Ugandan-U.S. strengthen military ties

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="318" caption="VICENZA, Italy - Brigadier General Silver Moses Kayemba, chief of training and operations, Uganda Peoples Defence Force (right), is welcomed by Major General William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa, at the start of his visit to U.S. Army Africa's headquarters in Vicenza, Italy, April 27, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Barbara Romano) "][/caption]

Both Uganda and the U.S. continue to enhance and deepen their partnership.

When Ugandan Brigadier General Silver Kayemba arrived at U.S. Army Africa headquarters on April 27, 2010, he was met by familiar faces.

Kayemba, the chief of training and operations for the Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF), was a key player during Natural Fire 10, a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise co-led by the UPDF and U.S. Army Africa, held in Uganda in October 2009.

"This visit strengthens our relationship with the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly with U.S. Army Africa," Kayemba said. "We are looking forward to even closer cooperation in the future."

One of the first people Kayemba met was Major General William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa.

"As part of our engagement strategy, U.S. Army Africa invites senior military leaders from partner land forces to see how our command operates," Garrett said. "We create opportunities to discuss the way forward, as the U.S. Army continues to work with Ugandan land forces to strengthen their capacity to support security missions in Africa."

U.S. Army Africa leaders briefed Kayemba on the command's mission, its ongoing partnerships with African land forces to foster securing, stability and peace on the African continent. During his two-day visit, Kayemba also toured Caserma Ederle, stopping first at training simulators used by Soldiers prior to deploying.

In 2006, Kayemba visited several military sites in the United States, to include the Pentagon, National Defense University, and a U.S. Marine Corps base. As a junior officer then, Kayemba also attended the basic transportation officer course in the United States.

During Natural Fire, Kayemba served as exercise deputy director and worked closely with Garrett.

"We've been reviewing lessons learned from Natural Fire," Kayemba said. "We are going to benefit from what I've seen here and I look forward to working with U.S. Army Africa in future."

EU backed Somali forces begin training in Uganda

The European Union backed Somali forces have began training in Uganda. The arrangements for European Union (EU) to train the troops in Uganda has been finalized.

Tuesday, a plane started ferrying some of the Somali recruits to be trained in Uganda.

At a press conference organized by EU mission in Kampala today, EU officials said that the training programme will last for one year.

Addressing the press, the head of EU delegation in Uganda, Vincent de Visscher said that the "EU will train 2000 Somali soldiers in collaboration with Uganda. All the 27 EU member states agreed to start supporting Somalia in issues concerning peace and security."

He also said that the European Union is already present on the ground in Somalia where they are carrying out educational and health related programmes.

Speaking at the same conference, the commander of Uganda armed forces, general Katumba Wamala asserted that the fact remains that "the Somali people should be empowered to fight their own battles".

He confirmed that Uganda has so far trained 1200 Somalis who are already serving within the ranks of the Somali government forces.

Said Katumba: "We want the Somali to be trained so that they take up the issue of maintaining their security themselves. There is need to train Somali government troops so that they can take control over the rag tag militias who are the source of insecurity in Somalia."

Ugandan Rumbles Onwards

Uganda is on the come up. The progress that has been made has been substantial, especially in the Health and energy sector.  The country is getting tough with Oil companies that might damage long term growth in Oil exploration.

The government of Uganda has threatened to throw out rivaling oil companies in the country if their disagreements threaten the exploration of oil in the country.......

The oil resources in Uganda and indeed all other mineral resources belong to the people of Uganda, and government as the custodian of these resources has a duty to ensure that they are harnessed and developed for the benefit of its people”, the minister said.

“If the two companies disagreed, it will not have an impact on the government. If they squabble among themselves, or quarrel, I will not hesitate to invoke their license in the oil exploration. If they become a nuisance or involved in courts, I will throw them out. We cannot allow the delay in the oil exploration”, he said.

He added that “we cannot allow a monopoly situation by one company in the Albnertine Graben.

A trade show recently opened between it and Sudan.

The first ever trade show exhibition involving traders, businessmen and industrialists from Uganda and southren Sudan is to be held starting on Wednseday in the southern Sudan capital of Juba.

The two day trade show, according to south Sudan trade ministry official, Albert Lukudu, is an outcome of improved trade ties between the two countries and better business infrastructure in southern Sudan.

The pilot exhibition is for businessmen from both countries to link up and resolve business challenges.

Addressing the press in Juba, the Acting Consul General of Uganda, Habib Migadde said, "This is the first time a joint exhibition involving businessmen from Uganda and southern Sudan is taking place. That is good for the two countries. It is an ideal way for business professionals to discuss and find solutions in business registration and taxation issues."

Migadde added that the exhibition is a way to deal with price fluctuations and to cut out the middle man.

This could ease tensions in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.  Not only that, the East Africa region is enjoying traded like never before.

Nations of eastern and southern Africa have been working for most of this decade to build an alliance to strengthen their position as an economic and trading force. They recognize that good governance and consistent policies throughout their region will create a better atmosphere for business and trade. An improved business climate will provide their people greater opportunities for jobs and prosperity.

Neighboring nations of the world are teaming up in regional trade groups, improving access to regional markets, and strengthening their economic integration. By committing the partners to clear and enforceable rules, these organizations promote transparency and good governance. The trend is marked by a string of acronyms stretching across the globe—APEC, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation; ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement; and, of course, the world’s most advanced regional market, decades in the making, the EU, the European Union.

Now, here comes COMESA, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

COMESA has 19 member countries: Burundi, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Fourteen of these states are already in a free trade area.

Trade development among our member nations is the cornerstone of our agenda, and we have pursued a variety of steps to liberalize and facilitate trade throughout our region in a process that economists call “integration.” We also have a vision for our relationship to lead to a common market and achieve monetary union, following the same course as the Europeans.

The COMESA Free Trade Area [FTA] gives us a type of trade bloc in which our countries have agreed to eliminate tariffs and quotas when we trade among ourselves. The next step for us in this process of economic integration will be to form a “customs union,” whereby we retain our free trade arrangements but also adopt a common policy for an external tariff imposed on goods imported from nonmember nations.

Trade in the region will improve for example

today goods being imported from Japan to Rwanda pass under the eyes of border officials at multiple points—as they are off-loaded from a ship at Mombasa, Kenya; when they pass overland from Kenya into Uganda; then again, as they pass the national border into neighboring Rwanda. They receive a final inspection from officials in Kigali. Under the Customs Union, the goods will simply be inspected and cleared only once in Mombasa. We believe reduced inspections for goods will benefit both business and the consumer, streamlining trade, reducing costs, and eliminating opportunities for corruption that can arise at each inspection point.

With a regional population of 400 million and a gross domestic product of almost US $420 billion, ours is an attractive region for investment and trade in this globalized world.

The 2009 economic crisis did not affect the country.

In his first address to a special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly in Kampala Tuesday, President Museveni noted that the Ugandan economy had earned over 1.6 billion dollars from regional trade during the last financial year............The widening cross border trade between Uganda, Southern Sudan, Eastern Congo, and Central African Republic had great benefits for the Ugandan economy Even during the recent economic crisis did not affect Uganda very much because of the regional trade," said the Ugandan President.

Mr. Museveni has reaffirmed the need to lower cost of production and doing business in order to lure more investors to the East African Region. He said there is need to pay attention to development of physical infrastructure like roads, railways and improvements in electricity power generation.

More on President Museveni talking about trade and what the region needs.

Uganda in the spotlight

The New Times has some interesting and insightful reporting of Uganda's embrace of the American Culture war.

Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda’s government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

The Ugandan government, facing the prospect of losing millions in foreign aid, is now indicating that it will back down, slightly, and change the death penalty provision to life in prison for some homosexuals. But the battle is far from over.

Instead, Uganda seems to have become a far-flung front line in the American culture wars, with American groups on both sides, the Christian right and gay activists, pouring in support and money as they get involved in the broader debate over homosexuality in Africa.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda’s government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

The Ugandan government, facing the prospect of losing millions in foreign aid, is now indicating that it will back down, slightly, and change the death penalty provision to life in prison for some homosexuals. But the battle is far from over.

Instead, Uganda seems to have become a far-flung front line in the American culture wars, with American groups on both sides, the Christian right and gay activists, pouring in support and money as they get involved in the broader debate over homosexuality in Africa.

More interviews from four different points of views on individuals affected by the growing rapid social changes in Uganda.

Microsoft expands foot print in Uganda

A crisis that has become an opportunity.

Software giant Microsoft Corp has hired a Ugandan law firm to help it fight piracy in the country after it discovered that it was losing millions of dollars in sales. Kampala Associated Advocates has been hired by the software company to help it clamp down on illegal internet downloads, counterfeiting and “unauthorised manufacture and distribution of software.

Green computing in Uganda.  Progress begins with small steps.