ugnet_: Bush to Tell Museveni: No Third Term, Stop Congo Meddling

[Matekopoko]

...or else Museveni should be treated like Charles Taylor!!!!... OUT!!!

Bush to Tell Museveni: No Third Term, Stop Congo Meddling


The East African (Nairobi)

July 7, 2003
Posted to the web July 8, 2003

Kevin J. Kelley
Nairobi

GEORGE W. Bush will use his scheduled four-hours visit in Uganda this week to urge President Yoweri Museveni not to extend his stay in office and not to interfere with efforts to bring peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

President Bush made his intentions clear in a White House meeting with journalists a few days prior to the July 8 start of his five-nation Africa tour. The American leader went farther than his lieutenants had previously gone in spelling out Washington's opposition to a third term for President Museveni.


Bush noted that he had already spoken to Museveni "about ongoing democracy in Uganda" when the two heads of state held talks at the White House on June 10.

On that occasion, Mr Bush revealed last week, "We talked about transfer of power. We talked about the fact that he's been a remarkably good leader on many fronts, and that we would hope that he would adhere to the concept of having any democracy with a peaceful transfer of power at the appropriate time."

Under Uganda's Constitution, Museveni must step down when his current term as president expires in 2006. But political groups loyal to Museveni have recently urged that the Constitution be amended to lift term limits for the president.

During his visit to the US last month, Museveni repeatedly sidestepped questions about his intention to seek another term. "That is speculation," the Ugandan leader said in response to one such question. "We have a constitution, and we go by it. So I do not want to be involved in speculation."

Bush also indicated in his July 3 remarks to reporters that he would press President Museveni to abide by agreements to help bring about peace in eastern Congo.

The US president recalled that in his discussions with his Ugandan counterpart last month, Museveni "listened very carefully to our admonition that we expect for people to honour the agreements that are being forged. And I will continue to discuss that with him when I go to Uganda," Bush said.

Human Rights Watch is calling on President Bush to publicly urge the Rwandan and Congo-Kinshasa governments - as well as Uganda - not to provide military or financial assistance to any armed groups in the Ituri region of eastern Congo. It now appears that Bush may do just that during his stop over at Entebbe.

But the US leader will surely temper any implied criticisms of Museveni with praise for his achievements, particularly in limiting the spread of HIV/Aids. Bush has hailed Uganda's success in that regard on several previous occasions.

Bush's own efforts to help Africa combat Aids will be at the forefront of his public pronouncements in Senegal, South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria as well as in Uganda.

The US president will highlight his proposed five-year, $15 billion initiative to prevent and treat Aids infections in 14 African and Caribbean countries.

The White House has continually called attention to this plan in recent months as part of its efforts to demonstrate that President Bush's global agenda involves more than military offensives against alleged terrorists.

Critics at home, however, are scoffing at the anti-HIV/Aids initiative.

At a press briefing last week on US-Africa policy, the leader of a Washington advocacy group called Bush's Aids plan "a cruel hoax." Salih Booker, director of Africa Action, said that none of the promised $15 billion was being made immediately available. Mr Booker said: "Faced with this most deadly global threat, the Bush administration continues to stall and its empty promises are costing thousands of African lives every day."

Many analysts in Washington meanwhile, expect that Bush will have ordered the deployment of at least several hundred US troops to Liberia prior to the start of his African tour. According to this view, the American president will want to be seen as evenhanded in his willingness to respond militarily to murderous regimes - whether in Liberia or in Iraq.

Princeton Lyman, a former American ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa, said that if the US refused to intervene, "We will look as if we do more talking than acting in Africa."

But even if he does send US troops into Monrovia, Bush will face pressures in Africa to respond more forcefully to the continuing mayhem in Congo, Ambassador Lyman predicted.

"The real question - and the question that President Bush is going to hear when he travels in Africa - is whether the US is prepared to support a more robust peacekeeping force in Congo.

"If the US agrees, it would mean a lot more money and pressing a lot of countries to send troops into a very hostile situation."