A Reflection on Uganda's Foreign Policy and Role at the UN Security

A Reflection on Uganda’s Foreign Policy and Role at the UN Security Council Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform February 5, 2010, Kampala – Uganda Bernard Tabaire Jackie Okao ACODESynthesis Public Report of the Proceedings Dialogue of the 5th State Series of the Nation No.Platform 9, 2010 Table of Contents List of Acronyms… ii Introduction 1 National Stability 2 Southern Sudan Referendum and ICC indictment of Bashir 3 UPDF Peacekeeping operation in Somalia 4 Uganda on the UN Security Council 5 The East African Community 7 The rise of China and India 7 The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 8 Annex: List of Participants 10 i Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform List of Acronyms ACOD Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EAC East Africa Community ICC International Criminal Court MFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs MP Member of Parliament NRM National Resistance Movement STON State of the Nation TFG Transitional Federal Government UNSC United Nations Security Council UPDF Uganda People’s Defense Forces US United States TTI Thin Tank Initiative OAU Organization for African Union ii Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform Introduction When the NRM came to power in 1986, the new government enthusi- Uganda is a landlocked country astically supported international and that depends on foreign imports especially African co-operation but for most of its consumer goods and conditioned it on an ideological evalu- energy requirements. Thus, even ation of whether other regimes were before independence, maintaining racist, dictatorial, corrupt, or violators an open trade route to the Indian of human rights. In a new assertive- Ocean was a primary foreign policy ness, Uganda actively supported the objective. Indeed, in the first decade overthrow of governments in Rwanda of independence, policymakers and D.R. Congo (then Zaire) because emphasised co-operation with they were dictatorial, corrupt, and Uganda’s neighbours. At continental abused human rights. An early ex- level, it assumed a pan-Africanist change of fire at the border with Ken- stance, being a founding member ya and active support of the southern of the Organisation of African Unity Sudanese in their fight for self-deter- (now African Union) and a strong mination, a policy act carried over supporter of liberation movements from the Obote and Amin regimes, especially in southern Africa. On the had Uganda being viewed with hostile global stage, the country maintained eyes all around the eastern African re- a posture of non-alignment although gion. Much of that has since changed, it sometimes sided more with the with the country now making interna- communist/socialist bloc led by the tional news not for war mongering but then-Soviet Union and China. All the for plans by some members of Parlia- while, however, the country acted in ment to hang homosexuals under a such a way as to protect and expand law now working its way through the its foreign trade and to continue legislature. getting foreign assistance. But Uganda may yet find itself The country’s foreign policy would being compelled to get belligerent. generally change with the emergence Events in the Sudan may force the of Idi Amin in 1971.Amin’s aggressive country’s hand. If South Sudan votes ways – claiming a part of Kenyan in a referendum (provided for in the territory in contravention of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement OAU treaty and the later invasion of of 2005) next year to secede, thus Tanzania, just to name two immediate splitting the Sudan into two, a civil war examples – damaged the country’s may once again erupt. That will likely international standing and eventually force Uganda to intervene on the cost him his job when the Tanzanians side of the South, hence setting led a war that ousted him in 1979. up a military confrontation with oil-rich Khartoum. Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform That would be a confrontation with Other than Sudan and the proposed serious implications for East Africa, anti-homosexuality law, other issues especially Uganda and Kenya. Also, discussed and presented in this brief the refusal by the Sudan and Egypt to include the impact on foreign policy of sign a framework agreement setting Uganda’s discovery of oil, the UPDF’s up a River Nile basin commission in peacekeeping operations in Somalia, the wake of disagreements with seven regional integration, and the rise of other members (including Uganda) China and India. regarding water rights may bring about consequences Uganda will have National Stability to deal with. A country’s internal strength is crucial To have a serious foreign policy, in shaping the role it plays on the however, a country must be stable. international scene. More democratic, One would say Uganda is stable, which more developed and more stable is why it is now sitting on the UN countries tend to advance their Security Council as a non-permanent national interest – out of which emerge member for the years 2009 and 2010. foreign policy positions – better. Indeed, that was the starting point of Generally, the Executive arm of the Dr Ruhakana Rugunda’s discussion of state defines the national interest – the foreign policy at the 5th State of the country’s goals and ambitions. Because Nation platforms. the national interest, and therefore foreign policy, is rooted in a country’s domestic policy, one assumes that the people do have some say in defining the national interest as they elect the government of the day partly based on its domestic agenda. Dr Rugunda said Ugandans want stability and economic development – to boost their education, their environment – irrespective of political affiliation. Beyond those broad Guest Speaker: Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda aspirations, he said, there may be (left) delivering a key note address during the 5th session of the State of the Nation platform variations in what constitutes aspects at Protea Hotel in Kampala on February 5, 2010. of the national interest. Taking notes is Godber Tumushabe, the Executive Director of ACODE Uganda, being one of only 44 landlocked countries in the world, cannot develop fast enough without co-operating with other countries, especially neighboring countries. Co- 2 Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform operation with other African countries [Uganda] because we are beneficiar- is, indeed, Point Number 9 on the ies. We need to support Sudanese to ruling NRM’s Ten-Point Programme solve their problems – to have peace- developed during the Bush War of ful elections and referendum.” South- 1981-1986. Despite ups and downs, ern Sudan is proving a lucrative busi- Dr Rugunda said, relations with DR ness destination for Ugandan busi- Congo and Sudan are on the mend. nesses. Close to $260 million (about With Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, Sh508 billion) worth of goods was relations are good. traded between Uganda and South- ern Sudan in 2009 compared to $60 Our [foreign policy] vision is Africa- million in 2006. This trade is almost centric, declared Dr Rugunda, who entirely in favour of Uganda. Any re- as president of the National Union of sumption of armed conflict between Students of Uganda in 1970 helped the North and the South of Sudan in organize student protests against the the likely event of secession will jeop- resumption of arms sales by Britain ardize this favourable economic ac- to apartheid South Africa. “Uganda tivity. Uganda, and possibly Kenya as has had many governments but they well, will throw its weight behind the have generally associated themselves South for historical reasons and also with pan-Africanism,” he said. because an independent “Republic of The best example of Dr Rugunda’s Southern Sudan” would be a boom for point is Sudan. It is the one country Ugandan and Kenyan businesses for a about which successive Ugandan long time to come. governments since independence have been consistent. They have all The situation just described may get given material and moral support worse, or not, depending on Uganda’s to the people of Southern Sudan as stance regarding the International they have fought back against real Criminal Court’s indictment of Sudan’s and perceived over-lordship from President Hassan al-Bashir for war the Arab North. crimes (2 counts) and crimes against humanity (5 counts) stemming from Southern Sudan Referendum his government’s actions and inactions and the ICC Indictment of in the Darfur region. The UN Security President Bashir Council referred the Bashir case to the ICC. “Uganda’s view is that the case Should the people of Southern Sudan should be deferred so that political vote in a scheduled referendum next means can be used to help sort out year to secede from the Sudan, as we the problems in the Sudan,” Dr know it today, Kampala’s relations Rugunda said. “Hurrying to with Khartoum may sour. Dr Rugunda indict Bashir, instead of seemed to acknowledge as much in being a solution, saying: “This is of great concern to Synthesis Report of the Proceedings of the 5th State of the Nation Platform Members of the platform listening attentively to Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda delivering a speech on Uganda’s Foreign Policy on February 5, 2010 could end up being a problem. We indicate that number has since think the Mbeki report proposals doubled) peacekeepers in that country are a more realistic way forward.” A since March 2007. Apart from treating central proposal of the Mbeki panel, the sick, the Ugandans, and the established by the African Union in Burundians who joined them later, are the wake of the ICC indictment, is essentially backing up the Transitional a hybrid criminal court made up of Federal Government (TFG) in the hope Sudanese and foreign judges to try that it can establish national authority people accused of committing serious for meaningful political dialogue to crimes in Darfur.

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