Museveni, Byanyima discuss regional peace

Kampala. President Museveni and the Executive Director of Oxfam International, Ms Winnie Byanyima, have held talks on the need for security and political integration in the East African region.
Ms Byanyima, a known critic of President Museveni’s regime, is wife to key Opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, who has contested for presidency four times against the incumbent and is currently battling treason charges in court.
“Today (Wednesday) I met Uganda President Kaguta Museveni and discussed regional integration; promoting peace and security in East & Horn of Africa. We agreed that ordinary people need economic integration and will increasingly push their leaders to build a common market,” Ms Byanyima tweeted.
Ms Byanyima, a former Member of Parliament for Mbarara Municipality and strong critic of the NRM regime, is also a founding member of the Reform Agenda, the predecessor of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
The historic meeting between the two rival politicians was held in the snowy Swiss city of Davos during the World Economic Forum summit attended by leaders across the globe.
Mr Museveni and Ms Byanyima discussed a range of issues mainly on regional integration, security and peace.
However, Ms Byanyima did not indicate whether she met Mr Museveni at the session on Africa Economic Agenda, which she moderated, or thereafter.
The session discussed integration, human capital, infrastructure and financial matters in Africa.
It was attended by President Museveni, Rwandan president Paul Kagame, South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.
President Museveni’s twitter handle informed Ugandans of his participation in the session, saying he cautioned other leaders to “avoid a uni-dimension approach in shaping Africa’s future”. He also cited a series of bilateral discussions he held in Davos but was completely silent about his meeting with Ms Byanyima and their discussion on regional peace and integration.

Bilateral talks
President Museveni has openly campaigned for the African Integration in order to have a common market and bargaining power for the continent.
He is a key advocate for the Federation of East African Community.
Away from the Banyima interaction, Mr Museveni tweeted about his bilateral talks with other world leaders on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2019 in Davos.
He met with the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Prof Klaus Martin Schwab to whom he presented Uganda’s request to host the next forum.
“We discussed a range of issues, including the global push for the 4th industrial revolution, though I insist that gaps of the 2nd and 3rd revolutions in places like Africa must be plugged for proper development to happen. I also told him Uganda is ready and willing to host the next World Economic Forum on Africa.
The last forum was held in South Africa. It will be an honour to host a meeting of such significance,” Mr Museveni tweeted.
He also said he had held separate talks with Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Charles Michelthe, and the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr David Beasley. The meeting with WFP boss focused on strengthening cooperation between Uganda and his agency.
The deputy presidential press secretary, Ms Lindah Nabusayi, yesterday shared photos of Mr Museveni braving the snow to walk to his hotel alongside his daughter Natasha Karugire.