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Gook
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."- Malcom X
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Ugandans in bed with US, betray third world
By Andrew M. Mwenda
September 15, 2003
CANCUN, Mexico - Representatives of the African Union and third world countries have accused Uganda of betraying them and supporting the United States in negotiations over international trade taking place here.
Sources at the conference said that President Museveni has written instructing Uganda's delegation, trade and industry minister, Prof. Edward Rugumayo, to support the United States position on all issues, even if these were against the position adopted by the African Union and all third world countries.
Tempers are high among the African delegations, and all other third world delegates at the conference who are now accusing Uganda of treachery.
Uganda was a key player in discussions with other Least Developed Countries to adopt a common position on issues ranging from market access for manufactured goods, agricultural subsidies and Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).
Insider sources say that President Museveni's letter was actually drafted by former United States (US) assistant secretary of state for trade with Africa, Ms
Rosa Whitaker, who is also attending the conference.
The Americans reportedly only asked Mr Museveni to sign the letter.
Negotiations turn nasty
International trade negotiations in this luxurious Mexican resort island have turned nasty, with 83 percent of delegates from the LDCs, saying the process is a sham.
According to a survey conducted by a British NGO, War on Want, 82 percent of the delegates from LDCs said the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is monopolised by the rich nations, and 83 percent said the organisation is not democratic.
On Thursday evening, the British Minister for Overseas Development, Baroness Linda Amos got a rude shock when all commonwealth trade ministers at the conference - with the exception of Uganda and Kenya - told her they have "no hope in the outcome of the trade negotiations".
Baroness Amos was meeting commonwealth heads of delegations to sound them out on what they think about the on-going trade negotiations.
The ministers told Ms Amos that judging from past experience, they did not expect much from the discussions.
Baroness Amos left "very disappointed". Other leaders of African delegations now say that President Museveni has written to their presidents on behalf of the US, asking them to abandon the LDC position, arguing that Brazil and India are misleading the third world on the key issues.
African Union delegates say that without a common voice, poor countries are unlikely to get far.
Conflict between the poor and rich countries also reared its ugly head in the meeting of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), an association of all world parliaments at the conference.
In a meeting on Tuesday, the EU Members of Parliament issued a draft declaration, which they wanted other members to sign.
However, all LDC MPs led by Uganda's Ms Irene Ovonji-Odida of the East African Legislative Assembly refused to sign it, and instead proposed amendments to include the views of poor countries.
By the time we went to press, the EU delegates were still resisting the amendments and a joint declaration may not be possible anymore.
Ovonji-Odida told The Monitor that the 'joint' declaration actually reflected the views of the EU, like liberalisation of trade, while African and other third world countries want to protect their agricultural markets from dumping and also want access to markets of rich countries for both manufactured and agricultural products.
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)
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