist but a luxury that society could not afford.”
As a result, the Government focused on primary education and left universities to be funded mainly by the students’ families through the private sponsorship scheme.
“The logic was elegant but populist and faulty,” Mamdani said. “It has had disastrous consequences for higher education, not just in Uganda but wherever it has been applied in Africa.”
He made the remarks during the fourth lecture of the Makerere University Africa lecture series on Thursday.
The lecture was held in memory of Dr. Joshua Mugyenyi, a former Bank of Uganda secretary, whom the former premier Prof. Apollo Nsibambi eulogized as “an intellectual and Uganda’s political liberator for fighting (Milton Obote’s) autocratic rule.”
Mugyenyi participated in the formation of the National Resistance Army (NRA) in Kenya in 1981 which later took over power in 1985.
Mamdani quashed the World Bank’s education policies, arguing that the primary school system could not thrive without a flourishing university system.
“Who would train administrators and teachers for primary schools? Who would design the curriculum? The answer to both questions is: universities,” he stated.
He added: “It is nonsense to think that the benefit of higher education goes only or even mainly to those who teach, work or study there.”
“It is like saying that the benefit of a power dam goes only to the management and the workers in the dam, ignoring the millions whose workplaces and houses, offices and streets, are lit by that power.”
Mamdani expressed discontent that the Government was lagging behind in increasing funding for higher education even after the World Bank realized its mistake and changed the policy in the late 1990s.
He however, said the World Bank ought to pay for its mistakes by funding universities like Makerere whose suffering is a result of its ill-conceived policies.
“The World Bank claims to be a champion of the free market. Well, the first law of the market is that if you make a bad investment, you must pay for it,” he said.
“But the Bank has a long history of making bad investments, yet it has never paid the cost of even one wrong decision. It has simply withdrawn and left its clients to pay the bill. The Bank has the luxury of not living by the rules it forces on others.”
Prof. Nsibambi, however, defended the Government for implementing the World Bank 1980s’ policy on education, saying Uganda would lose out on aid had the policy not been implemented.
The former Ugandan Prime Minister said Madman was unrealistic in his criticism of the Government.
“When the World Bank came up with the policy, Uganda produced a defiant budget in 1987. The Bank then denied us credit. President Museveni had to tactfully accept the SAPs because he was managing an ailing economy,” Nsibambi defended the 1987 education adoption.
The memorial lecture was also attended by a number of ministers and Kenya’s medical services minister, Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/629923-Mamdani-blames-World-Bank-for-poor-education-standards.html
Publish Date: Mar 28, 2012
By Francis Kagolo
Renowned scholar Prof. Mahmood Mamdani has blamed the World Bank for the poor quality of university education in Uganda and across Africa.
Mamdani particularly attributed Makerere University’s current woes and fading glory to the World Bank’s ill-fated structural adjustment policies (SAPs) on education.
He said the Bank ill-advised African governments, Uganda inclusive, to shift investment from higher education and focus on primary education in 1980s. He said the policy did not only kill higher education but also murdered the quality of primary education too.
According to Mamdani, “the World Bank convinced the Government that university education was not only elitist but a luxury that society could not afford.”
As a result, the Government focused on primary education and left universities to be funded mainly by the students’ families through the private sponsorship scheme.
“The logic was elegant but populist and faulty,” Mamdani said. “It has had disastrous consequences for higher education, not just in Uganda but wherever it has been applied in Africa.”
He made the remarks during the fourth lecture of the Makerere University Africa lecture series on Thursday.
The lecture was held in memory of Dr. Joshua Mugyenyi, a former Bank of Uganda secretary, whom the former premier Prof. Apollo Nsibambi eulogized as “an intellectual and Uganda’s political liberator for fighting (Milton Obote’s) autocratic rule.”
Mugyenyi participated in the formation of the National Resistance Army (NRA) in Kenya in 1981 which later took over power in 1985.
Mamdani quashed the World Bank’s education policies, arguing that the primary school system could not thrive without a flourishing university system.
“Who would train administrators and teachers for primary schools? Who would design the curriculum? The answer to both questions is: universities,” he stated.
He added: “It is nonsense to think that the benefit of higher education goes only or even mainly to those who teach, work or study there.”
“It is like saying that the benefit of a power dam goes only to the management and the workers in the dam, ignoring the millions whose workplaces and houses, offices and streets, are lit by that power.”
Mamdani expressed discontent that the Government was lagging behind in increasing funding for higher education even after the World Bank realized its mistake and changed the policy in the late 1990s.
He however, said the World Bank ought to pay for its mistakes by funding universities like Makerere whose suffering is a result of its ill-conceived policies.
“The World Bank claims to be a champion of the free market. Well, the first law of the market is that if you make a bad investment, you must pay for it,” he said.
“But the Bank has a long history of making bad investments, yet it has never paid the cost of even one wrong decision. It has simply withdrawn and left its clients to pay the bill. The Bank has the luxury of not living by the rules it forces on others.”
Prof. Nsibambi, however, defended the Government for implementing the World Bank 1980s’ policy on education, saying Uganda would lose out on aid had the policy not been implemented.
The former Ugandan Prime Minister said Madman was unrealistic in his criticism of the Government.
“When the World Bank came up with the policy, Uganda produced a defiant budget in 1987. The Bank then denied us credit. President Museveni had to tactfully accept the SAPs because he was managing an ailing economy,” Nsibambi defended the 1987 education adoption.
The memorial lecture was also attended by a number of ministers and Kenya’s medical services minister, Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.
Friday, 9 March 2012
Don’t teach sex in schools: President Museveni challenges Neo-liberal corporate interests behind the HIV/AIDS crusade
First Read:
Ugandan President confronts junk science head on : Museveni warns on male circumcision
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/07/ugandan-president-confronts-junk.html
My analysis
I think President Museveni has come to the realization that the enormous interests behind HIV/AIDS crusade are aiming at promoting condom use in order to boost ‘corporate’ profits. Most of these NGOs in the HIV/AIDS crusade have been infiltrated by neo-liberal corporate interests. Neo-liberal capitalists are interested in increasing HIV infection all over the world for profit sake. President Museveni is right to emphasise abstinence and being faithful. These are the best methods of protecting the Youth against HIV spread. Recently, President Museveni challenged Uganda’s bogus circumcision crusade. The president has come to the realization that corporate profiteers are only interests in increasing the level of HIV infection so as to reap more profits from people’s misery. Statistics indicate that Mbale is one of the places in Uganda with a sky rocketing, HIV infection rate. If Circumcision reduces the rate of HIV infection, how comes HIV infection is increasing among the Bagishu who culturally practice circumcision ? This is the million dollar question.
Don’t teach sex in schools - Museveni
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362342/-/axe1enz/-/index.html
By Felix Warom Okello & Patrick Okaba
Posted Friday, March 9 2012 at 00:00
President Museveni has warned civil society organisations against promoting sex education in schools and asked the community to declare a zero tolerance for gender based violence.
Speaking at the national celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day in Nebbi, West Nile yesterday, the President warned that while the motive of “foreign NGO messages on sex education” may be good, they must not encourage promiscuity and turn classrooms into bedrooms.
Mr Museveni says, instead of promoting the use of condoms under the guise that it will prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and unnecessary abortions, the NGOs and teachers should focus on abstinence.
“Be careful with some of these messages from foreign NGOs. For them they are saying a child can become a wife as long as she uses a condom. This is not the way to counsel our children,” Mr Museveni said.
“Our message is put padlocks on your private parts until the time comes to open them when you have a husband. You are not there just to taste and taste (jaribu, jaribu). I can’t tell my daughter or granddaughter to do that. If you start with the right message from the beginning, they will take it.”
Mr Museveni also warned that if the practice is promoted in schools, the country will plunge into immorality.
Although there have been efforts to fight gender-based violence, the President noted that it still occurrs in homes, schools and workplaces. He further proposed that those who engage in incest and defilement be hanged to stop the crime completely.
“I don’t support the idea of mutilation for men who commit incest or defilement. I think hanging them is much better. Girls are not only threatened by harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, and defilement, it goes on with impunity leading to many negative consequences,” he said.
Although the government has been promoting the ABC (Abstinence, be faithful and the use of condom) in the fight against HIV/Aids, the Ministry of Education, according to Mr Aggrey Kibenge, the undersecretary, advocates only abstinence in schools.
He urges that their biggest population in schools are minors (below 18 years) and should not be introduced to behaviour that will provoke their instinct.
“The children in our schools are very young and active. I can’t imagine my child in P2 being taught sex education. What does she know?” Mr Kibenge asked in an earlier interview with Daily Monitor.
The women, through their National Women Council chairperson, Ms Rose Najjemba, want the government to reinforce the socio-economic and political programmes for women with more funds. She said yesterday that human rights for girls have been compromised.
“The women in Uganda are still not benefiting from the economic empowerment. I propose that any man who commits incest, should be castrated and we shall push for the law on this,” Ms Najjembe added.
The Regional Representative of UN Women for East and Horn of Africa, Ms Simone Elis, also asked government to enforce the relevant laws that protect and promote girls education and women’s rights.
“The gender-based violence has frustrated efforts to promote rights of girls and women and even economic empowerment should be geared towards poverty alleviation,” she said.
Ugandan President confronts junk science head on : Museveni warns on male circumcision
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/07/ugandan-president-confronts-junk.html
My analysis
I think President Museveni has come to the realization that the enormous interests behind HIV/AIDS crusade are aiming at promoting condom use in order to boost ‘corporate’ profits. Most of these NGOs in the HIV/AIDS crusade have been infiltrated by neo-liberal corporate interests. Neo-liberal capitalists are interested in increasing HIV infection all over the world for profit sake. President Museveni is right to emphasise abstinence and being faithful. These are the best methods of protecting the Youth against HIV spread. Recently, President Museveni challenged Uganda’s bogus circumcision crusade. The president has come to the realization that corporate profiteers are only interests in increasing the level of HIV infection so as to reap more profits from people’s misery. Statistics indicate that Mbale is one of the places in Uganda with a sky rocketing, HIV infection rate. If Circumcision reduces the rate of HIV infection, how comes HIV infection is increasing among the Bagishu who culturally practice circumcision ? This is the million dollar question.
Don’t teach sex in schools - Museveni
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362342/-/axe1enz/-/index.html
By Felix Warom Okello & Patrick Okaba
Posted Friday, March 9 2012 at 00:00
President Museveni has warned civil society organisations against promoting sex education in schools and asked the community to declare a zero tolerance for gender based violence.
Speaking at the national celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day in Nebbi, West Nile yesterday, the President warned that while the motive of “foreign NGO messages on sex education” may be good, they must not encourage promiscuity and turn classrooms into bedrooms.
Mr Museveni says, instead of promoting the use of condoms under the guise that it will prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and unnecessary abortions, the NGOs and teachers should focus on abstinence.
“Be careful with some of these messages from foreign NGOs. For them they are saying a child can become a wife as long as she uses a condom. This is not the way to counsel our children,” Mr Museveni said.
“Our message is put padlocks on your private parts until the time comes to open them when you have a husband. You are not there just to taste and taste (jaribu, jaribu). I can’t tell my daughter or granddaughter to do that. If you start with the right message from the beginning, they will take it.”
Mr Museveni also warned that if the practice is promoted in schools, the country will plunge into immorality.
Although there have been efforts to fight gender-based violence, the President noted that it still occurrs in homes, schools and workplaces. He further proposed that those who engage in incest and defilement be hanged to stop the crime completely.
“I don’t support the idea of mutilation for men who commit incest or defilement. I think hanging them is much better. Girls are not only threatened by harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, and defilement, it goes on with impunity leading to many negative consequences,” he said.
Although the government has been promoting the ABC (Abstinence, be faithful and the use of condom) in the fight against HIV/Aids, the Ministry of Education, according to Mr Aggrey Kibenge, the undersecretary, advocates only abstinence in schools.
He urges that their biggest population in schools are minors (below 18 years) and should not be introduced to behaviour that will provoke their instinct.
“The children in our schools are very young and active. I can’t imagine my child in P2 being taught sex education. What does she know?” Mr Kibenge asked in an earlier interview with Daily Monitor.
The women, through their National Women Council chairperson, Ms Rose Najjemba, want the government to reinforce the socio-economic and political programmes for women with more funds. She said yesterday that human rights for girls have been compromised.
“The women in Uganda are still not benefiting from the economic empowerment. I propose that any man who commits incest, should be castrated and we shall push for the law on this,” Ms Najjembe added.
The Regional Representative of UN Women for East and Horn of Africa, Ms Simone Elis, also asked government to enforce the relevant laws that protect and promote girls education and women’s rights.
“The gender-based violence has frustrated efforts to promote rights of girls and women and even economic empowerment should be geared towards poverty alleviation,” she said.
New film on LRA courts controversy
FIRST READ:
EXPOSING THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WITH WHOM TODAY'S CHRISTIAN LEADERS HAVE ALLIED THEMSELVES
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article205.htm
WATCH CONTROVERSIAL MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
New film on LRA courts controversy
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362338/-/axe1fdz/-/index.html
By Tabu Butagira
Posted Friday, March 9 2012 at 00:00
In Kampala, former Gulu District chairman and Democratic Party president Norbert Mao, who features in the video urging a halt to massacres by LRA rebels, however, faulted the documentary for lack of balance.“It needs to be told clearly to the world that northern Uganda does not have LRA activities. Invisible Children seems scared to take on Uganda government, and if they are not showing atrocities committed by UPDF, we are not happy,” Mr Mao said.
A sensational video released by Invisible Children, a US charity, chronicling LRA anarchy in northern Uganda, has raised suspicion after its maker exhorts immediate American military action at a time the rebel force poses no threat to the country.
The 30-minute documentary titled, Kony 2012, has at its heart a tear-jerking narration by LRA survivor Jacob, a teenager from Acholi sub-region, the former epicentre for the rebellion.
The rebels first escaped to South Sudan and onward to DRC’s dense Garamba Forest, before spreading to Central African Republic.
Latest UN alerts indicate they have resumed plunder of villages, abduction and or killing of civilians after a four-month respite.
In the movie uploaded on YouTube on Monday, which had been viewed 32.6 million times by 6pm yesterday, Jacob tells of how LRA rebels beheaded his brother.
“It’s better to kill us,” he tells the movie-maker Jason Russell, a co-founder of Invisible Children. The teenager says immediate death would relieve him of an uncertain future, and enable him spiritually re-unite with his slain brother.
The image of toddler Garvin, Mr Russell’s son, is flashed and he can be heard concluding that Kony is a “bad guy” who must be “stopped”.
UPDF spokesman Felix Kulayigye said he had not watched the video but welcomed any help to capture or kill the elusive rebel chief.
“Whether Kony is in Uganda or not, the bottom line is he must be eliminated. The crime he is committing elsewhere is still against humanity,” Col. Kulayigye .
Critics
Government officials contacted by this newspaper were unaware of the video that has elicited social media comments from world celebrities; singer Robyn Rihanna and TV personality Oprah Winfrey.
“Everybody who’s tweeting me about #LRA I’ve helped. Gave major dollars had Invisible Children on my show 2x,” Oprah tweeted.
In Kampala, former Gulu District chairman and Democratic Party president Norbert Mao, who features in the video urging a halt to massacres by LRA rebels, however, faulted the documentary for lack of balance.
“It needs to be told clearly to the world that northern Uganda does not have LRA activities. Invisible Children seems scared to take on Uganda government, and if they are not showing atrocities committed by UPDF, we are not happy,” Mr Mao said.
The NGO also came under strong criticism after it emerged that it spent only 30 per cent of the $8.9m (Shs 20b) it mobilised for the children in their names from well-wishers. The bulk of the cash was expended on salaries, office rentals, travel as well as filming, according to Invisible Children’s audited accounts.
Invisible Children, Enough Project and Resolve jointly wrote to US president Barack Obama on Wednesday, urging him to keep the Special Forces in the Great Lakes and pressure regional governments to cooperate to apprehend Kony before the end of this year.
tbutagira@ug.nationmedia.com
EXPOSING THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WITH WHOM TODAY'S CHRISTIAN LEADERS HAVE ALLIED THEMSELVES
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article205.htm
WATCH CONTROVERSIAL MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
New film on LRA courts controversy
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362338/-/axe1fdz/-/index.html
By Tabu Butagira
Posted Friday, March 9 2012 at 00:00
In Kampala, former Gulu District chairman and Democratic Party president Norbert Mao, who features in the video urging a halt to massacres by LRA rebels, however, faulted the documentary for lack of balance.“It needs to be told clearly to the world that northern Uganda does not have LRA activities. Invisible Children seems scared to take on Uganda government, and if they are not showing atrocities committed by UPDF, we are not happy,” Mr Mao said.
A sensational video released by Invisible Children, a US charity, chronicling LRA anarchy in northern Uganda, has raised suspicion after its maker exhorts immediate American military action at a time the rebel force poses no threat to the country.
The 30-minute documentary titled, Kony 2012, has at its heart a tear-jerking narration by LRA survivor Jacob, a teenager from Acholi sub-region, the former epicentre for the rebellion.
The rebels first escaped to South Sudan and onward to DRC’s dense Garamba Forest, before spreading to Central African Republic.
Latest UN alerts indicate they have resumed plunder of villages, abduction and or killing of civilians after a four-month respite.
In the movie uploaded on YouTube on Monday, which had been viewed 32.6 million times by 6pm yesterday, Jacob tells of how LRA rebels beheaded his brother.
“It’s better to kill us,” he tells the movie-maker Jason Russell, a co-founder of Invisible Children. The teenager says immediate death would relieve him of an uncertain future, and enable him spiritually re-unite with his slain brother.
The image of toddler Garvin, Mr Russell’s son, is flashed and he can be heard concluding that Kony is a “bad guy” who must be “stopped”.
UPDF spokesman Felix Kulayigye said he had not watched the video but welcomed any help to capture or kill the elusive rebel chief.
“Whether Kony is in Uganda or not, the bottom line is he must be eliminated. The crime he is committing elsewhere is still against humanity,” Col. Kulayigye .
Critics
Government officials contacted by this newspaper were unaware of the video that has elicited social media comments from world celebrities; singer Robyn Rihanna and TV personality Oprah Winfrey.
“Everybody who’s tweeting me about #LRA I’ve helped. Gave major dollars had Invisible Children on my show 2x,” Oprah tweeted.
In Kampala, former Gulu District chairman and Democratic Party president Norbert Mao, who features in the video urging a halt to massacres by LRA rebels, however, faulted the documentary for lack of balance.
“It needs to be told clearly to the world that northern Uganda does not have LRA activities. Invisible Children seems scared to take on Uganda government, and if they are not showing atrocities committed by UPDF, we are not happy,” Mr Mao said.
The NGO also came under strong criticism after it emerged that it spent only 30 per cent of the $8.9m (Shs 20b) it mobilised for the children in their names from well-wishers. The bulk of the cash was expended on salaries, office rentals, travel as well as filming, according to Invisible Children’s audited accounts.
Invisible Children, Enough Project and Resolve jointly wrote to US president Barack Obama on Wednesday, urging him to keep the Special Forces in the Great Lakes and pressure regional governments to cooperate to apprehend Kony before the end of this year.
tbutagira@ug.nationmedia.com
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
‘Circumcision doesn’t reduce HIV spread’: Gregory Boyle and George Hill challenge Uganda’s Bogus Circumcision Crusade
FIRST READ:
Archbishop Dr. Luke Orombi should fight HIV using the bible and not conjectural science
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/archbishop-dr-luke-orombi-should-fight.html
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/07/ugandan-president-confronts-junk.html
Circumcision is the same as baptism :Archbishop Dr. Luke Orombi urges Christians to embrace Male circumcision
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/circumcision-is-same-as-baptism
By FLAVIA LANYERO
Posted Tuesday, March 6 2012 at 00:00
Contrary to recent popular claims that male circumcision reduces HIV/Aids transmission by 60 per cent, a group of researchers has disputed the findings, saying the action will only increase the spread of HIV/Aids and can only reduce its transmission by 1.3 per cent at most.
Researchers Gregory Boyle and George Hill in a study published by Australia’s Thomson Reuters, base their argument on a recent male-to-female transmission of HIV study in Uganda, which showed that more women contracted the virus after unprotected intercourse to infected circumcised male partners.
They concluded that male circumcision is associated with a 61-per-cent increase in HIV transmission. “Across all the three female-to-male trials, of the 5,411 men subjected to male circumcision, 64 (1.18 per cent) became HIV-positive while among the 5,497 controls, 137 (2.49 per cent) became HIV-positive,” Boyle and Hill said.
“So the absolute decrease in HIV infection was only 1.31 per cent, which is not significant. Examination of epidemiological data shows that male circumcision does not provide protection against HIV transmission in several sub-Saharan African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, all of which have higher prevalence of HIV infection among circumcised men,” they concluded.
Uganda rolled out medical male circumcision drive two years ago after the World Health Organisation-UNAIDS in 2007 recommended male circumcision as an HIV preventive measure based on randomised clinical trials in female-to-male sexual transmission in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, which suggested that circumcision could reduce infection by up to 60 per cent.
Thousands of men have undergone the surgical pinch in Uganda. However, President Museveni in July last year castigated the call for male circumcision as a measure to curtail HIV/Aids, saying it was “diversionary” and called for abstienence.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Asuman Lukwago, yesterday, said he was not aware of the new findings but said should it be proved otherwise, the country will drop the method for other viable ones.
“We do not strongly condone it and neither do we dispute it. We work in a world of information and evidence and when it is proven otherwise we shall be alerted and we change our policies just like we did for malaria medicine,” he said.
flanyero@ug.nationmedia.com
Circumcision-generated emotions bias medical literature
1.Gregory J. Boyle1,
2.George Hill2
Article first published online: 7 FEB 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.10917.x
Sir,
In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Tobian and Gray [1] seek to re-evaluate the risks and alleged benefits of male circumcision (MC), but seem blithely unaware that two authoritative medical associations, the Dutch Medical Association and Royal Australasian College of Physicians, have just completed comprehensive reviews [2,3]
The authors base their argument on three methodologically deficient African clinical randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which purport to show that MC protects against female-to-male HIV infection. However, these trials were terminated early, thereby overstating any putative protective effect [4]. Despite the assertions of the authors of the three African RCTs, both medical associations, after extensive critical review, independently declined to recommend circumcision of male children [2,3].
In an egregious omission, Tobian and Gray failed to acknowledge that in a parallel RCT into male-to-female transmission of HIV carried out in Uganda [5], MC was associated with a 61% relative increase in HIV infection among the female sexual partners of HIV-positive men.
MC ablates the foreskin, destroying its protective, sensory, mechanical, and sexual functions and carries many potential short-term complications and risks, including haemorrhage, infection, and possible death, as well as possible long-term psychosexual difficulties [4,6–8]. MC invokes an abundance of human rights and ethical issues [4,6].
Tobian and Gray have taken a position in stark opposition to that of two highly respected medical societies. In so doing, they have peremptorily dismissed the very substantial issues of certain inherent injury, complications that may result in irreversible mutilation or death, and intractable moral, child abuse, human rights, and ethical problems [2–4,6].
MC changes human and sexual behaviour [4,6–8]. Most doctors favouring MC are circumcised themselves [4]. Circumcision status ‘plays a huge role in whether doctors are in support of circumcisions or not’[9]. Circumcised doctors often defend circumcision by producing flawed papers that minimise or dismiss the harm and exaggerate alleged benefits [10].
Tobian and Gray are products of circumcising cultures. Their article exudes Freudian defences of denial and rationalisation [6,10]. The authors seem blinded by their own circumcision-generated emotional needs. The readers of such articles must be aware of the culture-of-origin and circumcision status of the authors, in order to properly evaluate assertions about MC [4].
Invariably, when biased opinions promoting MC are published by doctors trying to justify their own psychosexual wounding [10], uncircumcised doctors (who mostly see no need for amputating anatomically normal healthy erogenous tissue) are quick to refute such overstated claims [2,4]. We fully expect that this distortion of the medical literature [11] will continue until non-therapeutic male circumcision is prohibited by law and most circumcised male doctors have passed from the scene.
References
•1
Tobian AA, Gray RH. The medical benefits of male circumcision. JAMA 2011; 306: 1479–80
oCrossRef,
oPubMed,
oCAS,
oWeb of Science®
•2
Anonymous. Non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors. Utrecht: Royal Dutch Medical Association, 2010. Available at: http://knmg.artsennet.nl. Accessed January 2012
•3
Circumcision of Male Infants. Sydney: Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2010. Available at: http://www.kids.vic.gov.au/downloads/male_circumcision.pdf. Accessed January 2012
•4
Hill G. The case against circumcision. J Men's Health Gender 2007; 4: 318–23
o CrossRef
•5
Wawer MJ, Makumbi F, Kigozi G et al. Circumcision in HIV-infected men and its effect on HIV transmission to female partners in Rakai, Uganda: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2009; 374: 229–37
oCrossRef,
oPubMed,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 55
•6
Boyle GJ, Goldman R, Svoboda JS et al. Male circumcision: pain, trauma and psychosexual sequelae. J Health Psychol 2002; 7: 329–43
oPubMed,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 15
•7
Boyle GJ, Svoboda JS, Price CP et al. Circumcision of healthy boys: criminal assault? J Law Med 2000; 7: 301–10
•8
Bensley GA, Boyle GJ. Physical, sexual, and psychological impact of male infant circumcision: an exploratory survey. In Denniston GC, Hodges FM and Milos MF eds, Understanding circumcision: a multi-disciplinary approach to a multi-dimensional problem. New York: Kluwer/Plenum, 2001: 207–40
•9
Muller AJ. To cut or not to cut? Personal factors influence primary care physicians' position on elective circumcision. J Men's Health 2010; 7: 227-32.
oCrossRef,
oWeb of Science®
•10
Goldman R. The psychological impact of circumcision. BJU Int 1999; 83 (Suppl. 1): 93–102
Direct Link:
oAbstract
oPDF(105K)
•11
LeBourdais E. Circumcision no longer a ‘routine’ surgical procedure. Can Med Assoc J 1995; 152: 1873–6
oPubMed,
oCAS,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 5
Archbishop Dr. Luke Orombi should fight HIV using the bible and not conjectural science
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/archbishop-dr-luke-orombi-should-fight.html
Ugandan President confronts junk science head on : Museveni warns on male circumcision
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/07/ugandan-president-confronts-junk.html
Circumcision is the same as baptism :Archbishop Dr. Luke Orombi urges Christians to embrace Male circumcision
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/circumcision-is-same-as-baptism
‘Circumcision doesn’t reduce HIV spread’
By FLAVIA LANYERO
Posted Tuesday, March 6 2012 at 00:00
Contrary to recent popular claims that male circumcision reduces HIV/Aids transmission by 60 per cent, a group of researchers has disputed the findings, saying the action will only increase the spread of HIV/Aids and can only reduce its transmission by 1.3 per cent at most.
Researchers Gregory Boyle and George Hill in a study published by Australia’s Thomson Reuters, base their argument on a recent male-to-female transmission of HIV study in Uganda, which showed that more women contracted the virus after unprotected intercourse to infected circumcised male partners.
They concluded that male circumcision is associated with a 61-per-cent increase in HIV transmission. “Across all the three female-to-male trials, of the 5,411 men subjected to male circumcision, 64 (1.18 per cent) became HIV-positive while among the 5,497 controls, 137 (2.49 per cent) became HIV-positive,” Boyle and Hill said.
“So the absolute decrease in HIV infection was only 1.31 per cent, which is not significant. Examination of epidemiological data shows that male circumcision does not provide protection against HIV transmission in several sub-Saharan African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, all of which have higher prevalence of HIV infection among circumcised men,” they concluded.
Uganda rolled out medical male circumcision drive two years ago after the World Health Organisation-UNAIDS in 2007 recommended male circumcision as an HIV preventive measure based on randomised clinical trials in female-to-male sexual transmission in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, which suggested that circumcision could reduce infection by up to 60 per cent.
Thousands of men have undergone the surgical pinch in Uganda. However, President Museveni in July last year castigated the call for male circumcision as a measure to curtail HIV/Aids, saying it was “diversionary” and called for abstienence.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Asuman Lukwago, yesterday, said he was not aware of the new findings but said should it be proved otherwise, the country will drop the method for other viable ones.
“We do not strongly condone it and neither do we dispute it. We work in a world of information and evidence and when it is proven otherwise we shall be alerted and we change our policies just like we did for malaria medicine,” he said.
flanyero@ug.nationmedia.com
Circumcision-generated emotions bias medical literature
1.Gregory J. Boyle1,
2.George Hill2
Article first published online: 7 FEB 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.10917.x
Sir,
In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Tobian and Gray [1] seek to re-evaluate the risks and alleged benefits of male circumcision (MC), but seem blithely unaware that two authoritative medical associations, the Dutch Medical Association and Royal Australasian College of Physicians, have just completed comprehensive reviews [2,3]
The authors base their argument on three methodologically deficient African clinical randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which purport to show that MC protects against female-to-male HIV infection. However, these trials were terminated early, thereby overstating any putative protective effect [4]. Despite the assertions of the authors of the three African RCTs, both medical associations, after extensive critical review, independently declined to recommend circumcision of male children [2,3].
In an egregious omission, Tobian and Gray failed to acknowledge that in a parallel RCT into male-to-female transmission of HIV carried out in Uganda [5], MC was associated with a 61% relative increase in HIV infection among the female sexual partners of HIV-positive men.
MC ablates the foreskin, destroying its protective, sensory, mechanical, and sexual functions and carries many potential short-term complications and risks, including haemorrhage, infection, and possible death, as well as possible long-term psychosexual difficulties [4,6–8]. MC invokes an abundance of human rights and ethical issues [4,6].
Tobian and Gray have taken a position in stark opposition to that of two highly respected medical societies. In so doing, they have peremptorily dismissed the very substantial issues of certain inherent injury, complications that may result in irreversible mutilation or death, and intractable moral, child abuse, human rights, and ethical problems [2–4,6].
MC changes human and sexual behaviour [4,6–8]. Most doctors favouring MC are circumcised themselves [4]. Circumcision status ‘plays a huge role in whether doctors are in support of circumcisions or not’[9]. Circumcised doctors often defend circumcision by producing flawed papers that minimise or dismiss the harm and exaggerate alleged benefits [10].
Tobian and Gray are products of circumcising cultures. Their article exudes Freudian defences of denial and rationalisation [6,10]. The authors seem blinded by their own circumcision-generated emotional needs. The readers of such articles must be aware of the culture-of-origin and circumcision status of the authors, in order to properly evaluate assertions about MC [4].
Invariably, when biased opinions promoting MC are published by doctors trying to justify their own psychosexual wounding [10], uncircumcised doctors (who mostly see no need for amputating anatomically normal healthy erogenous tissue) are quick to refute such overstated claims [2,4]. We fully expect that this distortion of the medical literature [11] will continue until non-therapeutic male circumcision is prohibited by law and most circumcised male doctors have passed from the scene.
References
•1
Tobian AA, Gray RH. The medical benefits of male circumcision. JAMA 2011; 306: 1479–80
oCrossRef,
oPubMed,
oCAS,
oWeb of Science®
•2
Anonymous. Non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors. Utrecht: Royal Dutch Medical Association, 2010. Available at: http://knmg.artsennet.nl. Accessed January 2012
•3
Circumcision of Male Infants. Sydney: Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2010. Available at: http://www.kids.vic.gov.au/downloads/male_circumcision.pdf. Accessed January 2012
•4
Hill G. The case against circumcision. J Men's Health Gender 2007; 4: 318–23
o CrossRef
•5
Wawer MJ, Makumbi F, Kigozi G et al. Circumcision in HIV-infected men and its effect on HIV transmission to female partners in Rakai, Uganda: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2009; 374: 229–37
oCrossRef,
oPubMed,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 55
•6
Boyle GJ, Goldman R, Svoboda JS et al. Male circumcision: pain, trauma and psychosexual sequelae. J Health Psychol 2002; 7: 329–43
oPubMed,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 15
•7
Boyle GJ, Svoboda JS, Price CP et al. Circumcision of healthy boys: criminal assault? J Law Med 2000; 7: 301–10
•8
Bensley GA, Boyle GJ. Physical, sexual, and psychological impact of male infant circumcision: an exploratory survey. In Denniston GC, Hodges FM and Milos MF eds, Understanding circumcision: a multi-disciplinary approach to a multi-dimensional problem. New York: Kluwer/Plenum, 2001: 207–40
•9
Muller AJ. To cut or not to cut? Personal factors influence primary care physicians' position on elective circumcision. J Men's Health 2010; 7: 227-32.
oCrossRef,
oWeb of Science®
•10
Goldman R. The psychological impact of circumcision. BJU Int 1999; 83 (Suppl. 1): 93–102
Direct Link:
oAbstract
oPDF(105K)
•11
LeBourdais E. Circumcision no longer a ‘routine’ surgical procedure. Can Med Assoc J 1995; 152: 1873–6
oPubMed,
oCAS,
oWeb of Science® Times Cited: 5
Monday, 5 March 2012
UPDF in Kony hunt accused of rape, looting in Congo
First read:
EXPOSING THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WITH WHOM TODAY'S CHRISTIAN LEADERS HAVE ALLIED THEMSELVES
Friday, 02 March 2012 00:33
Written by Emma Mutaizibwa
A new report accuses UPDF of massive plunder of resources like diamonds and timber in the tiny and war-wracked Central African Republic (CAR) where the army is pursuing bands of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
The dossier, titled 'The Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic' and authored by the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in December 2011, alleges that some Ugandan soldiers operated a prostitution ring, raped and infected Congolese refugee girls in CAR, with the deadly HIV.
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is an independent, non-profit international organization founded in 1923. It nurtures new generations of social scientists, fosters innovative research, and mobilizes necessary knowledge on important public issues. However, army spokesman Col Felix Kulayigye, on Thursday described the report as the usual banter from self-seeking organisations attempting to account for money from donors.
"That report is unfortunate. It's from masqueraders who are trying to earn bread from our blood and sweat. The UPDF is one of the most disciplined forces in Africa and we are pro-people. Anyone can check our record", Kulayigye said.
In November 2011, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group also accused the UPDF of plundering timber, gold and diamond not only in CAR but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The report claims that government representatives in Bangui claimed that the UPDF "has allowed a culture of impunity, because those in charge were also involved in illicit activities in CAR, including illegal logging, looting of mineral resources and the sale of everything [one can] think of, from bicycles brought from Uganda on UPDF transport planes to AK 47s and bullets".
When the LRA began making incursions into CAR, President Museveni started courting the support of his counterpart, Gen Francois Bozizé. This culminated in a visit by Bozizé in August 2007, eventually sealing the deal for the UPDF to enter the country in pursuit of Joseph Kony, the elusive rebel leader. Since then, the hunt for Kony and his rebels has ensued. After escaping from the Garamba jungle pounded by helicopter gunships in a December 2008 operation, Kony has found sanctuary in French-speaking CAR. Kony and his acolytes have continued to plant a trail of bloodshed and despair in CAR, killing, abducting and looting property, especially in the towns of Obo and Djema.
This unending bloodshed persuaded the United States government to commit 100 elite soldiers to the anti-LRA effort last year. In his address to Congress on October 14, 2011, President Obama said: "I authorised a small number of combat-equipped US forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield. I believe that deploying these US Armed Forces furthers US national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa".
The latest string of allegations draws parallels with widespread accusations, including a UN report, that Ugandan soldiers were involved in looting DR Congo natural resources during an incursion between 1997 and 2003. As a result, the DRC sued Uganda at the International Court of Justice, and Uganda was ordered to pay $10bn in compensation. According to the latest report, in the first few months of UPDF's presence in CAR, government officials in Bangui were somewhat indifferent about the Ugandan army. This stance changed slightly in July 2010 when President Bozizé asked the UPDF to leave their base in Sam Ouandja and return to their initial base at Obo.
The report suggests that Bozize did that because he feared the UPDF were plundering diamonds.
"It is unclear why Bozizé asked the UPDF to stay only in Obo and Djema, but the proximity of Ugandan soldiers to the diamond mines of Sam Ouandja might have been a concern for the President", says the report. By December 2011, the report claims, dissatisfaction with the Ugandan army was barely concealed.
The minister of Commerce and resident of Haut Mbomou was quoted as saying that the UPDF were not welcome in CAR as they were more interested in looting resources than chasing the LRA, according to the report. The report adds that the minister showed the author a handwritten report from the highest local official in Obo, detailing the "destruction of the Obo forest by UPDF soldiers cutting timber and transporting it in army trucks towards Bambouti and South Sudan".
According to the minister, when UPDF commanders were confronted about the timber, they said they needed it to fix bridges and roads. While it is true that the roads in CAR which the UPDF relies on to move are in a very bad condition, the minister stated that: "it is not the job of the UPDF to fix roads; certainly not the roads of southern Sudan where most of the timber is going".
According to the report, allegations of illicit logging on the part of the UPDF are not new; similar claims were made against the Ugandan army in South Sudan in the past. The report claims that local discontent with the UPDF stems primarily from the fact that the Uganda armed forces have taken too long to end the LRA menace. At a local level, the report says, Ugandan soldiers stand accused of mistreatment of women.
A representative of an NGO with a presence in Haut Mbomou said UPDF soldiers, by bringing cash to impoverished areas, had created "a market for prostitution", fanning conflict in the local communities.
The report claims that another NGO worker said UPDF soldiers bring alcohol from Uganda and sell it or give it to young women, including underage girls. Allegations of sexual exploitation of children by UPDF elements were reported by various sources. A representative of a UN organisation said there were reports of several girls, some as young as 12, involved in prostitution with Ugandan soldiers. An internal report for a UN organisation based on investigations from field staff states that it is not "unusual to see girls and women sneak into the UPDF base at night, or find UPDF personnel embroiled in brawls over girls or women".
The report cites at least one very serious case of sexual violence by a Uganda soldier against a 16-year-old girl. Abducted at 14 by the LRA near the town of Obo, the young girl returned home at the beginning of 2011 and, in unclear circumstances, was raped by a UPDF soldier at the Ugandan army base in Obo in May 2011. According to the girl, who became pregnant as a result of the rape, the perpetrator eventually left for Uganda, leaving her "in the custody" of another soldier who continued to abuse her at least until August 2011 when she spoke to a UN worker.
The report points out that this case is similar to another incident reported in February 2011 by a Sudanese NGO worker. In September 2010, two Ugandan soldiers reportedly took a young Congolese girl of 15 named Marie to a clinic in Nzara, South Sudan. The girl had been "rescued" from the LRA by the Ugandan soldiers, who allegedly gang-raped and impregnated her, before taking her to the clinic "nearly dead".
As the army spokesman said, the UPDF does have a reputation of being relatively well behaved, compared to many armies in the world, but as American soldiers have demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, even the most disciplined armies have rogue elements.
Government officials in the Central Africa Republic have expressed what appears to be a commonly-held belief that the UPDF does not want to end the threat of the LRA, as this would end US aid to it for LRA operations. At both government and local levels, a worrying conviction seems to have been formed, which holds that chasing the LRA is a pretext for Uganda to maintain an invading force in CAR indefinitely. Such views have been fueled by claims that former LRA combatants are quickly integrated into UPDF units once captured, without proper demobilisation and reintegration processes.
In fact, the report claims that at least one third of the total UPDF force chasing LRA groups is composed of former LRA combatants. It is further claimed that former LRA combatants receive no payment for their efforts. The report says the fighters are deceived that their salaries are to be obtained once they are back in Uganda.
Kampala, Bangui ties favourable
At the highest level, however, the relations between Kampala and Bangui remains cordial, says the report - a revelation that appears contradictory. President Bozizé and his son, Jean-Francis Bozizé, the defence minister, have not publicly criticised the Ugandans. A diplomat said that with the exception of the episode in 2010 when President Bozizé asked the Ugandan army to leave the diamond-rich area of Sam Ouandja, both father and son have refrained from publically discussing the Ugandan presence in CAR.
President Bozizé has responded well to Uganda's diplomatic demarches, and has visited Kampala regularly in the last four years, most recently in December 2011 when he attended the meeting of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.
mutaizibwa@observer.ug
By CHRIS OBORE
Posted Sunday, March 4 2012 at 00:00
Justice Minister Gen. Kahinda Otafiire and the former External Security Organisation deputy chief Emmy Allio have locked horns with a South African businessman over Shs1.8 billion gold deal gone bad.
The businessman, running a Kampala-based firm called International Metals and Minerals (IMM), partnered with Mineral Point Ltd (MP) run by Gen. Otafiire and Mr Allio but the South African accuses the duo of luring him into a fake gold deal in Mwanza, Tanzania.
In a written statement reported to have been sent to President Museveni, the businessman, Henri Van Der Westhuizen, said: “I was lured to Tanzania by Gen. Otafiire and Mr Emmy Allio to meet a conman.”
After the deal unravelled, Mr Van Der Westhuizen says he has had friction with some security chiefs, who have allegedly threatened his life.
Gen. Otafiire denies any dubious dealings, saying the South African businessman tested the gold himself, exported it from Tanzania to Uganda and then to Dubai and “after two weeks he came back claiming that the gold is fake.” He added that his company was just a commissioning agent whose work was to identify the gold dealer for IMM.
“If I identify for you the girl and you are impotent, do you blame me?” the General asked. “The minister is now claiming that Gen. Mayunga is suing him for $100,000, which I had stood surety for, for the South African buyer. If I see Henry, I will cut off his head.”
Gen. Otafiire said the South African investor wanted him to deal with rebels in DR Congo, which he decline being a government minister.
His business partner, Allio, said at his office on Ecobank building on Thursday that: “We made a loss as a company because of that foolish man. We expected from him our $36,000 commission.”
Mr Allio further said Mr Van Der Westhuizen should reveal the people who conned him because after he took the gold to Dubai, he came back and said the Gold was fake.
According to Mr Van Der Westhuizen, IMM entered a strategic partnership in which Mineral Point was to assist it in identifying business opportunities, especially gold buying.
“During the week of July 19, 2010, Mr Emmy Allio approached me with a potential gold buying opportunity. Mr Allio told me that minister, Maj. Gen. Otafiire, has a trusted friend in Tanzania, Lt. Gen. Silas Mayunga, who is a big diamond and gold dealer,” he says.
The deal
Mr Van Der Westhuizen says Mr Allio discussed the proposal with Gen. Otafiire and in his presence, a call was made to Gen. Mayunga and a rendezvous fixed for Mwanza on July 25, 2010.
He said he was taken to a gold refinery where he was first shown a sample of genuine gold after which he was asked for the money to clear security personnel at the airport, who would assist when they are exiting with the gold.
“I was only carrying $3,500 at the time as I thought this was just an introductory and viewing exercise,” he said, adding that Mr Allio who did not want to go out of his hotel room for fear of being identified, pestered him to conclude the deal because Gen. Mayunga was drunk and that “this is a very dangerous man.”
The businessman says he later chartered a plane back to Uganda to pick the money and he returned to Mwanza with $230,000 hoping that “with the presence of the Gen. Otafiire, Lt. Mayunga would allow us to make a down payment and that we could carry the product to Dubai, sell it, come back and do the next deal.”
This did not happen as Lt. Gen. Muyunga reportedly said he had earlier been conned by Canadians, therefore; he needed full amount of $765,000.
EXPOSING THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WITH WHOM TODAY'S CHRISTIAN LEADERS HAVE ALLIED THEMSELVES
UPDF in Kony hunt accused of rape, looting
Friday, 02 March 2012 00:33
Written by Emma Mutaizibwa
Army denies allegations of US research group
A new report accuses UPDF of massive plunder of resources like diamonds and timber in the tiny and war-wracked Central African Republic (CAR) where the army is pursuing bands of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
The dossier, titled 'The Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic' and authored by the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in December 2011, alleges that some Ugandan soldiers operated a prostitution ring, raped and infected Congolese refugee girls in CAR, with the deadly HIV.
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is an independent, non-profit international organization founded in 1923. It nurtures new generations of social scientists, fosters innovative research, and mobilizes necessary knowledge on important public issues. However, army spokesman Col Felix Kulayigye, on Thursday described the report as the usual banter from self-seeking organisations attempting to account for money from donors.
"That report is unfortunate. It's from masqueraders who are trying to earn bread from our blood and sweat. The UPDF is one of the most disciplined forces in Africa and we are pro-people. Anyone can check our record", Kulayigye said.
In November 2011, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group also accused the UPDF of plundering timber, gold and diamond not only in CAR but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Culture of impunity
The report claims that government representatives in Bangui claimed that the UPDF "has allowed a culture of impunity, because those in charge were also involved in illicit activities in CAR, including illegal logging, looting of mineral resources and the sale of everything [one can] think of, from bicycles brought from Uganda on UPDF transport planes to AK 47s and bullets".
When the LRA began making incursions into CAR, President Museveni started courting the support of his counterpart, Gen Francois Bozizé. This culminated in a visit by Bozizé in August 2007, eventually sealing the deal for the UPDF to enter the country in pursuit of Joseph Kony, the elusive rebel leader. Since then, the hunt for Kony and his rebels has ensued. After escaping from the Garamba jungle pounded by helicopter gunships in a December 2008 operation, Kony has found sanctuary in French-speaking CAR. Kony and his acolytes have continued to plant a trail of bloodshed and despair in CAR, killing, abducting and looting property, especially in the towns of Obo and Djema.
This unending bloodshed persuaded the United States government to commit 100 elite soldiers to the anti-LRA effort last year. In his address to Congress on October 14, 2011, President Obama said: "I authorised a small number of combat-equipped US forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield. I believe that deploying these US Armed Forces furthers US national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa".
Paralles with DRC
The latest string of allegations draws parallels with widespread accusations, including a UN report, that Ugandan soldiers were involved in looting DR Congo natural resources during an incursion between 1997 and 2003. As a result, the DRC sued Uganda at the International Court of Justice, and Uganda was ordered to pay $10bn in compensation. According to the latest report, in the first few months of UPDF's presence in CAR, government officials in Bangui were somewhat indifferent about the Ugandan army. This stance changed slightly in July 2010 when President Bozizé asked the UPDF to leave their base in Sam Ouandja and return to their initial base at Obo.
The report suggests that Bozize did that because he feared the UPDF were plundering diamonds.
"It is unclear why Bozizé asked the UPDF to stay only in Obo and Djema, but the proximity of Ugandan soldiers to the diamond mines of Sam Ouandja might have been a concern for the President", says the report. By December 2011, the report claims, dissatisfaction with the Ugandan army was barely concealed.
Timber alarm
The minister of Commerce and resident of Haut Mbomou was quoted as saying that the UPDF were not welcome in CAR as they were more interested in looting resources than chasing the LRA, according to the report. The report adds that the minister showed the author a handwritten report from the highest local official in Obo, detailing the "destruction of the Obo forest by UPDF soldiers cutting timber and transporting it in army trucks towards Bambouti and South Sudan".
According to the minister, when UPDF commanders were confronted about the timber, they said they needed it to fix bridges and roads. While it is true that the roads in CAR which the UPDF relies on to move are in a very bad condition, the minister stated that: "it is not the job of the UPDF to fix roads; certainly not the roads of southern Sudan where most of the timber is going".
According to the report, allegations of illicit logging on the part of the UPDF are not new; similar claims were made against the Ugandan army in South Sudan in the past. The report claims that local discontent with the UPDF stems primarily from the fact that the Uganda armed forces have taken too long to end the LRA menace. At a local level, the report says, Ugandan soldiers stand accused of mistreatment of women.
Prostitution and rape
A representative of an NGO with a presence in Haut Mbomou said UPDF soldiers, by bringing cash to impoverished areas, had created "a market for prostitution", fanning conflict in the local communities.
The report claims that another NGO worker said UPDF soldiers bring alcohol from Uganda and sell it or give it to young women, including underage girls. Allegations of sexual exploitation of children by UPDF elements were reported by various sources. A representative of a UN organisation said there were reports of several girls, some as young as 12, involved in prostitution with Ugandan soldiers. An internal report for a UN organisation based on investigations from field staff states that it is not "unusual to see girls and women sneak into the UPDF base at night, or find UPDF personnel embroiled in brawls over girls or women".
The report cites at least one very serious case of sexual violence by a Uganda soldier against a 16-year-old girl. Abducted at 14 by the LRA near the town of Obo, the young girl returned home at the beginning of 2011 and, in unclear circumstances, was raped by a UPDF soldier at the Ugandan army base in Obo in May 2011. According to the girl, who became pregnant as a result of the rape, the perpetrator eventually left for Uganda, leaving her "in the custody" of another soldier who continued to abuse her at least until August 2011 when she spoke to a UN worker.
The report points out that this case is similar to another incident reported in February 2011 by a Sudanese NGO worker. In September 2010, two Ugandan soldiers reportedly took a young Congolese girl of 15 named Marie to a clinic in Nzara, South Sudan. The girl had been "rescued" from the LRA by the Ugandan soldiers, who allegedly gang-raped and impregnated her, before taking her to the clinic "nearly dead".
As the army spokesman said, the UPDF does have a reputation of being relatively well behaved, compared to many armies in the world, but as American soldiers have demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, even the most disciplined armies have rogue elements.
Growing apathy
Government officials in the Central Africa Republic have expressed what appears to be a commonly-held belief that the UPDF does not want to end the threat of the LRA, as this would end US aid to it for LRA operations. At both government and local levels, a worrying conviction seems to have been formed, which holds that chasing the LRA is a pretext for Uganda to maintain an invading force in CAR indefinitely. Such views have been fueled by claims that former LRA combatants are quickly integrated into UPDF units once captured, without proper demobilisation and reintegration processes.
In fact, the report claims that at least one third of the total UPDF force chasing LRA groups is composed of former LRA combatants. It is further claimed that former LRA combatants receive no payment for their efforts. The report says the fighters are deceived that their salaries are to be obtained once they are back in Uganda.
Kampala, Bangui ties favourable
At the highest level, however, the relations between Kampala and Bangui remains cordial, says the report - a revelation that appears contradictory. President Bozizé and his son, Jean-Francis Bozizé, the defence minister, have not publicly criticised the Ugandans. A diplomat said that with the exception of the episode in 2010 when President Bozizé asked the Ugandan army to leave the diamond-rich area of Sam Ouandja, both father and son have refrained from publically discussing the Ugandan presence in CAR.
President Bozizé has responded well to Uganda's diplomatic demarches, and has visited Kampala regularly in the last four years, most recently in December 2011 when he attended the meeting of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region.
mutaizibwa@observer.ug
South African tycoon accuses Otafiire of selling him fake gold
By CHRIS OBORE
Posted Sunday, March 4 2012 at 00:00
Justice Minister Gen. Kahinda Otafiire and the former External Security Organisation deputy chief Emmy Allio have locked horns with a South African businessman over Shs1.8 billion gold deal gone bad.
The businessman, running a Kampala-based firm called International Metals and Minerals (IMM), partnered with Mineral Point Ltd (MP) run by Gen. Otafiire and Mr Allio but the South African accuses the duo of luring him into a fake gold deal in Mwanza, Tanzania.
In a written statement reported to have been sent to President Museveni, the businessman, Henri Van Der Westhuizen, said: “I was lured to Tanzania by Gen. Otafiire and Mr Emmy Allio to meet a conman.”
After the deal unravelled, Mr Van Der Westhuizen says he has had friction with some security chiefs, who have allegedly threatened his life.
Gen. Otafiire denies any dubious dealings, saying the South African businessman tested the gold himself, exported it from Tanzania to Uganda and then to Dubai and “after two weeks he came back claiming that the gold is fake.” He added that his company was just a commissioning agent whose work was to identify the gold dealer for IMM.
“If I identify for you the girl and you are impotent, do you blame me?” the General asked. “The minister is now claiming that Gen. Mayunga is suing him for $100,000, which I had stood surety for, for the South African buyer. If I see Henry, I will cut off his head.”
Gen. Otafiire said the South African investor wanted him to deal with rebels in DR Congo, which he decline being a government minister.
His business partner, Allio, said at his office on Ecobank building on Thursday that: “We made a loss as a company because of that foolish man. We expected from him our $36,000 commission.”
Mr Allio further said Mr Van Der Westhuizen should reveal the people who conned him because after he took the gold to Dubai, he came back and said the Gold was fake.
According to Mr Van Der Westhuizen, IMM entered a strategic partnership in which Mineral Point was to assist it in identifying business opportunities, especially gold buying.
“During the week of July 19, 2010, Mr Emmy Allio approached me with a potential gold buying opportunity. Mr Allio told me that minister, Maj. Gen. Otafiire, has a trusted friend in Tanzania, Lt. Gen. Silas Mayunga, who is a big diamond and gold dealer,” he says.
The deal
Mr Van Der Westhuizen says Mr Allio discussed the proposal with Gen. Otafiire and in his presence, a call was made to Gen. Mayunga and a rendezvous fixed for Mwanza on July 25, 2010.
He said he was taken to a gold refinery where he was first shown a sample of genuine gold after which he was asked for the money to clear security personnel at the airport, who would assist when they are exiting with the gold.
“I was only carrying $3,500 at the time as I thought this was just an introductory and viewing exercise,” he said, adding that Mr Allio who did not want to go out of his hotel room for fear of being identified, pestered him to conclude the deal because Gen. Mayunga was drunk and that “this is a very dangerous man.”
The businessman says he later chartered a plane back to Uganda to pick the money and he returned to Mwanza with $230,000 hoping that “with the presence of the Gen. Otafiire, Lt. Mayunga would allow us to make a down payment and that we could carry the product to Dubai, sell it, come back and do the next deal.”
This did not happen as Lt. Gen. Muyunga reportedly said he had earlier been conned by Canadians, therefore; he needed full amount of $765,000.
Mulago, police block media from accessing nodding disease patients
First Read:
A God Creation or a creation by human kind!!!!Mysterious Nodding Disease hits Northern Uganda
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/02/god-creation-or-creation-by-human.html
Mulago, police block media from accessing patients
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1359214/-/axupwtz/-/index.html
By Stephen Otage
Posted Monday, March 5 2012 at 00:00
The Kitgum Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Beatrice Anywar, clashed with Mulago Hospital administrators and the police, after they attempted to confiscate cameras from journalists who had gone to cover patients of the nodding disease syndrome yesterday.
The clash erupted as journalists tried to take photographs and videos of the patients who were seated on the floor of the pediatric ward at the Acute Assessment Centre watching television.
The hospital administration has since Saturday barred the press from covering the 25 patients, who arrived at the hospital on Friday evening, after being detained in Gulu Distrcit on their way to Kampala for treatment.
The patients and attendants booed the hospital executive director, Dr Byarugaba Baterana, when he attempted to explain that the media was barred from covering them because the hospital respects their confidentiality.
“Even when we were in Kitgum, the local authorities stopped journalists from coming to the villages to see the situation,” an unidentified attendant said.
Meanwhile, the hospital authorities yesterday announced that government has taken over the management of the 25 patients after it emerged that most of them had different ailments.
“We have one we have done a CT scan on and we found that he has meningitis and a brain tumor, while others have known epilepsy and the rest have conditions which are not related to nodding,” said Dr Hellen Aanyu, the doctor who has been attending to the patients since they arrived.
Not new illness
According to Dr Banterana, the nodding syndrome is not a new phenomenon because it has been in existence elsewhere since 1962.
“This syndrome was in southern Tanzania and South Sudan in 1962 and now it has come to Uganda. We do not know what causes it but we have taken samples. Some of these children came when they had convulsions while others were dehydrated but we managed to resuscitate them and we are progressing well with their management,” he said.
According to Ms Anywar, good Samaritans have started donating assistance to the patients.
sotage@ug.nationmedia.com
A God Creation or a creation by human kind!!!!Mysterious Nodding Disease hits Northern Uganda
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/02/god-creation-or-creation-by-human.html
Mulago, police block media from accessing patients
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1359214/-/axupwtz/-/index.html
By Stephen Otage
Posted Monday, March 5 2012 at 00:00
The Kitgum Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Beatrice Anywar, clashed with Mulago Hospital administrators and the police, after they attempted to confiscate cameras from journalists who had gone to cover patients of the nodding disease syndrome yesterday.
The clash erupted as journalists tried to take photographs and videos of the patients who were seated on the floor of the pediatric ward at the Acute Assessment Centre watching television.
The hospital administration has since Saturday barred the press from covering the 25 patients, who arrived at the hospital on Friday evening, after being detained in Gulu Distrcit on their way to Kampala for treatment.
The patients and attendants booed the hospital executive director, Dr Byarugaba Baterana, when he attempted to explain that the media was barred from covering them because the hospital respects their confidentiality.
“Even when we were in Kitgum, the local authorities stopped journalists from coming to the villages to see the situation,” an unidentified attendant said.
Meanwhile, the hospital authorities yesterday announced that government has taken over the management of the 25 patients after it emerged that most of them had different ailments.
“We have one we have done a CT scan on and we found that he has meningitis and a brain tumor, while others have known epilepsy and the rest have conditions which are not related to nodding,” said Dr Hellen Aanyu, the doctor who has been attending to the patients since they arrived.
Not new illness
According to Dr Banterana, the nodding syndrome is not a new phenomenon because it has been in existence elsewhere since 1962.
“This syndrome was in southern Tanzania and South Sudan in 1962 and now it has come to Uganda. We do not know what causes it but we have taken samples. Some of these children came when they had convulsions while others were dehydrated but we managed to resuscitate them and we are progressing well with their management,” he said.
According to Ms Anywar, good Samaritans have started donating assistance to the patients.
sotage@ug.nationmedia.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)