ANC condemns Uganda attacks

2010-07-12 19:00

Johannesburg - The ANC on Monday "strongly condemned" those behind the bomb blasts in Uganda which left at least 64 people dead and scores injured.

"The ANC has always believed that problems confronting our continent and the world should be resolved through peaceful means and not violence," spokesperson Brian Sokutu said in a statement.

Explosions tore through crowds watching the live television coverage of the World Cup final match at a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant on Sunday in Uganda's capital Kampala.

According to the Associated Press, police feared al-Qaeda-linked Somali militant group al-Shebaab was behind the attacks, as Uganda's President Yuweri Museveni declared on Monday "we shall go for them wherever they are coming from".

Sokutu said: "We note that the cold-blooded murderers behind the massacre orchestrated the attack on defenseless civilians who were watching the World Cup in South Africa.

"It is only individuals and groupings without a soul who can mount this kind of an attack on civilians at a time when the world is rejoicing over the successful hosting by South Africa of the World Cup - the first to be held on the African continent."

The ANC sent its "heartfelt condolences" to Museveni and relatives and friends of those killed.

- SAPA