Yoweri Museveni

(Redirected from Yoweri Kaguta Museveni)

Categories: 1944 births | Ugandan politicians | Ugandan military personnel | Current national leaders | Rebels

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (born c. 1944^[1], Ntungamo, Uganda^[2]) has been the President of Uganda since January 29, 1986.

Museveni was involved in rebellions which toppled Ugandan leaders Idi Amin (1971-1979) and Milton Obote (1980-1985). With the notable exception of the north, President Museveni has brought relative stability and economic growth to a country which has endured decades of rebel activity and civil war. His tenure has also witnessed one of the most effective national response to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

In the mid-late 1990s, Museveni was fêted by the west as part of a new generation of African leaders. His presidency has been marred, however, by involvement in civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other Great Lakes region conflicts. Rebellion in the north continues to perpetuate one of the worlds worst humanitarian emergencies. Restrictions on political pluralism and moves to scrap constitutional limits on presidential terms have attracted recent concern from domestic commentators and the international community.

Early life and career (1944 - 1972)

Born in Ntungamo in western Uganda, Museveni is a member of the Nyankole ethnic group. He was given his surname in honour of the Seventh Battalion of the King's African Rifles, the British colonial army in which many Ugandans served during World War II. His middle name was adopted from his stepfather, Amos Kaguta, a cattle herder whom his mother, Esteri Kokundeka, married in Ntungamo. Amos Kaguta is also the father of Museveni's brother Caleb Akandwanaho, popularly known in Uganda as "Salim Saleh",^[3] and sister Violet Kajubiri.^[4]

Museveni attended the Kyamate elementary school, Mbarara High School, and Ntare School. It was while at high school that he became a born again Christian. In 1967, he went to the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He studied economics and political science and becoming an unreconstructed Marxist and involving himself in in radical pan-African politics. While at university, he formed the University Students' African Revolutionary Front activist group and led a student delegation to FRELIMO territory in Portuguese Mozambique, where he received guerilla training. Studying under the leftist Walter Rodney, among others, Museveni's senior thesis was written on the applicability of Frantz Fanon's revolutionary violence to postcolonial Africa.^[5]

In 1970, Museveni joined the intelligence service of President Milton Obote. When Major General Idi Amin seized power in a military coup in January 1971, Museveni fled to Tanzania with other exiles including the deposed president.

FRONASA and the toppling of Amin (1972 - 1980)

The exile forces opposed to Amin invaded Uganda from Tanzania in September 1972 and were repelled, suffering heavy losses. The situation of the rebels was compounded by a peace agreement signed later in the year by Tanzania and Uganda, in which rebels were denied the use of Tanzanian soil for aggression against Uganda.^[6] Museveni briefly worked as a lecturer at a cooperative college in Moshi, in northern Tanzania, before breaking away from the mainstream opposition and forming the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) in 1973.^[7] In August of the same year, he married Janet Kataha, a former secretary and airline stewardess with whom he would have four children.

In October 1978, President Idi Amin ordered the invasion of Tanzania in order to claim the Kagera province for Uganda. From 24 to 26 March 1979, Museveni and FRONASA attended a gathering of exiles and rebel groups in the northern Tanzanian town of Moshi. Overcoming ideological differences, for the time being at least, the various groups established the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF). Museveni was appointed to an 11-member Executive Council, chaired by Yusuf Lule. This was accompanied by a National Consultative Council (NCC) with one member for each of the 28 groups represented at the meeting. The UNLF joined forces with the Tanzanian army to launch a counter-attack which culminated in the toppling of the Amin regime in April 1979. Museveni was named the new Minister of State for Defence in the new UNLF government. He was the youngest minister in Yusuf Lule's administration. The thousands of troops which Museveni recruited into FRONASA during the war were incorporated into the new national army. They retained their loyalty to Museveni, however, and would be crucial in later rebellions against the second Obote regime.

The NCC selected Godfrey Binaisa as the new chairman of the UNLF after infighting led to the deposition of Yusuf Lule in June 1979. Machinations to consolidate power continued with Binaisa in a similiar manner to his predecessor. In November, Museveni was reshuffled from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, with Binaisa himself taking over the key defence role. In May 1980, Binaisa himself was placed under house arrest after an attempt to dismiss the army chief of staff. A new Presidential Commission, with Museveni as Vice-Chairman, was installed and quickly announced plans for a general election in December.

Now a relatively well-known national figure, Museveni established a new political party, the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), which he would lead in the elections. He would be competing against three other political groupings: the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), led by former president Milton Obote; the Conservative Party (CP); the Democratic Party (DP). The main contenders were seen to be the UPC and DP. The official results declared UPC the winner with Museveni's UPM gaining only one of the 126 available seats. A number of irregularities compromised the credibility of the poll. In the planning of the election, the leader of the ruling commission, Paulo Muwanga, supported the UPC's view that each candidate should have a separate ballot box. This was fiercely opposed by the other parties, who maintained that it would make the poll easier to manipulate. The configuration of political boundaries may also have aided the UPC. Constituencies in generally pro-UPC northern Uganda contained proportionally less voters than the anti-UPC Buganda, giving more power to Obote's party. Suspicions of fraud were compounded by Muwanga's announcement on the day of the election that all results should be cleared by him before they were announced publicly. The losing parties refused to recognise the legitimacy of the new regime, citing widespread electoral irregularities.

The war in the bush (1981 - 1986)

Obote II and the National Resistance Army

Museveni returned with his supporters to their rural strongholds to form the Popular Resistance Army (PRA). There they planned a rebellion against the second Obote regime, popularly known as "Obote II", and its armed forces, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). The insurgency began with an attack on an army installation in the central Mubende district on 6 February 1981. The PRA later merged with former president Yusufu Lule's fighting group, the Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF) to create the National Resistance Army (NRA) with its political wing, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). Two other rebel groups, the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) and Former Uganda National Army (FUNA) also engaged Obote's forces separately in West Nile.^[8]

The NRM/A developed a "Ten-point Programme" for an eventual government, covering: democracy, security, consolidation of national unity, defending national independence, building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy, improvement of social services, elimination of corruption and misuse of power, redressing inequality, cooperation with other African countries and a mixed economy. This programme would never be carried into government, however. The influence of Marxist liberation organisations on the NRA and the leftist-character of its ten-point programme would eventually give way to political expediency.^[9]

By July 1985, Amnesty International estimated that the Obote regime had been responsible for more than 300,000 civilian deaths across Uganda. The human rights organisation had made several representations to the government to improve its appalling human rights record from 1982. Abuses were particularly conspicuous in an area of central Uganda known as the Luwero Triangle. Reports from Uganda during this period brought international criticism to the Obote regime and increased support for Museveni's rebel force. Until his death in 2005, former president Milton Obote blamed the Luwero abuses on the NRA.

1985 Nairobi Agreement

Main article: Nairobi Agreement, 1985

On 27 July 1985, ethnic factionalism within the UPC government led to a military coup and the replacement of Obote with his former army commander, Lieutenant-General Tito Okello. Museveni and the NRM/A were angry that the revolution for which they had fought for four years had been 'hijacked' by the UNLA, which they viewed as having been discredited by gross human rights violations during Obote II.^[10] Despite these reservations, however, the NRM/A eventually agreed to peace talks presided over by a Kenyan delegation headed by President Daniel Arap Moi.

The talks, which lasted from 26 August to 17 December, were notoriously acrimonious and the resultant ceasefire broke down almost immediately. The final agreement, signed in Nairobi, called for a ceasefire, demilitarisation of Kampala, integration of the NRA and government forces, and absorption of the NRA leadership into the Military Council.^[11] These conditions were never met.

The prospects of a lasting agreement were limited by several factors, including the Kenyan team's lack of an in depth knowledge of the situation in Uganda and the exclusion of relevant Ugandan and international actors from the tallks, inter alia. In the end, Museveni and his allies refused to share power with generals they did not respect, not least while the NRA had the capacity to achieve an outright military victory.

The push for Kampala

While supposedly involved in the peace negotiations, Museveni had courted General Mobutu of Zaire in an attempt to forestall the involvement of Zairean forces in support of Okello's military junta. On 20 January 1986, however, several hundred troops loyal to Idi Amin were accompanied into Ugandan territory by the Zairean military. The forces intervened in the civil conflict following secret training in Zaire and an appeal from Okello ten days previously.^[12] Mobutu's support for Okello was a score Museveni would settle years later, ordering Ugandan forces into the conflict which would finally topple the Zairean leader.

By this stage, however, the NRA had developed an unstoppable momentum. By the 22 January, government troops in Kampala had begun to quit their posts en-masse as the rebels gained ground from the south and south west.^[13] On the 25th, the Museveni-led faction finally overran the capital. The NRA toppled Okello's government and declared victory the next day.

Museveni was sworn in as president three days later on 29 January. "This is not a mere change of guard, it is a monumental change," said Museveni after a ceremony conducted by British-born chief Justice Peter Allen. Speaking to crowds of thousands outside the Ugandan parliament, the new president promised a return to democracy and said: "The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to a democratic government. It is not a favour from any regime. The sovereign people must be the public, not the government".^[14]

Museveni in power (1986 - 1996)

Political and economic regeneration

The Post-Amin regimes in Uganda were characterised by corruption, factionalism and an inability to restore order and acquire popular legitimacy. Museveni needed to avoid repeating these mistakes if his new government was not to befall the same fate. The NRM declared a four-year interim government, composing a more broad ethnic base than its predecessors. The representatives of the various factions were nevertheless hand picked by Museveni. The sectarian violence which had overshadowed Uganda's recent history was put forward as a justification for restricting the activities of the political parties and their ethnically distinct supporter bases. The non-party system did not prohibit political parties, but prevented them from fielding candidates directly in elections. The so-called "Movement" system, which Museveni said claimed the loyalty of every Ugandan, would be a cornerstone in politics for nearly twenty years.

A system of Resistance Councils, directly elected at the parish-level, was established to manage local affairs, including the equitable distribution of fixed-price commodities. The election of Resistance Councils representatives was the first direct experience of many Ugandans with democracy after many decades of varying levels of authoriatarianism and the replication of the structure up to the district level has been credited with helping even people at the local level understand the higher level political structures.

The new government enjoyed widespread international support and the economy that had been damaged by the civil war began to recover as Museveni initiated economic policies designed to combat key problems such as hyperinflation and the balance of payments. Abandoning his Marxist ideals, Museveni embraced the neo-liberal structural adjustments advocated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Uganda began participating in an IMF Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in 1987. Its objectives included: the restoration of incentives in order to encourage growth, investment, employment and exports; the promotion and diversify trade with particular emphasis on export promotion; the removal of bureaucratic constraints and divest from ailing public enterprises so as to enhance sustainable economic growth and development through the private sector; the liberalization of trade at all levels.^[15]

Regional relations and conflict

After January 1986, Museveni continued in his role as Commander in Chief of the NRA. The Kenyan government of Daniel arap Moi was initially suspicious of the new NRM government's alleged support for Kenyan dissident groups. Tensions culminated in a non-violent military standoff at Busia on the Kenya-Uganda border in late 1987. Any closure of borders with Kenya would have been extremely damaging to landlocked Uganda's economy, whose access to the Indian Ocean via the port at Mombassa depends upon Kenya.

During their guerrilla war against the government of Milton Obote, the National Resistance Army recruited anyone who was willing to fight, regardless of nationality. Persecution at the hands of the Obote regime encouraged many Rwandans exiles living in Uganda to join the ranks of the NRA. Several years into the Museveni government, the Ugandan army still had several thousand Rwandans on its payroll. On the night of 30 September 1990, 4,000 Rwandan members of the NRA left their barracks in secrecy, joining other forces to invade Rwanda from Ugandan territory. It transpired that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was operating a large membership within the NRA using a clandestine cell structure.

The RPF was a movement of Rwandan exiles opposed to the government of Juvénal Habyarimana who were linked to Museveni and the NRM. RPF leaders included Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, both Rwandan exiles and founder members of the NRM. During the initial stages of the invasion, Museveni and Habyarimana were both attending a UN summit in the United States. It has been claimed that the date for the RPF mobilisation was set to allow Museveni to distance himself from their actions until it was too late to stop them. The Rwandan army managed to expel the invasion only after extensive reinforcement from Belgium, France and Zaire.

Museveni was blamed for complicity in the September 1990 invasion and/or not having control of his army. The RPF melted away into the Vumba mountains straddling the Rwanda/Uganda border. The Habyarimana government accused Uganda of allowing the RPF to use its territory as a rear base, responding by shelling Ugandan villages on the border. Uganda is widely believed to have returned fire, which would probably have protected RPF positions. These exchanges forced more than 60,000 from their homes. Despite the negotiation of a security pact, in which both countries agreed to cooperate in maintaining security along their common border, a resurgent RPF had occupied much of the northern territory of Rwanda by 1992.

Museveni served as the chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1991 and 1992. In April 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down over Kigali airport. In all, an estimated 800,000 people perished in the ensuing genocide. The Rwandan Patriotic Front overran Kigali and took power with the help of the Ugandan army.

In April 1995, Uganda cut off diplomatic relations with Sudan, in protest at Khartoum's support for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group active in northern Uganda. Sudan, in turn, claimed that Uganda was providing support to the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Both groups were suspected of operating across the porous Uganda/Sudan border. Disputes between Uganda and Sudan date back to at least 1988. Ugandan refugees sought shelter in southern Sudan during the Amin and Obote II regimes. After the NRM had come to power in 1986, however, many of these refugees joined the Ugandan rebel groups including the West Nile Bank Front and later the LRA. For a significant period, the Museveni government viewed Sudan as the most significant threat to Ugandan security.

Internal security and human rights

The NRM came to power promising to restore security and respect for human rights. Indeed, this was part of the NRM's ten point programme, as Museveni noted in his swearing in speech:

The second point on our programme is security of person and property. Every person in Uganda must [have absolute] security to live wherever he wants. Any individual, any group who threatens the security of our people must be smashed without mercy. The people of Uganda should die only from natural causes which are beyond our control, but not from fellow human beings who continue to walk the length and breadth of our land.

Although Museveni now headed up a new government in Kampala, the NRM could not project its influence fully across Ugandan territory, finding itself fighting a number of insurgencies. While operating as a guerilla group, the NRA had earned a reputation for respecting the rights of civilians. The expansion of this army into one which could competently restore security to the majority of Uganda necessitated the recruitment of soldiers from other rebel factions as well as former UNLA soldiers. Undisciplined elements within the NRA's new intake soon tarnished a hard-won reputation for fairness. "When Museveni's men first came they acted very well - we welcomed them," said one villager, "but then they started to arrest people and kill them". The population of the north and east of the country found themselves caught between the NRA, rebel factions and groups best described as bandits.

In March 1989, Amnesty International published a report on human rights under Museveni, entitled Uganda, the Human Rights Record 1986-1989. It documented gross human rights violations committed by NRA troops. In one of the most intense phases of the war, between October and December 1988 the NRA forcibly cleared approximately 100,000 people from their homes in and around Gulu town. Soldiers committed hundreds of extrajudicial executions as they forcibly moved people, burning down homes and granaries.^[16] However, there were few reports of the systematic torture which occurred during Obote II. In its conclusion, the report offered some hope:

Any assessment of the NRM government's human rights performance is, perhaps inevitably, less favourable after four years in power than it was in the early months. However, it is not true to say, as some critics and outside observers, that there has been a continuous slide back towards gross human rights abuse, that in some sense Uganda is fated to suffer at the hands of bad government.

A new democratic mandate (1996 - 2001)

Elections

Uganda's first presidential elections were held on 9 May 1996. Museveni defeated Paul Ssemogerere of the Democratic Party, who contested the election as the candidate of the inter-party forces coalition, and an upstart candidate, Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja. Museveni won with a landslide 75.5 percent of the vote from a turnout of 72.6% of eligible voters. Although international and domestic observers described the vote as valid, both the losing candidates rejected the results. Museveni was sworn in as president for the second time on 12 May 1996.

The main weapon in the Museveni campaign was the restoration of security and economic normality to much of the country. A memorable electoral image produced by his team depicted a pile of skulls in the Luwero Triangle. This powerful symbolism was not lost on the inhabitants of this region, who had suffered rampant insecurity before the NRM had assumed power. The other candidates could not match the efficacy of the president's camp in the communication of their key messages. Museveni seemed to have a remarkable ability to relate political messages by using the language of the grassroots. The metaphor of carrying a grindstone for leadership as a burden to be entrusted to a strong individual was just one of the imaginative images he created for his campaign. He would often deliver these in the local parlance of wherever he was giving a speech, demonstrating respect and attempting to transcend tribalistic politics.

Until the prospect of a presidential election, Ssemogerere had been a minister in the NRM government. His decision to attack the record of Museveni and the NRM, rather than claiming some stake in their successes, was seen as naive opportunism and has been widely recognised as a huge error. Ssemogerere's alliance with the UPC was anathema to the Baganda, who might otherwise have lent him some support as the leader of the Democratic Party. Ssemogerere also accused Museveni of being Rwandan and the army of being dominated by Rwandans.

International recognition

Museveni has won praise from Western governments for privatising state enterprises, cutting government spending and urging African self-reliance.

He permitted a free atmosphere within which the news media could operate and private FM radio stations flourished during the late 1990s. Perhaps Museveni's most notable accomplishment has been his government's successful campaign against AIDS. During the 1980s, Uganda had one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, but now Uganda's rates are comparatively low, and the country stands as a rare success story in the global battle against the virus (see AIDS in Africa).

In April 1998, Uganda was the first country to be declared eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, receiving some US$700 million.^[17]

From the mid-1990s, Museveni was seen to exemplify a new breed of African leadership, the antithesis of the "big men" who have dominated politics in the continent since independence. This section from a New York Times article in 1997 is illustrative of the high esteem in which Museveni was held by the western media, governments and academics:

These are heady days for the former guerilla who runs Uganda. He moves with the measured gait and sure gestures of a leader secure in his power and his vision. It is little wonder. To hear some of the diplomats and African experts tell it, President Yoweri K. Museveni started an ideological movement that is reshaping much of Africa, spelling the end of the corrupt, strong-man governments that characterized the cold-war era. These days, political pundits across the continent are calling Mr. Museveni an African Bismarck. Some people now refer to him as Africa's "other statesman," second only to the venerated South African President, Nelson Mandela.^[18]

Regional conflict

The Rwandan government considered the presence in Zaïre of former soldiers and members of the previous regime in Rwanda to be a serious threat. The exiled Rwandans, some of whom had were implicated in the 1994 genocide, were in control of Hutu refugee camps just across the Rwandan border. In September 1996, Mobutu Sésé Seko expelled some 300,000 ethnic Tutsis, the Banyamulenge, from Zaïre, triggering a conflict between the displaced Tutsis on the one hand and the Hutu refugees and Zaïrean army on the other. Museveni had expressed scorn for the rule of Mobutu for some years. Military advisers from Uganda joined with advisers and troops from Rwanda and the other forces fighting Mobutu, by then united as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), headed by Laurent Kabila. The AFDL finally took Kinshasa in May 1997, with Mobutu being replaced by Kabila (see main article: First Congo War).^[19]

In August 1998, Rwanda and Uganda undertook to invade Zaïre (now renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo - DRC) again, this time to overthrow Kabila (see main article: Second Congo War). The decision to send the UPDF into Congo was taken by Museveni alone in consultation with a few close military advisers. A number of highly placed sources indicate that the Ugandan parliament and civilian advisers were not consulted over the matter, as is required by the 1995 constitution.^[20] Museveni apparently persuaded an initially reluctant High Command to go along with the venture. "We felt that the Rwandese started the war and it was their duty to go ahead and finish the job, but our President took time and convinced us that we had a stake in what is going on in Congo", one senior officer is reported as saying.^[21] The official reasons given by Uganda for the intervention were to stop a 'genocide' against the Banyamulenge in DRC in concert with Rwandan forces^[22] and that Kabila had failed to provide security along the border and was allowing the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) to attack Uganda from rear bases in DRC. In reality, the UPDF were not deployed in the border region but more than 1,000 kilometers (over 600 miles) to the west of Uganda's frontier with Congo^[23] and in support of the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC) rebels seeking to overthrow Kabila. As such, they were unable to prevent the ADF from invading the major town of Fort Portal and taking over a prison in Western Uganda.

Troops from both countries also plundered the country's rich mineral deposits and timber. The United States responded to the invasion by suspending all military aid to Uganda, a dissapointment to the Clinton administration, who had hoped to make Uganda the centerpiece of the African Crisis Response Initiative. In 2000, Rwandan and Ugandan troops exchanged fire on three occasions in the Congolese city of Kisangani, leading to tensions and a deterioration in relations between Kagame and Museveni. The Ugandan government has also been criticized for aggravating the Ituri conflict, a sub-conflict of the Second Congo War.

A second term (2001 - present)

2001 Elections

In 2001 Museveni won the presidential elections by a substantial majority, with his former friend and personal physician Kizza Besigye as the only real challenger. In a populist publicity stunt, a pentagenarian Museveni travelled on a bodaboda motorcycle taxi to submit his nomination form for the election. This cheap and somewhat dangerous method of transport ferries passengers around towns and cities in Uganda at breakneck speed.^[24]

There was much recrimination and bitterness during the campaign and incidents of violence occurred following the announcement of the results. On March 23, 2001, Besigye challenged the election results in the Supreme Court of Uganda. Two of the five judges concluded that there were such illegalities in the elections that the results should be rejected. The other three judges decided that the illegalities did not affect the result of the election in a substantial manner, but stated that "there was evidence that in a significant number of polling stations there was cheating" and that in some areas of the country, "the principle of free and fair election was compromised."^[25]

Political pluralism and constitutional change

After the elections, political forces allied to Museveni began a campaign to slacken constitutional limits on the presidential term to allow him to stand for election again in 2006. The 1995 Ugandan constitution provided for a two-term limit on the tenure of the president. Given Uganda's history of dictatorial regimes, this check and balance was designed to prevent a dangerous centralisation of power around a long serving leader. This period has also witnessed the removal of key and influential Museveni supporters from his administration, including his childhood friend Eriya Kategaya and a cabinet minister Jaberi Bidandi Ssali.

Moves to alter the constitution and alleged attempts to suppress opposition political forces have attracted criticism from domestic commentators, the international community and Uganda's aid donors. Comments by the anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof sparked a protest by Museveni supporters outside the British High Commission in Kampala. "Get a grip Museveni. Your time is up, go away," said the former rock star in March 2005, explaining that moves to change the constitution were compromising Museveni's record against fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS.^[26] In an opinion article in the Boston Globe and in a speech delivered at the Wilson Center, former U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Johnnie Carson heaped more criticism on Museveni. Despite recognising the president as a "genuine reformer" whose "leadership [has] led to stability and growth", Carson claims ominously that "we may be looking at another Mugabe and Zimbabwe in the making". "Many observers see Museveni’s efforts to amend the constitution as a re-run of a common problem that afflicts many African leaders – an unwillingness to follow Constitutional norms and give up power".^[27][28]

In July 2005, Norway became the third European country in as many months to announce symbolic cutbacks in foreign aid to Uganda in response to political leadership in the country. The UK and Ireland made similiar moves in May. "Our foreign ministry wanted to highlight two issues: the changing of the constitution to lift term limits, and problems with opening the political space, human rights and corruption", said Norweigian Ambassador Tore Gjos.^[29] Of particular significance was the arrest of two opposition MPs from the Forum for Democratic Change. Human rights campaigners charged that the arrests were politically motivated, Human Rights Watch claiming that "the arrest of these opposition MPs smacks of political opportunism".^[30] A confidential World Bank report leaked later in May suggested the international lender might cut its support to non-humanitarian programmes in the country. "We regret that we cannot be more positive about the present political situation in Uganda, especially given the country's admirable record through the late 1990s", said the paper. "The Government has largely failed to integrate the country's diverse peoples into a single political process that is viable over the long term...Perhaps most significant, the political trend-lines, as a result of the President's apparent determination to press for a third term, point downward".^[31]

Museveni responded to the mounting international pressure by accusing donors of interfering with domestic politics and using aid manipulate poor countries. "Let the partners give advice and leave it to the country to decide...[developed] countries must get out of the habit of trying to use aid to dictate the management of our countries".^[32] "The problem with those people is not the third term or fighting corruption or multipartism," added Museveni at a meeting with other African leaders, "the problem is that they want to keep us there without growing".^[33] The Ugandan government has blamed the western media for spreading a negative image of the president.

In July 2005, a constitutional referendum lifted a 19-year restriction on the activity of political parties. In the non-party Movement system instituted by Museveni in 1986, parties continued to exist but candidates were required to stand for election as individuals rather than the representative of any political grouping. This measure was ostensibly designed to reduce sectarian violence although many observers have subsequently claimed that the system had become nothing more than a restriction on opposition activity. Many Ugandans see Museveni's recent conversion to political pluralism as a concession to donors aimed at softening the blow when he announces he wants to stay on for a third term.^[34] Opposition MP Omara Atubo has said Museveni's desire for change was merely "a facade behind which he is trying to hide ambitions to rule for life".^[35]

Death of an ally

On 30 July 2005, Sudanese vice-president John Garang was killed when the Ugandan presidential helicopter crashed while travelling to Sudan from talks in Uganda. The incident was acutely embarassing for the Ugandan government and a personal blow for Museveni - Garang had been a political ally since their days together at university. Garang had only been Sudanese vice-president for a matter of weeks before his death, which damaged hopes of a regional order based on a Uganda-South Sudan alliance.

Widespread speculation as to the cause of the crash led Museveni, on 10 August, to threaten the closure of media outlets which published "conspiracy theories" about Garang's death. In a statement, Museveni claimed such speculation was a threat to national security. "I will no longer tolerate a newspaper which is like a vulture. Any newspaper that plays around with regional security, I will not tolerate it - I will close it".^[36] The following day, popular radio station KFM had its license withdrawn for broadcasting a debate on Garang's death. Radio presenter Andrew Mwenda was eventually arrested for sedition in connection with comments made on his KFM talk show.^[37]

Footnotes

References

Books

Websites

Academic papers

Interviews

Related topics

• Uganda
• Uganda since 1979, part of the History of Uganda series.
• President of Uganda
• Politics of Uganda
• Political parties of Uganda

External links

• Official website - www.museveni.co.ug
• Museveni profile on NNDBde:Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

es:Joveri Museveni fr:Yoweri Museveni gl:Yoweri Museveni pt:Yoweri Museveni fi:Yoweri Museveni