Uganda Is Dependable Ally for Bush, U.S.
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
.c The Associated Press
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Compared to the other countries President Bush is visiting in Africa, Uganda is a political and economic lightweight with few democratic credentials.
Bush, however, has other reasons for making a four-hour stop Friday in the Oregon-sized country in East Africa.
When it comes to security and trade, the policies of the two nations may as well be tailored for each other. And with Bush highlighting the fight against HIV on his tour of Africa, Uganda has waged one of the world's most successful battles against the disease.
The country is seen by American officials as a dependable ally in a region fraught with uncertainty - terrorism, civil wars and failed states.
The November al-Qaeda attack on a Kenyan hotel that killed 15 people, including three Israelis, and a recent string of U.S. and British terrorism warnings for eastern Africa, mainly centered on neighboring Kenya, have kept terrorism at the top of the U.S. agenda in the region.
But U.S. officials worry that Kenya's security apparatus is prone to leaks that make capturing suspects difficult, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Similar concerns surround other regional allies, the official said.
Ugandan security, on the other hand, is considered relatively leak-free, making it an attractive country to operate from, said the official, who would not elaborate.
Uganda also was one of four African countries that openly supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And America is providing unspecified military assistance to the Ugandans in their fight against Lord's Resistance Army rebels, who have ravaged northern Uganda for 17 years and are on the U.S. terrorism list, the official said.
Uganda's role in neighboring Congo's civil war, however, has not pleased the United States. Uganda is accused of plundering Congo's vast resources and stirring up tribal rivalries that have killed thousands.
Bush and Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, though, find common ground on free trade.
After meeting with Bush in Washington last month, Museveni called for ``passionate trade'' between the United States and Africa as ``the best way to stimulate growth in Africa.''
Bush has touted the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, an initiative that liberalized trading rules with the world's richest market, as the solution.
Despite Museveni's relatively liberal economic polices and a 50 percent jump in African imports, excluding oil, to the United States since AGOA was enacted three years ago, Uganda has benefited little.
The country has only two factories that make apparel, Africa's main AGOA export, and the high cost of shipping from the landlocked country keeps investment away, said Velupillai Kananathan, the owner of Apparels Tristar in Kampala.
Bush will also get a firsthand glimpse of Uganda's efforts to stem the spread of HIV, a rare African success story.
In the late 1980s, with the HIV infection rate spiraling out of control, the Ugandan government launched a massive public awareness campaign.
The results have been dramatic.
The HIV infection rate today hovers just over 5 percent. Condom use is widespread. The age of first sexual contact has gone from 14 to 16. The average number of sexual partners has dropped from more than three to around one.
And the government is still pushing awareness. Its latest campaign touts the ``A,B,C, and D'' of HIV - Ugandans need to ``abstain,'' change their ``behavior,'' use ``condoms,'' or they will ``die,'' said Sam Okware, a health ministry official.
Prevention is affordable but the drugs needed to treat those already infected are not. They cost about $26 a month. Uganda spends about $3.50 on health care for each citizen a year
Of the 1 million Ugandans infected, about 10,000 are currently getting drugs, either by paying themselves or getting the support of international aid groups, like Doctors Without Borders.
Joy Tumuheirwe is not one of them.
If she met Bush, the 29-year-old said, ``I would tell him if he wanted to really help us, he should bring these drugs.'' Not having them ``is our main problem.''
07/10/03 15:35 EDT
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