Daily Monitor
Friday, August 20, 2010
By Benon Herbert Oluka & Mercy Nalugo
The call came two days after 32 suspects were charged at the Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court in connection with the bomb blasts that killed at least 79 people and injured scores of others who were watching the 2010 World Cup final.
Speaking to journalists after laying a wreath beside a monument erected in honour of the blast victims at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds, one of the scenes of the deadly attacks, US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who led the three-member team, said they had come to express their sympathy over the murders.
“We have had that battle ourselves,” said Ms Lee, in reference to the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Centre in the US that killed more than 6,000 people. “We wanted to remind you that we are also your friends.”
The other congressmen, who were accompanied to Kyadondo by the US Ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier, are Bob Inglis, a six-term congressman representing the fourth district of South Carolina and Henry Brown, who is serving his fourth term and represents the first district of South Carolina.
Ms Lee, whose team had earlier met President Museveni at State House, Entebbe before driving to Kyadondo, said they were also in Uganda to express the commitment of the US to work with the government to fight terror.
“We did not want to come without expressing our common bond on terror and on justice. These people lost their lives in bravery because they lived in a country that allowed them freedom undeterred by terror,” she said. “We wait for the judicial system to bring the individuals (behind the bombings) to justice.”
Thereafter, the US legislators paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Ssekandi, and commended Uganda’s peacekeeping role in Somalia. “We are grateful for the role you are providing in ensuring peace in the war stricken area. We want your efforts to continue and we shall support you,” said Ms Lee, a member of the US Homeland Security Committee.
Ms Lee explained that they visited Parliament to interact with the legislators and discuss issues of healthcare, security, natural resources and education. The three legislators are the first senior US officials to visit the Kyadondo grounds since the July 11 terror attack. However, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Obama administration officials have sent messages condemning the attacks, in which one American died and three others were injured.
The US government also sent a three-person team from the FBI to Kampala to help authorities collect evidence about the bombs. They were joined by two members of the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Source: Daily Monitor