Uganda: Obama Offers U.S. Assistance in Phone Call to Museveni

A distraught woman calls on her cellphone from the scene of one of the blasts. Ugandan police fear that Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group was behind the attacks.
13 July 2010

Washington, DC — Following the bombings in Kampala on Sunday, the White House announced that President Barrack Obama phoned Ugandan President President Yoweri Museveni Monday morning to express "sincere condolences for the loss of life."

Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said the U.S. leader "offered to provide any support or assistance that the Ugandan government requests."

"The leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to working together to combat terrorist organizations that threaten innocent civilians around the world," Gibbs said in his opening statement at the White House briefing. He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the case.

Elaborating on the U.S. reaction, National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer called the suicide attacks on individuals who, like millions across the globe, were viewing the final match of World Cup 2010 "a display of particular cowardice against innocents, and without political purpose or cause."

"As we mourn the tragic loss of the innocent victims of these attacks at the hands of a few, we take heart in the overwhelming majority who come together across borders over the last month to peacefully partake in this world event, and who remind us that the connection of the human family will always triumph over those who spread fear and hate in isolation," Hammer said.

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