I should be writing. So I'm writing.

I heard two large blasts yesterday which I instantly knew had come from the Mulago Hospital roundabout. Running late to work (as opposed to just feeling lazy), I took a boda boda around 9:30am and saw 2 or 3 large police trucks and what looked like about a taxi's worth of people, somewhere between 14 and 20, gathered around the roundabout looking on. I thought maybe there had been a car accident, but a stand-off between police and the white SUV they were surrounding containing Besigye was underway. Anywhere from 5 mins to a 1/2 hour after I rode through the roundabout, police arrested Besigye for the 4th time this month, smashing the windows of his car, firing tear gas, dragging him away and hauling him onto the bed of a police truck.

The "walk-to-work" protests started April 14th over rising fuel and food prices, and have been marked by clashes between protesters, the police, and the repeated arrest of political opposition Dr. Kizza Besigye. -BBC News

Uganda's inflation rose in April for the sixth straight time, and jumped to 14.1 percent in April from 11.1 percent in March. Food crop prices rose 39.3 percent in April from the same month a year earlier, up from 29.1 percent in March. -Reuters Africa

Museveni, in power since 1986, blames drought for high food costs and soaring oil prices for surging local fuel costs, and has warned Besigye that his protests will not be tolerated. Besigye lost a presidential election to veteran President Yoweri Museveni in February for a third time and has vowed to continue campaigning despite repeated detentions during the protests that had killed at least five people before today. -Reuters

The TV networks have been banned from live coverage by the UCC, but interestingly, NTV and UBC are broadcasting the Royal Wedding without disruption. Here's a YouTube video of Besigye's arrest yesterday.



This morning I walked to work, which is what I do every day (if I'm not running late or feeling lazy, or both). I've been hearing frequent sounds of gunshots and tear gas, about every 20 mins, varying in distance, and followed by ambulance sirens. And at Mulago Hospital, where the main building for IDI is located, colleagues have been describing the stream of casualties flowing in from the protests. There was supposed to be a press conference today over the protests at 1pm, but its been pushed to 3pm, if it actually happens at all.

I received the requisite email and SMS from the State Dept. arriving in each respective inbox this morning advising on minimizing travel and monitoring the media. And the Daily Monitor and the Red Pepper, two of Uganda's major newspapers, as well as Facebook and Twitter, have been buzzing with almost up to the minute information about the demonstrations happening as they've continued to progress and spread through Kampala and out to the suburbs.

And in true form of swift (and brutal) Ugandan justice, the possessions belonging to Gilbert Bwana Arinaitwe, seen in the video smashing the window of Besigye's car, who people quickly began referring to as Besigye's "key tormenter," have already allegedly been set on fire by angry crowds, and his house almost burned down, spared only by the landlord pleading for mercy!