Omar Kalinge Nnyago
1 November 2007
opinion
President Museveni, 63, Uganda's longest serving leader since independence in 1962 was at the White House this week to discuss HIV/Aids, government-LRA peace talks, trade, oil, and of course the Somalia theatre of the global war on terror, where only Uganda has 1600 peacekeeping troops serving in a well boycotted African Union mission.
Museveni, in retrospect, could easily have showed George Bush the way around the White House; he was there before him, as early as 1987 when he first met President Ronald Reagan. Twenty years down the road and four American presidents out of the way, Museveni in Washington must have celebrated his staying power.
By the look of things there is nothing likely to stop him from continuing with his march, in time to meet the next American president, who theoretically would have been the seventh, had both Clinton and Bush not served two terms each.
Beyond the arithmetic, Museveni's trip is significant, for three reasons. One, coming days before he hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kampala, Museveni has pre-empted the anticipated embarrassment he is likely to receive from the Commonwealth's censure of his presidency on the parameters of democratisation, human rights, corruption and press freedoms.
It is known that the Commonwealth is an English creature. This is why the Queen of England unapologetically remains its head, even at the risk of lending credence to criticisms of the organisation as a classic neo-colonial club that seeks to perpetuate a semblance of English Lordship over her former condescending colonies.
Because Britain, over the years but especially under Tony Blair, allowed America to use it as a junior partner in all its geopolitical and hegemonic manouvres, Museveni had to demonstrate that he was welcome and still highly regarded by the United States, England's former colony now turned Master. Any comments from the Chogm would then cease to be of much consequence.
Secondly, as campaigns for his fourth presidential term kicked off in the eastern town of Mbale, Museveni needed to prove to his constituents and indeed his opponents that he was in the good books of the United States.
And because his relationship with America was strategic (meaning long term), it was only his continuation in power that could deliver the promises he made to the nation when he first shot his way into Kampala in 1986 A.D. This visit has tremendously boosted Museveni's fourth term bid in a backward country that still thinks that America is god.
Thirdly, the president's visit to Washington comes at a time when the government's peace talks with the rebels of the Lords Resistance Army are in a state of uncertainty, with the spectre of their collapse hanging in the air more than ever before.
What with the widely circulated speculative but worrying reports that Joseph Kony and his erstwhile right hand man Vincent Otti had split. Yet this is the time that an LRA advance team was arriving in Kampala to pave way for a bigger one to arrive probably within the week to meet with the president.
It must be noted that the fact that the government-LRA talks were on the agenda in Washington has put a lot of pressure on the LRA to reach a settlement of sorts with the government to avoid a possibility of an American backed armed confrontation and the arrest of Kony.
While it remains to be seen whether the LRA will succumb to the pressure, it is true that the Washington visit will have an enormous effect on the direction of the peace talks- for better or for worse.
For that section of Uganda's opposition which seeks to compete with Museveni's regime for attention from the United States, the visit has come as bad news. America seems determined to keep Museveni in power at any cost, sorry, but for "strategic reasons".
President Museveni is a tried and tested America's friend.
He has represented the super power's interests with utmost diligence and obedience over the years. He has maintained Uganda's position as a buffer against Islamic fundamentalism, which explains Uganda's acrimonious relations with the Sudan, especially their reciprocal backing of the LRA and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army.
He is one of the few African leaders who supported the now confirmed insane and deceitful American invasion of Iraq under the guise of non-existent weapons of mass destruction. America is likely to stick with Museveni to the end, not unlike they did with Mobutu.
Uganda's opposition ought to forget the possibility of getting Museveni out with America's help and perhaps try other "allies". America does not share the enthusiasm of the opposition in changing things around here. It is the status quo that they seek to maintain. As it is widely known, the West has no friends, just interests.
Museveni is serving those interests exceptionally well. Fortunately, he is not serving only America's.
When all is over some day, it would be interesting to reflect on how one African leader managed to "play" America, Europe, Libya and now China. Isn't it wonderful to have a leader who does not believe in anything?
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