Cairo

One

There was a riot in Kampala city center. Opposition politicians were campaigning against the ruling party's move to extend the presidential term. Unemployed youth had taken the opportunity to loot property and beat up motorists. Uganda Police were doing their best to control the riot using batons, rubber bullets and tear gas. The crowd was hurling sticks and stones. There were burning tires on many of the streets within the city center.

News crews and independent photojournalists were running on the streets; taking photos and videos as the police chased civilians. On the top floor of Mutaasa Kafeero Plaza, men and women stood on the balcony watching the riot. Many yelled insults at the police while most of them were recording what was happening on the streets using their mobile phones. A tear gas truck rolled past the building and sprayed the dizzying gas along the top floor.

Many screamed and trampled each other to re-enter the building and get to the nearest water source. A woman toppled over the railing and landed with a sickening thud on top of a vehicle parked on the street. The front windows of the car shattered outwards upon impact. The car's alarm joined the screams of those on the street and in the building.

Major Cairo Kyazze was about to leave the Special Forces Command (SFC) center in Kamwokya that Thursday afternoon when the call came in. The radio transmitter attached to her belt came to life, startling her.

"All units respond. Riot in central Kampala," a disembodied voice said through the radio before cutting off. An alarm began to sound throughout the building. It would not stop until all the soldiers at the center had responded to the crisis call.

Cairo was in the gym. She had gone to pick up her gym bag from the locker in which she had placed it that morning before her workout. When her radio cut off, she slung the bag over her shoulder and left the gym to go in the direction of the Raiders' team room.

The SFC center in Kamwokya housed two elite teams: the Raiders and the Warriors. Both teams were highly skilled in military warfare on land, air and water. They deployed on special missions at the behest of the President who was the Commander in Chief of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).

Cairo weaved past the soldiers and military officers moving in the corridors. She slipped her key card into the terminal and the door to the Raiders' team room opened. She entered and found Fox Kizza, her team mate, in full military dress.

"Hey," he said as he laced his boots. She crossed to her cage and unlocked it.

"Hey," she returned as she stepped into the large metal cage where she kept her personal items at the center. She dropped her gym bag and reached for the uniform hanging in a corner of her cage.

She removed the plastic wrapping from the dry cleaner and lay out the uniform on the hammock that hang across her cage. When she needed a nap while at the center, her hammock in the team room was the safest bet for uninterrupted sleep. She briefly considered taking her uniform with her to the ladies' room to change but dismissed the idea.

The defeaning alarm still sounding through the center signaled that at any minute, someone would come in to do final check and she would have to deploy with the other soldiers to Kampala in whatever state she was in. There was no time for modesty.

Besides, only Fox was in the team room with her. If all the other men on the team were present, she might have spared more thought to finding somewhere else to change from. Then again, she had been the only woman on the team all her four years with them. Women were a scarce commodity in Uganda's elite Special Forces teams. With each deployment, they had all seen more of each other's body parts than they had bargained for through treating gunshot wounds, stripping down to the essentials only in furnace climates, getting tatoos and showing off tatoos.