Mahatma Gandhi honoured

THE Indian community in Jinja on Saturday celebrated the 141st birthday of the father of their nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

The ceremony was held at the source of River Nile in Jinja and at the SDM temple on Bell Avenue in Jinja town.

During the celebrations, Gandhi’s statue at the SDM temple was garlanded by Dhiren Mehta, the chairman of the management committee for the temple and Bhatt Bhupendra, the Jinja temple priest.

The statue at the Source of The Nile was garlanded by the assistant general manager of Bank of Baroda, S.P Mahawar, Kaushik Shah, the chairman of the Jinja Indian Association, Maganbhai Patel, an industrialist, and Chacko Babu, the trustee of the Indian Association of Uganda.

“Mahatma Gandhi was an apostle of peace and the father of India. He was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar in Gujurat, India,” Mahawar said.

He pointed out that during his reign, Gandhi proved that non-violence was an instrument of social change, adding that his teachings were still used for conflict resolution.
Babu noted that the United Nations General Assembly declared October 2 as the international day of non-violence.

He said Gandhi’s ashes were spread at the Source of River Nile on August 14, 1948.

During the visit of Bank of Baroda’s global chairman, M.D Mallya and managing director, Pramod Gupta, five computers were handed over to St. Peter’s High School in Jinja, which is owned by the Indian Association of Uganda.

Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi II to tour Mawokota

THE Kabaka of Buganda will tour Mawokota county and preside over community service festivities at Ggolo in Mpigi district.

According to the Buganda minister for community service, Apolonia Mugumbya, the theme of the day is, ‘Prioritising heritage is key to Buganda and national development.’

“I call upon Baganda to turn up in big numbers and join the Kabaka on October 8 as we mark the day Buganda got independence from colonialists,” said Mugumbya.

Kabaka Mutebi II is expected to tour Kyali, Kiringete, Muduuma, Omar Primary School, Prometra Herbalist School in Nkozi and later address a rally at Ggolo.

Museveni meets European Union Army Generals

THE European Union Military Committee, the highest military body in the EU Council arrived in Uganda yesterday on a two day visit to discuss the Somalia crisis. Drawn from Generals of the European member state armies, the 27 Chiefs of Defence of the EU by their Chairman from Sweden, Gen. Hakan Syren met President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe before holding meetings with Ugandan Generals at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Entebbe.

A communiqué issued by the EU yesterday said that Africa is high on the list of strategic partners.

President Museveni greeting European Union Army Generals

Meeting the officers, President Yoweri Museveni advised European powers that the only way of fighting pirates in Somalia is to build a strong government in the war-torn country.

“Unless these pirates live in water which I doubt, the solution to ocean piracy is to ensure a stable government in Somalia,” Museveni told  the European Generals. 

Museveni told his visitors that  what is required is control over the Somali territory airspace to ensure that Al Qaeda does not use the airspace to ferry in arms.
Museveni said that controlling Somali airspace will ensure that arms are not smuggled into the country.

He said that there was also need to control the Indian Ocean coastlines. “I am seeing a lot of time wastage in controlling the Ocean when the problem originates from the hinterland,” Museveni observed.

Museveni said that pacifying Somalia needs a few committed African countries. He proposed that the African Union force should be composed of a few states but with strong military capacity and led by one country. The President said that Uganda is willing to raise the 20,000 soldiers needed for the stabilization of the war torn country.

The President defended the Somali transitional government saying; “I hear people who accuse the interim government of being weak, it was weak from day one that’s why the African Union decided that it needed an army to protect it.”

Museveni said that  the anti-African Union sentiments in Somalia are fueled by foreigners from Asia. "Why do these Al Qaeda foreigners from Asia tell us to leave? They are the foreigners who should leave Somalia for Africans,” he said.

 President Museveni praised the bravery of the UPDF and Burundi soldiers in Somalia.

“We went to protect national institutions but now we are controlling more than what we are supposed to protect because we have defeated Al Qaeda in all their attempts to attack us,” Museveni explained.

Chairman of the European Military Committee, General Hakan Syren from Sweden explained to the President the role of the European defence Committee. He thanked President Museveni for Uganda’s involvement in peace making.

The  team was accompanied to State House by state Minister of defence General Jeje Odongo and Chief of Defense Forces General Aronda Nyakairima.

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park wins Global Award

MGAHINGA Gorilla National Park in south western Uganda has won the global award “The greatest wildlife encounter award for 2010” from the Lonely Planet magazine.

According to the UK-based publication, Mgahinga was nominated by a community of travellers in the UK, who use their website, the lonely planet magazine and buy guide books.

Joanna Gilmour, the marketing manager for the magazine, said Mgahinga was voted as our consumers greatest wildlife encounter in our 2010 awards.
The award comes with a certificate in a heavy glass frame accompanied with a copy of the magazine, where the full details of the full magazine results have been printed.

Asked how Mgahinga was voted as the greatest wildlife encounters, Gilmour said: “We gave voters a shortlist of 10 experiences to choose from.”
Lonely Planet, according to the BBC is the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world.

“We are excited about the award,” said Lillian Nsubuga, the spoksperson of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

“Mgahinga has been popularised because it has the only area (peak of Sabinyo), where you can be in three countries (Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo) at the same time.”

She said at the peak of Sabinyo it is possible to stretch the hand into the DR Congo, raise the leg into Rwanda and the rest of the body in Uganda.

Mgahinga covering 33.7 square kilometres is the smallest park in the country and lies in the Virunga ranges. It also has groups of the endangered mountain gorillas with the habituated group known as Nyakagezi

Africa's Gentle Giants - The Mountain Gorilla's

Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and humans all belong to the order of primates. Humans share 98.4% of their genetic material with gorillas and 98.8% with chimpanzees.
Gorillas; the largest of the great apes are divided into three subspecies that include the western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla graueri). The eastern and western lowland gorillas were identified for science in 1847 and 1877 respectively.

The third subspecies - the mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) was identified for scientific purposes in the year 1903 and has gone on to become Uganda's star attraction.

Mountain gorillas are physically distinct from lowland gorillas. They are larger, have more hair, a short trunk, a broad chest and shoulders and also have a longer and slightly different nose shape.

Mountain gorillas are born small, covered with black hair and usually weigh about 2.3 kilogrammes. Gorillas develop about as twice as human babies with the mature female mother also undergoing a gestation period of nine months. They are unique species; as a gorilla with an infant may not have another baby for up to four years: good family planning.

Male and female gorillas between the ages of three and six years are classed as juvenile. They increase in size and weight at similar rates for the first six years. On reaching six years; most mountain gorillas weigh about 68 kilogrammes and are usually about four feet tall.

The female mountain gorillas stop growing taller at around six years whereas the males continue growing both in size and weight till they reach the age of ten to eleven.

Between the ages of six and ten, the males have a black hair colour and are thus referred to as the blackbacks. On reaching maturity which is usually between 10 and 12 years, they develop silvery grey hairs on their backs thereby being referred to as silverbacks.

The silverbacks usually leave their parental group at the age of 11 and then moves alone or in the company of other males for a few years before managing to attract females from other groups to him hence forming his own family. Silverback is a dominant male in a group of about 12 or more gorillas that usually include females, juveniles and other infants.

On a good day, you will find them chewing leaves, laughing and farting not only continuously but with a lot of contentment. They are diurnal and nomadic, sleeping each night in a fresh nest built from leaves and branches.

Mountain gorillas are primarily vegetarian with their menu comprising bamboo, nettles and gallium being some of their favourites.

They occasionally also eat safari ants which are scooped in huge handfuls to stuff into the mouth until the safari ant bites overpower them. Gorillas spend most of their time traveling and foraging in search of food since plants and trees change with seasons.

Gorillas communicate through vocalizations. Twenty-five distinct vocalizations have so far been recognized with each one having its own particular meaning.

As an element of their socialization, they communicate through howls, grunts, barks and hoots. Screams and roars signal alarm or warning and are often produced by silverbacks.

They also communicate by beating on their chests or on the ground. This is done to show stature, prevent a fight or even scare off opponents.

However, even the infants beat their chests as a kind of displacement activity during play perhaps just to copy their elders.

Mountain gorilla life is peaceful and quite. It is from this that they have come to be called Africa's gentle giants.

These gentle giants are found in the areas of Parc des Volcans - in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo while in Uganda, they are confined to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park gazetted in 1992, is situated in south western Uganda on the edge of the western rift valley (Albertine rift) and is shared by Kanungu, Kabale and Kisoro districts. It is 331 square kilometres in size; on an altitude range of 1,160 metres (Ishasha gorge) to 2,607 metres (Rwamanyonyi peak).

The total number of mountain gorillas in Bwindi is approximately 340 which is almost over half of the total estimated 720 left in the whole world. Gorilla tourism provides over 50% of tourism revenue for Uganda thus being a strong reason for its protection.