Exiled Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has told EU envoys that pampering Museveni and his son is not diplomacy but collaboration.
In a lengthy view on the matter, Kakwenza argued that by choosing to meet Gen Salim Saleh (Caleb Akandwanaho), President Yoweri Museveni’s young brother, to complain about the conduct of first son and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the EU delegation in Uganda exhibited “sheer weakness.”
Kakwenza also wondered if the EU delegation in Uganda was embracing the “deep state” since the envoys met Gen Salim Saleh well knowing that he does not hold a formal position that would make ambassadors travel to the northern Ugandan city of Gulu to meet him and discuss such matters.
In Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s view, the EU delegation in Uganda should simply pressure the UPDF and state agencies to reform through sanctions.
He has made it clear that, as far as he is concerned, pampering Museveni and Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba was not diplomacy but rather complicity with the ills the Kampala regime is accused of.
Here is Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s full note – slightly edited.
The EU Delegation in Uganda, by travelling to Gulu to meet Mr Salim Saleh in order to complain about the CDF’s… conduct, demonstrated sheer weakness. What official position does Saleh actually hold in the government hierarchy to warrant being approached by the European Union? Is the EU now embracing Uganda’s deep state—this institutional ultra vires—where formal government structures exist merely on paper, while the Museveni family runs a parallel regime?
If the EU is aware that torture in Uganda is systematic—and it is—then the only principled course of action is to exercise its extraterritorial obligations through sanctions against the UPDF. Torture is prohibited under international law absolutely and is subject to universal jurisdiction. There are no grey areas.
Yet here we are: [someone] holding the office of Chief of Defence Forces boasts on Twitter about torturing a Ugandan—and your response is to drive to Gulu to lodge complaints with his uncle? Millions of Ugandans have been tortured—not only by this man, but by others wielding the machinery of state: the Police, the UPDF, the so-called intelligence agencies.
The UPDF must be sanctioned. An international arrest warrant should be issued for… Muhoozi—whether through the ICC or any other court vested with universal jurisdiction over such heinous crimes. Sanction the Judiciary for its chronic failure to protect Ugandans from a regime frozen in anachronism. Sanction the state prosecutors who have betrayed their legal duties by persecuting citizens in violation of the UN’s human rights standards. Sanction the Uganda Prison Service officials who continue to admit and detain prisoners visibly bearing marks of torture.
Uganda’s domestic legal system is defunct. But Uganda is party to international treaties that render sovereignty conditional—not absolute.
European nations continue to sell arms to Uganda, fully aware that these weapons are used to maim, silence, and k!ll citizens. This is not ignorance—it is complicity.
Coddling… Museveni and his… son is not diplomacy—it is collaboration. It is an affront to every principle the EU purports to uphold. Geopolitical expediency, in this case, amounts to moral cowardice and duplicity. The EU’s integrity must not be bartered for access or influence.
The EU–Uganda relationship must be anchored in or bound by shared values. But what values do you share with systematic human rights violators? What is the purpose of your foreign policy on human rights if it cannot be deployed against those very tyrants who have forced us into exile—and who continue to brutalise those unable to flee?
If the dictator did not enjoy your support, he would not have the impunity to oppress us. He uses your silence and your money to keep us under the boot—and we are tired. — Kakwenza Rukirabashaija–The Oracle of Mpororo
Meanwhile, the UPDF has cut defence ties with Germany over ‘subversive’ ambassador allegations, as reported Here.
The UPDF announced it was suspending defence ties with Germany after the army alleged that intelligence reports indicate that Ambassador Schauer is engaged in funding rebel groups plotting to remove Museveni from power. (See Details Here and There).
Days earlier, CDF Gen Muhoozi had threatened sanctions against EU envoys, warning them to stop playing with fire by meeting opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine and other NUP leaders. (See Details Here and There).
Months before the current diplomatic escalation, Muhoozi accused US ambassador to Uganda of disrespecting President Museveni, his father, and of undermining Uganda’s sovereignty — and told the envoy to either apologize or leave Uganda, as reported Here and There.
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