Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was long hailed internationally as  a star among “a new breed of African leaders” lauded for “democratic” rule and good governance.

Maintaining this image has been one of the tasks of the US-based Whitaker Group and UK-based PR agency Hilton and Knowlton.

But under President Museveni’s guidance, horrific war crimes have been committed in the Great Lakes region, and continuing human rights violations in Uganda are slowly claiming the lives of millions.

Sadly, the international community seems to pick and choose which leaders it will call dictators, and which countries it will support, no matter the suffering of a particular nation’s people.

Museveni is preparing for his 2011 presidential campaign, and says he’ll retire before the age of 75.

*Related Post: Who is Yoweri Museveni?

1. Crimes Against Humanity I

The Ugandan government failed to protect northern Ugandans when they needed it most. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is responsible for orchestrating genocide in Northern Uganda, where nearly two million people were forced into concentration camps, euphemistically known as “protected villages.”

Read a report by the Govt. of Uganda, WHO, UNICEF and others (pdf).

At the height of the crisis, (circa 2005), more than 1,000 people per week were dying from preventable diseases in these modern day concentration camps. More people have died from conditions in the camps themselves than at the hands of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) or government forces, and over 20,000 children have been abducted. (UNICEF reports a much higher number, 66,000).

2. Crimes Against Humanity II

In 2005, the Ugandan government was indicted by the International Court of Justice for committing grave war crimes in the DRC, including: mass rape, the invasion and plundering of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and of fomenting ethnic cleansing. Uganda was ordered to pay the DRC $6-$10 billion.

3. Rampant Corruption

Under Museveni, Uganda is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Yet, donor countries including the US, have financed Museveni’s regime without holding it accountable for corruption and mismanagement of funds.

Globally, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria was heralded as a corruption-proof initiative, but senior Ugandan officials succeeded in misusing the funds.

The Ugandan government later said it did not have money to investigate the theft and the Global Fund granted Uganda funds to conduct the investigation. Recently, those funds disappeared as well.

4. Lawlessness I

President Museveni has conveniently sidestepped international laws. Museveni came to power using child soldiers; (see former child soldier China Keitetsi’s story). Human rights organizations continue to report the use of Child Soldiers in the local militias as well as in Uganda’s national army.

5. Lawlessness II: Locally, President Museveni continues to disregard the rule of law: Museveni used soldiers to invade the nation’s High Court twice to intimidate judges and has exhibited complete disrespect for human rights.

Ugandan Parliamentarians were bribed to amend the constitution to remove presidential term limits. The removal of term limits places Museveni as a de facto life president. Museveni has recently been at the center of various land disputes, and has aggressively given away public land to investors.

In Acholiland, President Museveni tried to pressure Acholi leaders into agreeing to a largescale sugar cane farming scheme spearheaded by the Madhvani corporation.

6. Militarism

President Museveni’s reputation as a militarist with no interest in dialogue to solve political problems has been consistent.

Museveni has been “the spoiler” in many peace talk negotiations. In 1985 he scuttled the “Nairobi Peace Agreement” mediated by President Moi of Kenya.

Numerous attempts at peaceful negotiation between the LRA and the Government of Uganda have been disrupted by Museveni’s actions, namely: the 1994 and 2004 peace negotiations mediated by Betty Bigombe, the 1988 negotiation mediated by Acholi elders, and a 2003 initiative mediated by the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative.

To date, Museveni has not shown much commitment to the current Juba Peace talks mediated by South Sudan–recently spearheading the creation of the Arusha agreement with the DRC, which stipulates the removal of the LRA from the DRC within 90 days.

Jan Egeland reported in his 2008 bestseller that Museveni strongly preferred a military solution to the LRA conflict, stating that “there would only be a military solution” to the LRA problem.

Update July 2009: An attack on the LRA’s bases in Garamba, DRC code-named “Operation Lightning Thunder” was launched on December 14, 2008. The Bush Administration authorized $1million USD in fuel, and 17 military advisors from the newly created Africa Command (AFRICOM) assisted in the mission. The attack was largely unsuccessful, though President Museveni promised quick success, over 200,000 perople were displaced as a result of the fighting, over 1,000 Congolese people have been killed, and hundreds more freshly abducted.

7. Rampant Human Rights Violations

Cover-up of Karamoja

Recently, Uganda’s ambassador to the UN blocked a report by the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Louise Arbour, from being tabled in the UN’s General Assembly. Arbour has been vocal about human rights violations by the UPDF in the past.

The report detailed extensive human rights violations by the Ugandan national army in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda.

Read the report (pdf version).

Use of Deadly Force During Peaceful Demonstration

Mabira photo from Flickr User: Ivyco

In March, demonstrators protesting the proposed sale of a portion of the Mabira rainforest, one of Uganda’s largest forests, were fired upon. Three people were killed in what began as a peaceful demonstration. Sign the Save Mabira petition. The government later stopped the proposed sale.

A Long History Between the United States and Museveni

President Museveni visited President Bush at the White House, October 30, 2007.
Bush thanked him for joining the US in “fighting terror.” (White House Photo)

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