19^th-25^th July 2010

The government of Uganda has reacted to the terrorist bombs that went off and killed 76 people in Kampala by threatening to take the fight to Al Shabaab.  The offensive will likely begin with a deployment of 20,000 more soldiers to Somalia.

Emotions are running high.  And quite understandably so; especially for those who lost loved ones in the senseless bombings.  We share in their grief and send our heartfelt condolences to them.

In the middle of all this national anger, grief and moaning, we would still implore our government to take a step back and carefully consider the best way to react to Al Shabaab’s terror threat.  We feel that the decision to send 20,000 more troops to Somalia in the immediate aftermath of this tragedy has been hastily arrived at with anger without thinking through the wider implications of such a move.

What the authorities in our government must never forget is that the soldiers they send recklessly into battle within and across our national boundaries are human beings; not faceless fighting machines.  They are people’s children, husbands, and fathers.  So anything that puts them into harm’s way will most likely have a snowball effect on very many other innocent people.

Secondly, if as a country we have to take those risks, then we must take them with very good reasons informed only by our national interest; not the pursuit of personal political objectives for one or two key people in government who happen to have the authority to order our sons into war.