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Uganda: How Gaddafi Turned Country Into Theatre
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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
OPINION
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi's visits are always laced in theatrics and the latest was no different.
At Entebbe Old Airport, Gaddafi arrived with three huge planes loaded with about 200 gun-wielding security operatives two hours ahead of the scheduled flight.
From the day he landed, his security officers and soldiers of Uganda's Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB) never hit it off. They were involved in physical scuffle after scuffle over who should take charge of the security at various venues.
The Libyan security didn't want the PGB to check the kind of weaponry they had brought into the country. The failure to agree on whether their weapons should be checked resulted in fist fights at the airport as Gaddafi departed.
An eye witness told The Weekly Observer that the PGB outnumbered the Libyans and brought in commandos who neutralised the North Africans.
Gaddafi had hired several jets that brought in other guests from West and Central Africa. Many of these guests came in with neither passports, nor entry visas. The Entebbe International Airport authority decided to take their finger prints before they could let them into the country.
Then came the great leader's departure. Sources at the Airport told The Weekly Observer that Gaddafi could have flown away in one the cargo planes, leaving his official jet behind. The same sources claim that one of his sons flew back the jet.
Gaddafi's departure was noticed only when onlookers saw his three-plane convoy in the air. Sources within the Uganda Air Force say the Libyan leader's plane violated some no fly zones as it flew over Arua, DR Congo, Sudan, Chad and finally Libya.
Some of his robes were carried in hands and handed over to him as he hastily boarded the cargo plane.
Gaddafi has staged similar stunts wherever he has travelled. When he visited Mali last year, he made the authorities wait for him at the airport only to be told that he had already arrived at the border post.
It was no surprise when he cancelled his visit to Katonga, along Masaka Road, where a monument in memory of Libyans who died while defending former President Idi Amin had been hastily erected.
Officially government says the monument is in recognition of Gaddafi's contribution to the NRM/A bush war. While reports have been suggesting that ministers; Ruhakana Rugunda and Amama Mbabazi, spent hours at Katonga waiting for the arrival of Gaddafi only to be told that he was air bound, Rugunda denied the reports.
He told The Weekly Observer that he was aware of Gaddafi's failure to attend the Katonga event in good time. "I and Hon. Mbabazi were not at Katonga. To the contrary I knew about the inability of President Gaddafi to travel to Katonga early and I informed others who were going to the place accordingly."
At Speke Resort Munyonyo, where the Afro-Arab festival was held, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Hajjat Syda Bumba, Uganda's over all event organiser, was pushed away and almost fell down. She was helped up by some Ugandans.
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Many of the Ugandan women selected to attend the meeting with Gaddafi at the Serena Conference Centre were also locked out for some time by Gaddafi's guards.
As all this drama unfolded, the host of this strange guest, Museveni, just stepped aside and let Gaddafi enjoy his own comedy show.
Not to be left out, Gaddafi's soldiers indulged in binge drinking binge at the airport as they bid Uganda farewell.
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