President Yoweri Museveni’s Government Runs a Very Confused Foreign Policy

 President Yoweri Museveni’s Government Runs a Very Confused Foreign Policy

• ·         You Cannot Concurrently Hobnob With South Korea And North Korea , Iran And Israel , Russia And America And Reap Diplomatic Dividends

They say that ‘’he who falls for anything falls for nothing’’

And that idiom characterizes the foreign policy of president Yoweri museveni’s government.

While governments all over the world have a clear cut foreign policy that dictates on how to relate with particular countries, the Ugandan government opportunistically expects to relate with each and every country at the same time without weighing the consequences.

That is not how diplomatic engagement is done. You cannot be friends with everybody.

During the aftermath of the 911 attacks on America President George Bush junior made a statement that shaped American foreign policy when he said that ‘’you are either with us or against us’’

He then named the list of countries that were deemed to be hostile to America. Among them were Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. He categorized them as an axis of evil.

Ugandan seems to be the only country in the world that is not clear on which country to regard as clear allies or enemies. It therefore freely relates with two countries that are known to be hostile to each other.

It’s only Uganda that can claim to be in bed with Iran and Israel at the same time, never mind that the two are plotting to eliminate each other.

 It has bilateral relations North Korea and South Korea, yet it’s clear that Pyongyang is at logger heads with Seoul.

Uganda brags about being on good terms with Russia, even when it’s well known that America and the western countries in general alienated and slapped sanctions on Moscow, when it invaded Ukraine.

Amin Was Very Clear

Even president Amin was very clear about which countries to relate with and which ones to oppose.

He was the first to say that he was neither pro-west nor pro-east. By this he meant that he belonged to the non aligned movement which was a league of countries that were not involved in the cold war between the capitalist countries and the socialists’ countries.

It was his decision to relate with the Palestinian cause that led him to sever relations with Israel.

You must recall that Amin had been trained by Israelis. He had friends in the Israeli army like Col Bar Lev.

It was Col Bar Lev who hoodwinked president Amin by engaging him in a long telephone conversation as the Israeli commandoes raided Entebbe at night in 1976.

It must be emphasized that Amin’s decision to have stronger diplomatic relations with the Arab countries was done at a bigger risk of losing ties with the western powers.

During his time Uganda had stronger ties with Col Muamar Ghadafi’s Lbya and King Fahad ‘S Saudi Arabia. It was this diplomatic relations that helped him when he was kicked out of power in 1979 when he fled to Libya and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia.

I stressed to you in my previous blog that Idi Amin spent only 8 years in power and 24 years in exile in Saudi Arabia. If he had not cultivated good diplomatic relations with the Arabs, they would never have kept him for the two and half decades that he spent there.

When Amin’s friend Emperor Jean Bedel Bokasa lost power, he was extradited back to the Central African Republic and humiliated with prosecution because he had not cultivated clear friends.

President Obote’s Foreign Policy

Our former president Milton Obote also had a very clear foreign policy where he opposed apartheid and its supporters. He also had relations with North Korea that remained till he was kicked out of power on two separate occasions, 1971 and 1985. He did not dillydally with both North Korea and South Korea like it is today.

We can also safely say that president Obote’s tight friendship with the likes of Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda worked for him during his hour of need. He had to seek refuge in Tanzania and Zambia respectively whenever he endured a coup d’état.

Enter Museveni

 Now today its had to tell where Uganda’s allies and enemies are.

We don’t know whether our close neighbors Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and Kenya are really our true friends. its really confusing

Kenya Might Be Hostile 

For instance a few weeks ago Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta bitterly complained about Uganda’s decision to use Tang port instead of Mombasa. And you know very well that President Yoweri Museveni defended Uhuru Kenyatta in regard to the ICC indictments.

If Museveni was very good friends with Uhuru Kenyatta, the issue of Tanga port wouldn’t have spilled to the media. They would have resolved it amicably between them. But that was not the case because there is lack of trust between the two leaders.

Kenya’s leader of opposition Mzee Raila Odinga also complained about the importation of Uganda’s sugar to the Kenyan market. Remember Mzee Oginga Odinga might emerge as Kenyan president since he is preparing to contest in the forthcoming presidential election in 2017.

So you can see that president Museveni is not assured regardless of who is president of Kenya.

Likewise, at onetime Uganda was having a bad relation with Khartoum’s president Omar El Bashir who was known to sponsor the LRA AND ADF rebellions.

Bashir could have been a bad boy because he had even got indicted by the ICC for his war crimes in Darfur and Kordofan.

But we were shocked to see our dear president Yoweri Museveni abusing the ICC for indicting President Omar Bashir!

Why should you defend criminals, Mr president ?

Abusing The International Community

To cap it all, you all know that our country cannot foot its entire national budget. We are being helped by the international community to fund our development budget.

But it’s shocking that during the 12^th May 2016  swearing-in ceremony our president made a decision to attack the international community by calling them ‘a bunch of useless people’!

Yet he was at the same time reading out a list of roads that were about to be completed, never mind that most of those roads are funded by these ‘useless people’.

For instance the northern by pass is funded by the European Union. But remember one of the officials of the EU walked way in protest to president museveni's abusive speech at kololo.

President Museveni should surround himself with strategists who can help him direct his policies.

If he had strategists he would never have made the mistake of agitating for a two state solution to Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu. They would have told him that it’s a no-go topic for Netanyahu.

President Museveni should have been advised that whoever roots for a two state solution becomes an instant enemy of Israel.
Its rumored that Israel broadcasters switched off president Museveni\s gaffe speech from Tel Aviv.

These are some of the cases which prove that president Museveni doesn’t seem to have a clear foreign policy. He merely gambles with each country without weighing the consequences.

If nothing is done about this ambiguous foreign policy , Uganda stands to lose big time because we shall claim to have the entire world as allies , yet we cannot point out which one can stand with us during that hour of need.

The Author, Fred Daka Kamwada Is A Journalist, Researcher And Blogger You can contact him on kamwadafred@gmail.com or even chat him up on 0782480121