Uganda is Committed to Defeating ADF, Museveni Assures Investors
President Yoweri Museveni has said that Uganda can work with the Democratic Republic of Congo to defeat the ADF terrorists wreaking havoc in the neighboring country.
The President was Tuesday meeting a USA delegation led by Howard G. Buffet, the CEO of Buffet Foundation, a philanthropist and conservationist who is also the son of United States billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Shannon Sedgewick Davis, the CEO of Bridgeway Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to ending and preventing mass atrocities around the world at State House Entebbe.
While briefing his guests about the security situation in the region, President Yoweri Museveni said that the peace and security witnessed in Uganda was due to good ideology.
“The work that you see in Uganda is due to a correct ideology. We are patriotic because we believe in interests rather than identity. The problem in Somalia for example is both tribal and clan-based while the leadership in D.R. Congo has had an ideological vacuum,” he said.
The Bridgeway Foundation and the Buffet Foundation are involved in peace and security in the Great Lakes Region. Their current focus is the restoration of security in the D.R. Congo.
President Museveni recently told the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region Huang Xia he was talking to President Felix Tshisekedi on the security situation in Eastern Congo and the discussions are progressing well,
He said that the terrorists will not come out without pressure.
“The main problem in this area is insecurity for some time now coming out of Eastern Congo. The only new thing is that President Tshisekedi is listening to our advice on what can be done. We are discussing with him since he came into power,” he said.
“We shall continue discussing until we can get a solution. We are moving well. This is not a difficult problem; these terrorists are a shallow force socially. They have been here given free territory for almost 20 years. It is also not fair under the United Nations and the African Union to conserve a problem for others. We can’t build a wall along the land border with Congo. We are discussing with Tshisekedi and once we conclude we will let you know. Economic development has to come in, terrorists will not come out without pressure.”
President Museveni said he was glad to hear that the United Nations Security Council was favourable to the events taking place in the Great Lakes Region particularly infrastructure development between Uganda and the DR. Congo that will promote economic development.
“I am glad to hear that the UNSC is supportive but crucial actors are the regional countries and the DR. Congo. If they act, there will be a solution. If not, the problem will be preserved until people in Eastern Congo raise up. The DR Congo should work with the local people because the local people don’t want insecurity,” he said.
Xia agreed with the President and said the problem is insecurity in Eastern Congo and pointed out that the instability in DR Congo is caused by forces with no credibility at all and called on Uganda and DR. Congo to widen the discussion.
“We are ready as the UN and its agencies in the region to work with you for best results. The institutions of the UN and agencies will work with all countries in the region for the best solution. We have to have a holistic approach to the problem in the region, he said.
Huang said the UN is due to set up an operational cell in Goma to investigate other aspects not military but economic development in the region.
“The future of the region depends on the security situation. We have peace and security on one hand and economic development on the other. Uganda is doing a lot to develop infrastructure along the border with DR. Congo which is encouraging. This infrastructure is very ambitious and good for the two countries and the region. It is within this that we can work together for social economic development,” he said.
Buffet, a close friend of Museveni, was pleased to note that President Museveni was showing good leadership in the region.
Howard Buffet who said he was here to pay a courtesy call on President Museveni said the President’s Ankole cattle caused "chaos" in Texas!
"People in Texas brag about cattle, they were in awe when they saw your cows," Buffet who visited President Museveni’s Kisozi ranch in 2019 said.
The CEO of Bridgeway Foundation Ms. Shannon said that they are very grateful for Uganda’s efforts in maintaining peace and security in the region.
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