Global Voices Online

Pamela Stitch has an interview with Ugandan singer Omega Bugemba Okello at the African Loft, which includes one of her music videos. She talks about why she sings in Luganda and her difficulties in a male dominated industry, among other things.

The African Uptimist congratulates three African companies for winning the 2008 Ashden Awards.

A list of technology events taking place in Africa from White Africa: “I’m starting to compile a list of interesting technology events happening around the continent. If this ends up being useful, I’ll create a page to keep it updated. Let me know if you like it, or if there is someone already keeping a calender of sorts.”

Moses Paul writes about media crackdown in Uganda: “Government has set up a special ministerial taskforce in what appears another move by the state to muzzle the media. This is not the first time hardline elements in President Museveni’s government have mooted unconstitutional machinations to clamp down on the independent media.”

Moses Paul criticizes Ugandan government media strategy : “?Govt got its media strategy totally wrong. Government has heightened its preparedness to clamp down on the independent media. President Museveni’s attack on Daily Monitor in his State of the Nation address last week was a clear signal that government was not about to respect press freedoms and freedom of thought in the country.

John Boonstra blogs about peace and security in Northern Uganda: “Frustrated with notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony's persistent failure to make good on his promise to sign a peace deal, the Ugandan government, along with those of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, two of the other countries that Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has terrorized, are ready to replace pens with guns.”

Book Club arrives in Kampala, Uganda: “The long awaited book club arrives. The onus is on me to pick the location, I guess, and I was thinking Iguana, but that's so not central. So I have to fall back on the default Mateo's.”

Pea discusses “The Challenge of the Cults in East Africa,” a video series on YouTube: “I was on YouTube just now and came across a series of videos titled “The Challenge of the Cults in East Africa.” The videos are posted by ACFAR, which I believe stands for African Centre for Apologetics Research. I watched the first two-minute video, and felt I had seen enough, but in order to keep from making assumptions, I decided to watch the rest.”