The death of eight foreign tourists and four game park workers at the hands of a rebel group in Uganda is a disaster for that country's tourist industry and a grisly reminder that the genocide in Rwanda five years ago still sends political and security ripples through the Great Lakes Region of Africa. The circumstances of the deaths are as yet unclear, with clashes being reported between Ugandan troops and the rebel force after the tourists were captured from Buhame Camp in the remote Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where they were observing rare gorillas.
The rebels are drawn from the Hutu Interahamwe movement responsible for the deaths of an estimated 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis in the summer of 1994. They blame Uganda for supporting the Tutsi government which took over the country after the genocide, following which these rebels scattered into neighbouring Zaire, since renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their political motivation is revealed by reports that they singled out US and British citizens, deeming them responsible for their governments' support for the Tutsis; French citizens were spared, presumably because Paris supported the Hutu-dominated government at that time.
Much has happened in the Great Lakes Region since then. Uganda still supports the Tutsi-dominated Rwanda government, to whose leading figures it gave sanctuary for many years. But the Ugandan government has been doing its best to regenerate its economy after the disastrous period of rule by Idi Amin and the nepotistic regime led by Milton Obote which followed it. Tourism has been a big foreign currency earner, notably in the game sanctuaries and nature parks for which it is justly famous. These particular parks earn most of its wildlife income. They offer challenging - and expensive - exposure to animals and terrain not to be encountered elsewhere in Africa. Unfortunately, following this tragedy, even the most intrepid tourists are likely to think twice about the security dangers involved, despite the temptation of seeing silverback mountain gorillas in their natural habitat.
The Interahamwe rebels know that the publicity generated by this affair can deal a severe blow to Uganda's reputation. They are in a coalition of convenience with President Laurent Kabila's forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as he fights a desperate battle to hold on to power against a rebel movement disenchanted with his record since he toppled the Mobuto regime in 1996. Troops from Zimbabwe and Angola have been fighting with him, while Ugandan and Rwandan forces have been supporting the rebels.
It has been a very under-reported war in the western media, but its effects are cropping up all over the region. The developing political crisis in Zimbabwe has been triggered by newspaper reports of deep, even mutinous, dissatisfaction among the troops sent there by President Mugabe. This tragedy should ensure the region attracts the greater international attention it deserves as it struggles to make its way through such instability and turmoil.