Insights into Uganda’s foreign policy in 2013

Any state’s foreign policy, is an extension of its domestic politics. To illustrate this, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s idealistic Ujaama policies translated Tanzania’s international relations into the support for southern Africa’s liberation from colonial and White minority rule, and the eviction from power of Idi Amin‘s murderous junta in Uganda. Whilst Adolf Hitler and his Nazi’s racist policies resulted in World War II.

Consequently, it would be illusionary to construct a Chinese Wall between a country’s domestic and foreign policies. Indeed, President Museveni’s appointment of non-carrier diplomats should not undermine Uganda’s ambassadors, as long as they are competent and well-versed with this country’s political agenda. This explains why non-carrier diplomats have always been appointed in countries with long-established diplomatic traditions, such as the United States of America and South Africa. In fact, President Nelson Mandela appointed African National Congress stalwart Raymond Mhlaba, also his Robben Island prison mate and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, as South Africa’s first Ambassador to Uganda, in the mid-1990s.

Traditionally, international relations was viewed from a state-centred prism. This was noted by conservative/realist scholars as Hans Morgenthau, whose publication, “Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace”, is a required reading in diplomacy. However, in contemporary times, the role of non-state actors in the diplomatic sphere is better appreciated.

In Uganda and other African societies, international relations long existed before colonialism. Long-distance trade, conflicts, and migrations enabled our societies to survive. For instance, Buganda, during the reign of Kabaka Ssuna, 1832-56, significantly influenced events in Karagwe, Kooki, Busoga and Bukedi. That is why Kabaka Mwanga effectively ordered Chief Luba to execute Bishop Hannington in today’s Bugiri District.

Independent Uganda’s Heads of State have faced the challenging reality of our being a marginal, underdeveloped and landlocked post-colonial construct, moreover located in one of the most volatile geo-political regions in the world; notably the Great Lakes region, south of Sudan and the Horn of Africa.

Of all these, its President Museveni and the NRM who have more effectively and ably negotiated our precarious reality to our advantage. Given that domestic politics centrally shapes foreign policy, the fact that the NRM was led by well-educated leaders who understood the world around them better, than say Idi Amin, etc, and moreover had a democratising agenda, helped the shaping of friendly relations with most countries at the regional and global stages.

Mr Museveni and the NRM’s reconciling and democratising Uganda enabled our being at peace with ourselves and our neighbours. Let’s note that Obote’s failure to resolve critical internal disputes and the democratic question, plus his chronic mismanagement of the military, contributed to his being forcefully deposed from power twice. In turn, this contributed to national and regional instability.

Mr Museveni’s ability to reconstruct our institutions of state, notably the military, not only ensured Uganda’s democratic stability, but also this country’s contribution to regional peace through, for instance, contributing to the stopping of genocide in Rwanda and the curbing of Khartoum’s attempts to create a puppet state in Kampala. Uganda, under the NRM, also supported the independence of South Sudan, the de-racialisation and democratisation of South Africa, and the stabilisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Central African Republic and Somalia.
Regional integration has been a central pillar of the Museveni administration - through enhancing of trade with Comesa and Sadc countries.

Consequently Uganda has become a regional trading hub. Within the African Union, Uganda has steadfastly defended the legitimate interests of the African people. This being well exemplified through its participation in the African Union’s high-level Libya Ad hoc committee, its role in Somalia and the ongoing efforts to pacify the eastern DRC. Henry Kissinger once remarked, “No foreign policy, no matter how ingenious, has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few, and carried in the hearts of none.”

Mr Museveni and NRM’s foreign policy illustrates how a crisis can be turned into an opportunity.
Our central location in the Great Lakes has made us a key peace builder. This has elevated our international prestige, hence our hosting two sitting US Presidents and Secretaries of State, and Chogm, among others.
This reality is likely to continue in 2013.

Mr Kintu Nyago is Uganda’s Ambassador to New York