Last week the news of the death of Yahya Sinwar (62) broke. Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya) or the Islamic Resistance Movement founded in 1987, is a militant Palestinian nationalist and Islamist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Its major objective is to establish the independent State of Palestine. This it hopes to do by violently eliminating the State of Israel whose creation in 1948 is viewed by several in the Middle East as an occupying force that displaced the Palestinians from their ancestral lands. The incessant bloody struggle in the Middle East rotates around that question.
Sinwar was born in a refugee camp called Khan Younis. His parents located there after being displaced from their home in Ashkelon in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Khan Younis was densely populated with impoverished Palestinian families living in deplorable conditions. It is said that when Sinwar got to know and understand that history, he dedicated himself to liberating Palestine, as a lifelong mission.
Along the way in this struggle he was jailed several times. The most outstanding period of incarceration being 22 years, for murder of Palestinians suspected of colluding with the Israel. In 1989 he was sentenced to four life sentences.
While in jail he still used his connections outside and inside the prison to hold sway among Palestinians. Vicious methods were used to punish collaborators and promote the Palestinian struggle.
Sinwar was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner swap deal with an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldier, Gilad Shilat. Gilad Shilat had been captured in 2006 by Hamas while he guarded a border crossing. Sinwar was against the swap but his brother Mohammed insisted that he be released in the deal.
Sinwar dived back in the struggle like he had not been away for 22 years; which is a third of his life. He stayed in there masterminding the deadly October 7, 2023 attack where more than 1,200 people were killed, in what is described as the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Another 254 were taken hostage, some of whom have since died while others have been released or rescued.
For this Sinwar, was marked by the IDF as a dead man walking. The man who was born on October 29, attacked Israel on October 7, received his comeuppance on October 16 when he was killed in a gun fight.
When videos of the dying and lifeless body of Sinwar were circulated, many in Israel celebrated what they termed the death of a terrorist and mass murderer.
Meanwhile many in Gaza termed him a hero who died on the battle field and that they would show their children and grand children the clips to motivate them to continue with the fight to liberate Palestine.
Back home in the same week came the news of another struggle; the one which began in 2021 when the main opposition party the National Unity Platform set out to ‘remove a dictator.’ Just like the Palestinian one, this struggle has not been an easy one.
NUP supporters have been abducted by armed men on several occasion, held incommunicado, tortured and some have died.
They have been charged with all manner of grave offences the prominent one being terrorism. They have been denied bail and kept in the coolers for close to four years. Some have lost jobs, their livelihood and family members. Some of their children have reportedly dropped out of school.
The NRM government has smartly charged them in the Military Court martial, which has a history of playing to the whims of the government, especially with regards to its opponents.
It has been a futile attempt to protect them. Organisations like the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) with its head Mariam Wangadya, has granted them a callous and careless reception.
All along there have been allegations of emissaries sent to the prisoners requesting them to accuse their party leader Hon Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, aka Bobi Wine, of treason and other grave offences in exchange for their freedom. Hon Muhammed Ssegirinya said so repeatedly.
The Secretary General of NUP and other officials like Hon Joel Ssenyonyi have reported incidences of prisoners and their families being pressured to plead guilty and apologise to the President for freedom and other material benefits.
Ostensibly, last week some of the NUP faithful finally caved in to pressure and confessed that they had been found with explosives. They now await sentencing. The minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, Hon Balaam Barugahara, who has been instrumental in the process of seeking a pardon for the prisoners, has promised to talk to the authorities for a light punishment.
One of the sticking points in this whole process has been to accuse the leaders of NUP of using the prisoners for financial gain and point scoring. That they get a lot of funding and sympathy from abroad as being a persecuted political force using the prisoners as proof.
The detractors of NUP have shown top officials boarding flights to go and ‘enjoy’ in what are called ‘outside countries.’ They publicise NUP spouses and top officials shopping plus children staying and studying abroad.
They compare and contrast them with those of the NUP prisoners to prove the latter are being used as bait.
The Ugandan style of struggle compared to the struggle in Palestine tells the story of comfort and conviction.
For Palestine and Israel the struggle is about an existential problem. It is a life, death and destiny issue that has been passed down for decades from generation to generation by unified groups of people fighting to the last muscle to survive or blink and perish. It is about solid conviction.
No amount of promises of comfort like homes, good jobs, a masters degree in the most prestigious institution in the West, money, houses or cars can be thrown in to distract focus or change that.
In Uganda over the years struggles have been compromised and destroyed by propaganda and promises of comfort.
Because politics has been commercialised, bastardised and simplified as source of material gain, it is difficult to find people who have strong convictions. It is therefore easy to alienate leaders from their supporters by accusing the former of making money while the latter suffer.
That is why you have to give it to NUP and their supporters who have held on to their convictions for the last four years. They are no Yahya Sinwars who relentlessly dedicate a third of their lives to a struggle. But you can neither write them off as ordinary women and men going about the streets.
Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues
X: @nsengoba
