After months of ping-pong between the National Unity Platform (NUP) leaders and their sympathizers to discredit the National Resistance Movement government and prevent President Museveni from attending the US – Africa summit, US President Joe Biden has maintained his Invitation to Mr.Museveni.
On Sunday morning, the Vice President Maj Jessica Alupo, Presidency Minister Milly Babirye Babalanda,Head of Public Service Lucy Nakyobe saw off the President at Entebbe airport for the much hyped meeting.
A state house statement that followed shortly indicated that the president would make a stopover in the United Kingdom for unmentioned official engagements before he joins other African leaders in the US.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Robert Menendez and other opposition forces had petitioned Mr.Biden not to invite President Museveni who they fault for scores of human right abuses in Uganda.
Mr.Kyagulanyi told the world that they were not asking the US to come and help save Uganda but to stop sponsoring regimes that oppress citizens. He accused Mr.Museveni of oppression and human rights abuses that include illegal arrests of political opponents, torture, disappearance of persons and narrowing public space for free speech.
Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka however, told the UN human rights Committee that the allegations against the state were unfounded although at the very meeting some rowdy women openly challenged him.
Pro – Museveni lobbyists have been busy convincing Biden that an interaction with Museveni would give the two leaders an opportunity to iron out any issues and improve their diplomatic ties.
Back home, voices have been loud that the “old man with a hut” should be humiliated and locked out of the US – Africa meeting putting his loyalists and supporters on tension. And when the old man boarded the Uganda Airlines plane to the US, chest thumping in the pro – Museveni circles started. For it was a one – nil for them against the opposition.
It remains to be seen how Mr.Biden will treat his guest and what is likely to come out of their discussions. Museveni has already indicated he is attending the conference to get allies for trade back home downplaying speculation that he was worried of the tough questions from the self-styled global democracy police, the US. But for now Museveni has beaten his opponents on this and is proudly in the US for the summit.
