On Saturday, I got an email from the AP asking me to cover German President Horst Koehler’s visit to Uganda beginning on Sunday.

The Media Center has already submitted the finished list of accredited journalists to the State House several days earlier. I called, begged, and they told me no. Is there anyone else I could call?

After about fifteen phone calls, some name dropping, and two visits to different Ministries, I got accredited.

Here’s the photo:

German President Horst Koehler, left, looks at some local dancers as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s wife Janet, second left, welcomes him at the Entebbe State House in Uganda, on Sunday Feb. 3, 2008. Koehler will stay several days in Uganda, touring the Parliament, a university, and visiting the northern part of the country, which is currently recovering from a 20-year war. (AP Photo/Glenna Gordon)

Though Koehler didn’t arrive in Entebbe until nearly 7 pm, the Media Center had asked us to arrive at 2:30. Which meant lots of waiting around the State House.

Guns and music.

The Presidential marching band. Who knew there were so many big brass instruments in Uganda?

An officer has a lower ranking fellow tie his shoe.

Museveni and Janet looking very bored. A few seconds later, a Chogm repeat happened: he held out his hand to me, the only white woman in a crowd of male Ugandan journalists, and beckoned me forward. (This time I didn’t keep him waiting.) Once again, I said nothing interesting. Janet did not look amused.

Inside the State House. They served us juice and water on silver trays while we waited for the Big Men to sign some papers.

Charlotte, though I did send your photo to the AP in Nairobi, they decided to pass on it and instead publish the pictures of Koehler. Sorry. I know you’re reading this, and I know you have a blog, so it’s just a matter of time until I find it, so you might as well let me know where it is….

I saw this article in the New Vision about two weeks ago, about this guy exporting Ugandan monkeys to Russia. I thought it would make a good feature story I could easily sell. I called the Vision reporter and got the guy’s phone number, Yekoyada Nuwagaba. I call him.

“Mama, what do you want? What do you want? Why do you want to write about this?” Nuwagaba asked me.

I explained I thought people were interested in monkeys and it would make a good story. He told me to call the next day. I did. He told me to call two days later. I did. He told me to call in another day. I did. Again, and again. About five phone calls later, he told me to talk to the Vision reporter for information. I told him it’s bad journalism to rely on another journalist rather than doing your own reporting. He hung up on me.

I was angry – he made me call back so many times, waste all that airtime and personal energy, only to tell me no. Why couldn’t he have just said no at first instead of making me jump through so many hoops?

I thought something was fishy. Why wouldn’t someone with a nascent business not want a little publicity to help boost his cause? He wouldn’t, if he were doing something devious and evil to those innocent little monkeys.

And then in today’s Vision, I saw this article (which I can’t find online, so I’ll quote here):

NEW VISION, Monday Feb 4

Over 300 monkeys have been exported to Russia by a private company, Navia Exports, using an expired license.

This was exposed last Wednesday when Ronald Sendagire, a primate trapper, was arrested at Gerenge landing site on the shores of Lake Victoria in Wakiso.

The monkeys were loaded in sacks and some were kept in cages, which attracted the attention of residents.

A witness said the trapper, after realising that he was in danger, called Yekoyada Nuwagaba, the managing director of Navia exports….

UWA’s acting chief, Sam Mwandha, said Nuwagaba erred in exporting monkeys using an expired license.

Fishy indeed! I’d call this monkey business. Jane Goodall, where are you when we need you?

AfricaFlack blogs about the loss of donor money to Kenya, donors having pulled out to protest the current political situation. While only 4 percent of Kenya’s budget comes from donor air, up to 40 percent of the development budget originates abroad.

Financial Times reports on how Kenya’s instability is affected the region – including losses of up to $34 million for Uganda due to inability to transport goods shipped to Mombasa and the closing of other trade routes.

The Independent (UK) reports that Western governments accept flawed election results if the winner is an ally. (Wait, is this news??)

Makerere University to teach more local Ugandan languages, the Monitor reports.

Now more than ever, there’s an increase in USA soldiers, especially those deployed to Iraq, committing suicide or conducting acts of self harm, says the Guardian.

Rhodesian author Doris Lessing was a less than gracious acceptant of the Nobel Prize for Literature, reports a New York Times blog. (Hey, if she doesn’t want it, I have plenty of writer friends who’d be happy to accept on her behalf.)

Juba peace talks deadline, originally set for the end of this month, have been delayed until March, according to the Monitor. (Hmmm…. I guess we’ll have to wait until March to find out when the next end-date will be.)

Associated Press reports that Japan has put three convicts to death via hanging.

Distribution of mosquito nets and a new medicine, made from Chinese wormwood, have greatly reduced the numbers of people dying from Malaria in Africa, says the New York Times.

Citizen Uganda blogs about a new film on the rape epidemic in Congo. (There’s a You Tube clip, so I’m wishing my internet connection were up to the challenge.)