Anne Mugisa
2 July 2008
Kampala — THE African Union (AU) has endorsed Uganda as their non-permanent member to the UN Security Council for 2009/2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
The decision was reached during the concluded AU summit in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt.
Both Uganda and Madagascar had been eyeing the seat on the board of the world's most powerful organisation.
The UN Security Council has five permanent members who hold veto powers.
They are the US, Britain, France, China and Russia.
It also has rotational non-permanent members, who play a vital role in determining decisions at the Council. In the rotational system, it is the East African region's turn to field a candidate.
After securing AU support, Uganda now needs support from the permanent members of the Security Council and other countries.
According to foreign affairs PS, Ambassador Mugume, Uganda would tout its peacekeeping roles in Liberia, Darfur and Somalia in its bid for the seat. Uganda has also played a key role in mediation in region.
At the same meeting, Uganda was also endorsed to host the AU summit in 2010, 35 years after it hosted its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity during Idi Amin's regime.
On Zimbabwe, Museveni said the Southern Africa Development Conference (SADC) was the best placed organisation to handle the election dispute, according to the Presidential Press Unit.
Addressing the AU summit on Tuesday, he emphasised that new players were likely to cause more confusion. In case SADC failed to resolve the crisis, the matter could be taken up by the African Union or the United Nations.
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