KAMPALA NIGHT "LIFE" SHUNNED AFTER 11/7

Kampala nite clubs deserted after the 11/7 SWC bombings

Bomb blasts that killed 76 people in Kampala this month have left the city’s bustling nightlife in tatters, with paltry crowds and dwindling drink orders curtailing business prospects.

Suicide bombers detonated deadly explosives in the midst of revellers watching the World Cup final on the night of July 11 in two separate entertainment venues in the Ugandan capital. Scores of people were also left injured.

“People thought it was a bomb that killed people. But it’s a bomb that killed also business,” said Paul Kato, who organises bands and DJs in several venues in the city’s Kabalagala district.

Kampala is known for its lively nightlife. Kabalagala, where a suspected suicide bomber killed 15 patrons in an Ethiopian restaurant, has the highest concentration of bars and clubs.

Locals and expatriates frequent Kabalagala in the south of the city, where bouncers usually observed a relaxed policy towards commercial sex workers.

“On Fridays, by midnight, people would be full all over here,” Kato told AFP, gesturing around the patio of Cafe Cheri, situated some 200 metres from the Ethiopian Village restaurant.

“We would make so much money. Even if you didn’t work these other days, as long as you make Friday or Saturday you were OK,” he said.

The first weekend after the attacks claimed by Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants saw the fewest customers in the district in several years, Kato said. “People are scared. It is just terrible,” he said.

While several businesses on the strip made similar complaints, Kaleb Tibebe, who manages another Ethiopian restaurant, has to bear up with the knock-on effect. “During the time the incident happened, most people were calling us thinking it was our place (that was attacked),” said Tibebe.

“And even up to now everyone that passes keeps looking into the compound. They still think it happened here.”

Tibebe said he has drastically cut down on food orders in anticipation of a protracted lull, but believes customers will come back once people get over the shock.

He has since invested more in security, hiring a private company to screen everyone who enters the restaurant’s compound, but even with the enhanced security, people are still wary.

President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to go after the al Shabaab insurgents who said the attacks were retaliation for Uganda’s deployment of the bulk of troops for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (Amisom).

Days after the explosions, Uganda’s Tourism minister Serapio Rukundo implored the media to report that nothing had changed in the country’s capital. “Kampala is normal,” he told journalists, “Except that we are more vigilant.”

However, the minister’s declaration was merely baseless optimism, according to Kato, who suggested that the way to save Kampala’s nightlife hub from permanent ruin was to carry on despite dwindling numbers.

His pub hosts Uganda’s most famous pop musicians every Monday, but even his presence has failed to hold the downturn.

“Last night there were over seven security bouncers. He didn’t get a quarter of the crowd he usually has,” Kato said, dejected, referring to the previous night’s spectacle.

The July 11 blasts were the worst in East Africa since the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and which were also claimed by al Qaeda. (AFP)