The First World War which many believe should not have happened began in 1914, a hundred years ago. It is being commemorated this week.
Despite the suffering Uganda has gone through with wars since 1966, and the devastating evidence from wars elsewhere, there are still some Ugandans including Sejusa, Kafero, Amii Otunnu and Kuloba who are still insisting that the only way to unseat NRM regime is through another war. These people have no mandate and cannot individually or with a handful of supporters declare war on Uganda. They have formed dubious organizations to hoodwink Ugandans that they have a sizeable number of followers and therefore can declare war. We need to know what these organizations are and who runs and supports them.
The devastation of World War I outlined below will hopefully change the mind of those Ugandans still preparing for an unjust war.
WWI expected to last a short time in victory lasted nearly five years and ended up ripping Europe asunder and slaughtering nearly the entire generation and the brightest. Nearly everyone lost a family member or a friend. The political, economic and social fabric was destroyed. The catastrophe was of unbelievable proportions.
The Great War as it is popularly known that was fought to end all wars instead laid the foundation for yet another more devastating WWII. Below are statistics of what happened during WWI that should persuade Ugandans not to engage yet in another war but come together and form People Power under able and patriotic leaders, not the ones we have bent on keeping the opposition divided as the upcoming meeting of opposition parties in Europe will do indirectly backing the NRM regime they are hugely benefiting from.
The precise cost of World War I will probably never be known. Here is what we know.
1. Germany lost 1, 808, 545 people while 4,247,143 were wounded;
2. France casualties have been estimated at 5,000,000 of whom 1,835,300 were dead or missing;
3. The American casualty figure stands at 325,876, of whom 115,660 lost their lives;
4. The total losses of British Empire stood at 3,260,581, including 947,023 dead and missing. On the Western Front alone , British and Dominion casualties were 2,690,054;
5. Between half a million and two million Russians died while 3,409, 433 Russians were captured and 228,838 went missing;
6. Austria-Hungary lost 905,299 dead and 837,483 went missing;
7. The Spanish influenza killed some 50 million people worldwide.
The information was obtained from Andrew Wiest (2014) and Peter Simkins et al., (2014).
The principal purpose of providing these figures is to illustrate especially to Ugandans that rushing into war as we are being incited by power hungry individuals could be suicidal. Ugandans must therefore think long and hard before venturing into another war and should that happen it must be a just war.
Eric Kashambuzi