Museveni sworn-in as US, EU envoys walk out

The representatives of the United States of America and European Union countries yesterday walked out of President Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony at Kololo ceremonial grounds because Sudanese president Omar al Bashir was in attendance and President Museveni bashed the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In addition to bashing the ICC, Mr Museveni, 71, also praised China and Russia, which he called Uganda’s genuine friends and made negative comments that were interpreted as targeting the western countries.

Immediately after introducing Gen Bashir, Mr Museveni said the ICC “is none of our business; that’s a useless body. Initially we thought they were serious but they are a bunch of useless people.”
A number of diplomats representing the US and a number of western countries were seen walking out immediately after these comments were made, a development that the American Embassy confirmed to Daily Monitor.

“I can confirm that the US delegation departed the inauguration ceremony because of the presence of (Sudanese) President Bashir and the comments of President Museveni regarding the ICC. The US did not lead the walkout, it was a mutual decision,” American embassy Spokesman Chris Brown said by telephone last evening.
The US was represented at the function by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Mr Bruce Wharton, and the US Ambassador to Uganda, Ms Deborah Malac.

While the diplomats from European countries we spoke to confirmed the walk out, they declined to comment for this article because, they said, they still had consultations going on.

Mr Museveni was swearing in for his fifth and last constitutional presidential term since he will be barred by age in 2021, but the occasion seemed fated to cause unease to the representatives of Western governments because of the presence of Gen Bashir, against whom a warrant of arrest was issued by ICC.
Uganda, as a signatory to the Rome Statute of 2002 that set up the ICC, is duty-bound to arrest Gen Bashir and hand him over to the ICC the moment he steps on Ugandan soil.
“Failure to do so (arrest Bashir) would be a breach of its duty and would be a cruel betrayal of the hundreds of thousands of people killed and displaced during the Darfur conflict,” said a statement by Mr Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa.

The Ugandan leader of over 30 years went on a collision path with the ICC when the court indicted Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and four others over the post-election violence that engulfed Kenya after the 2007 elections, which led to over a thousand deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.

The ICC has since dropped the charges against Mr Kenyatta and his co-accused, and the Kenyan president was among the 14 heads of State and heads of government who graced the swearing-in.

Also present was South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, who caused controversy when his government did not arrest Gen Bashir on South African soil in 2015.

Good Russians, Chinese
On a day that increasingly appeared set aside for bashing the West, Mr Museveni, after introducing a “special representative” for Russian president Vladimir Putin, made his preference for Russia clear. Russia is an arch rival of the US and Western Europe.
Speaking in Luganda, Mr Museveni said: “Abarussia abo batuguza amafumu gano gemulabye awatali bukwakkulizo n’omwepankopanko. Omanyi emyepankopanko twagigaana dda. Buli omu afuge ennyumba ye. N’olwekyo abantu abo mikwano gyaffe ddala.”

This is loosely translated as: “Those Russians sell to us those spears you have seen (referring to guns and fighter jets) without conditionalities and arrogance. You know we already rejected arrogance. Let everyone rule over his house. Therefore those people (Russians) are our genuine friends.”

The tirade against the West continued when Mr Museveni later introduced a representative from the Communist Party of China. Again speaking in Luganda, he said: “Abantu abo nabo mikwano gyaffe ddala. Tebalina mwepankopanko. Omusajja bwobeera n’ennyumba yo n’ogenda mu nnyumba y’omuntu omulala … oba musiru wannaba ki?”

This loosely translates to: “Those people are also our genuine friends. They have no arrogance. If a man has his own house and he goes in another man’s house … what type of fool are you?”

Dignitary-studded function
Joining presidents Bashir, Mugabe, Kenyatta and Zuma were Mr Idriss Déby of Chad, the current chairman of the African Union who also spoke on behalf of the visiting presidents and heads of State.

The others were Mr Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, King Letsie III of Lesotho, Mr Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mr Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, Mr Salva Kiir of South Sudan, Mr Hailemariam Desalegn, prime minister of Ethiopia, Mr Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud of Somalia, and Mr Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali.