ugnet_: Museveni Warns Donors On Defence

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Museveni Warns Donors On Defence


The Monitor (Kampala)

February 13, 2003
Posted to the web February 14, 2003

David Kibirige
Kampala

President Yoweri Museveni has once again warned donors against meddling in his defence plans.

The Financial Times, a British daily, yesterday reported that President Museveni had also said if the donor community was not meddling in his defence plans Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels would be history.

The Financial Times' David White interviewed President Museveni on Wednesday.

"They are not serious. I'm really tired of people who are not serious," the president is reported to have said.

President Museveni blamed aid donors for aggravating security problems through their "implicit alliance" with Sudan, which previously supported the anti-government guerrillas.

"Because of that they interfere with our plans to develop our army," he said. "If we had built up our forces rapidly without interference, we would have solved this problem."

Senior Presidential Advisor on Media and Public Relations John Nagenda confirmed that the president had shown his displeasure with the donors during the interview.

Said Mr. Nagenda yesterday: "Yes, the president showed displeasure with the donors. He said if they had not laid a law on how much of the budget should be spent on defence we would have a better prepared army which would deal with Kony and his people.

"He also said that such resources would be fighting terrorism. He said terrorism has to be fought. He asked if terrorism is good why Al Qaeda is not allowed in Washington or Britain."

Nagenda further said that President Museveni said he still talks to donors because they are Uganda's partners in development.

Britain, the Netherlands and Ireland are all understood to have told Ugandan authorities that they plan to cut grants because the government is overshooting agreed limits on military expenditure.

Donors providing direct budget support have demanded that the government should spend no more than 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product on defence.