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EMPIRE CONSULTANCY

From the Editor's Desk

May 2007

Best Regards

Sayantan Chakravarty
Editor

The focus turned to Uganda last month when Devang Rawal, a person of Indian origin, lost his life in street riots in Kampala. Native Ugandans too were killed when a group protesting over a proposal to allot a part of the Mabira forest for sugarcane plantation to an Indian business group transformed into a violent mob. Many in the mob were heard shouting anti-Asian slogans, and some even carried placards that wanted Asians to leave Uganda. Memories on the streets of Uganda, even if briefly, returned to Idi Amin's 1972.

Efforts at damage control were swift. President Yoweri Museveni said that the rioters would not be spared. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs lodged a protest with the Ugandan Foreign Ministry, and President Museveni sent a goodwill mission to India led by Minister for Internal Affairs Ruhukana Rugunda and including several Indians. Among the delegates was Sanjay Tanna, an MP of Indian origin, elected from a municipality that has 100 per cent black voters. The delegation went out of its way to emphasize that the incident in Uganda was one-off, and that it had no similarity to the scary days of Idi Amin. In fact, Rugunda did mention that the mission would visit not only Ahmedabad where the family of Rawal is, but also other parts of India to reiterate that Indians were welcome in Uganda, as businessmen, tourists and investors.

Yet, for the 70,000 Indian community, many of whom had to flee Uganda in 1972, the period immediately after the April violence did leave an impact. It will take vigorous diplomatic measures to normalize feelings.

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Editor
Sayantan Chakravarty

Consulting Editors
Sanjay Sharma, Rakesh K. Simha, Rajeev Sharma

Contributing Editors
Vatsala Kaul, Dinesh Raheja, Indrani Talukdar (all India), Srikanth Beldona, Dharminder Diwan, Arnelle Hartenstein (all US), Rajesh Kumar (New Zealand), Ramesh Mathew (Qatar)

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Debashish Dutta (Consultant - Design)

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