| Editorial |
Peace talks better than a big army
President Yoweri Museveni is locked up in intense negotiations with donors over his plans to increase the size of the army and its budget. Another meeting is planned for Tuesday in Gulu.But the President has already written to the British government informing them that he intends to raise defense spending from sh196b to sh241b annually for the next three years.
The Government has also slashed up to 23% of the budgets for ministries to cater for the increase in defense expenditure.
This is a complete reversal of the 1992 donor funded demobilization of soldiers. At the time, Museveni pledged to cut the size of the army by 50% from an estimated 100,000. The exercise was expected to free resources for national development. It was also the time when Museveni started speaking a lot about a small but modern army.
Donors are making the usual noises about increased defense spending. They say it will disrupt expenditure on social services like health, education, and poverty eradication programmes.
Museveni’s tramp card appears to be the escalating Lord’s Resistance Army activity in the north and reported restlessness on the Uganda-Congo border in the west.
His declared strategy is to place a soldier in each nook and corner of the battleground and deny the enemy breathing space.
However, donors and many commentators are urging a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
They estimate that the 16-year-long war has cost the country Shs 2,500bn (approximately US$ 1.3bn). The money is enough to provide health care for all Ugandans for six years.
Museveni has countered, in a published statement, that negotiating peace with one rebel cannot guarantee that another will not rise up. He says only a strong army will ensure rebellions don’t thrive.
This position is shortsighted in the short-run and disastrous in the long run.
The big army may defeat the rebels but defense experts warn that a large standing army is costly to maintain as it waits for another enemy to fight.
The favoured Musev eni tactic of “demobilise during peace time and recruit during wartime” doesn’t work either.
About 36,358 soldiers were laid off between December 1992 and October 1995. Apart from its high cost of US $44m, the demobilised soldiers became restless and resorted to anti-social behaviour.
That is why talking peace is the better option.
November 10, 2002 23:43:13
Gook
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