Amid the clucking of chickens John Mukasa recalled the years of suffering

Amid the clucking of chickens, John Mukasa recalled the years of suffering, first under Idi Amin in the Seventies, then under Obote who returned to power in 1980 after rigged elections.Mr Mukasa had once had two farms north of Kampala in an area which, during the Eighties civil war, came to be known as the Luwero Triangle. It has direct dialling from the rooms and other facilities which, after weeks of power cuts and telephone problems in Nairobi, made it seem a pleasant prospect.The hotel, built in 1967 and refurbished in 1987, is hardly an architectural triumph and the food is less than stunning. Untroubled by ghosts and memories of the Obote years, I booked into the Nile Hotel. Its title, "Integration, Renovation and New Hope", may be clumsy but then she had to ensure the Spanish acronym was memorable: I.R.E.N.E.Phil Davison. A journalist I know refuses to stay in the Nile Hotel in Kampala Too many ghosts, he says.

During Milton Obote's reign of terror in the first half of the Eighties, the hotel - then called Nile Mansion - was used by the regime for interrogation and torture. No one knows how many people died or "disappeared" after being taken there. I have no dark memories of Uganda, having visited the country for the first time in 1992. By that time it had been seven years since the overthrow of Obote by guerrilla leader-turned-president Yoweri Museveni, and Uganda was well on its way towards recovery. I remember being struck by the lushness and beauty of the countryside. On my most recent visit, however, I had no time to travel about and confined myself to Kampala. With an eye on the presidency, however, she has started her own group. She has set up a team of paramedics to make house calls to ailing or elderly residents and established a local orchestra and ballet school.She was never a member of any party.

Setting up her own police force she has slashed the crime rate and made her municipality one of the few safe districts of Caracas to walk in. Gone are the days when, instead of the wine list, you might be handed a piece of paper saying: "put your cash and credit cards in this bag - now!""If I go out to dinner, I don't stop at red lights and I always head for Chacao," said one middle-class resident of another suburb.Ms Saez has filled in potholes and employed cleaners to keep her district clean. We showed them what the concrete fruits of taxes can be," she said.Critics accuse her of a "let- them-eat-cake" mentality, looking after her own patch inhabited by "haves", while ignoring the vast majority of "have-nots". They say Chacao is the richest municipality in the country and that running it is a push-over.Inside Chacao, however, "Irene" is Queen. I think that Karadzic is retaining control and that it is no big concession towards greater co-operation," he added.Aides of Carl Bildt, the international mediator who is responsible for implementing civilian aspects of the Dayton settlement, contested the view that the leadership changes meant Mr Karadzic had given little away. "We believe that this is the beginning of the end of the influence of Dr Karadzic on the political scene.

Mr Bildt is continuing to ensure that this sidelining of Dr Karadzic is ratified and consummated," Colum Murphy, a spokesman for Mr Bildt, said.Failure to secure the removal from power of Mr Karadzic would gravely damage Mr Bildt's authority and undermine the Dayton agreement.The peace terms require Mr Karadzic and other indicted war criminals to give up public office and be turned over to the tribunal in The Hague. "Irene Saez has always said ...""People here didn't use to pay taxes. In a country where around 60 per cent of voters usually do not turn out, they showed up massively in Chacao to re-elect her."No-one here's ever won 96 per cent It's unheard of," she said. Like Baroness Thatcher, whom she met during her travel year as Miss Universe, she has a tendency to slip into the royal "we" or refer to herself. At 34, Ms Saez may no longer have the universe at her feet but she is living proof it's not all downhill from the top of the world.

She is threatening to become the most famous Venezuelan since the country's 19th century liberator, Simon Bolivar. The six-foot blonde is in her second term as mayor of the wealthy Caracas municipality of Chacao. She was re-elected recently with 96 per cent of the vote and is now a serious bet for president of Venezuela by 1998.Ms Saez may have cast off the beauty-pageant image but "Irene" dolls, with cascading blonde locks, hazel eyes, ruby lips and pink lace frocks, are still top sellers, with a 5 per cent commission augmenting the mayor's salary.Such is her reputation for running Chacao, a suburb of 185,000 residents, glitzy shops and upmarket restaurants, that the locals refer to it as "Irenelandia" (Irene-land).Her secret borrows from Thatcherism and pre-Mandela South Africa, with a sprinkling of Marie Antoinette But her constituents like it. Looking gorgeous and about to become quite rich, she did not bat an eyelid. "Intelligent, because then you can develop into many other things." She might have been thinking about one of her compatriots and predecessors, 1981 Miss Universe Irene Saez. "One was a young girl who had been beaten in the face," Mr Fujimoto said.