'Uganda in space': Museveni amplifies push for one EAC, but still rejects Gadhafi’s ‘United States of Africa’

President Museveni on Thursday renewed his long-standing call for an East African Federation, positioning regional political and economic unity as the continent’s most viable route to prosperity and strategic security, but once again dismissed the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi’s vision of a “United States of Africa” as impractical.

As one of the few surviving leaders spanning both pre- and post-independence liberation struggles, Museveni delivered a historically anchored pitch for regional integration during the reading of Uganda’s 2025/26 national budget at Kololo Independence Grounds.

His lengthy remarks sought to invoke Africa’s post-colonial dreams while warning against the illusion of unity without practical, economically viable structures.

“Let me start with the more important question of the political Federation of East Africa and possible other Federations in other parts of Africa,” Museveni said, framing the issue through the ideological lineage of Pan-Africanists such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, alongside liberation leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Jomo Kenyatta.

But unlike Nkrumah and Gadhafi, who advocated for a centralized African superstate, Museveni, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, turning 81 this September—supports a bottom-up approach to federations based on regional realities and democratic principles.

“Have you heard of East Africa? Have you heard of Africa?” he asked rhetorically, cautioning that shared identity alone cannot substitute for structural unity.

His preferred model, the East African Community (EAC), revived in 1999 and now comprising eight countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia) was held up as a foundation for eventual political federation.

EAC federation and leaders of cold feet

With a population exceeding 300 million and a combined GDP over $300 billion, the bloc is seen as one of Africa’s most promising for economic integration.

“If it is fully implemented, economic integration will address the issue of prosperity,” noted Uganda’s president since 1986.

However, he added, prosperity alone is not sufficient as Africa also needs strategic security. “Never again should its people be threatened by anybody, having gone through the five centuries of the slave-trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism.”

Museveni also reminded the audience that the EAC region had once stood on the cusp of political federation but faltered.

“In 1963, we were about to achieve the political federation of East Africa. You can see the declaration by our leaders. However, along the way, some of them developed cold feet,” he recalled.

“That is why Mwalimu Nyerere and Mzee Karume must be hailed as some of the most devoted Africans that have ever lived,” he empasized.

Museveni argued that had the federation materialized, many of the region’s crises could have been avoided.

“Certainly, Amin would never have taken power in Uganda. Maybe the problems of Rwanda and Burundi could have been handled differently. The problems of South Sudan and Somalia could possibly have been handled differently, as would have been the problem of Congo,” he said. “Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania under one political authority would have been so strong that their voice in these matters would have been decisive.”

‘Uganda in space, Africa to the moon’

The collapse of the initial EAC federation project by the 1970s, and ongoing delays in political federation today, mirror deeper challenges facing the bloc, including sovereignty anxieties, mistrust, trade tensions, nationalism, and uneven commitment among member states.

Still, Museveni on June 12 insisted on the practicality of regional federations over a pan-African government.

Gadhafi, who attended the African Union summit in Kampala in July 2010, famously campaigned for a singular African government, military, and currency.

But Museveni, who once collaborated with Gadhafi during the early AU years, has since retreated from that vision. Instead, he advocates federations grounded in shared history, functional markets, and strategic necessity.

His remarks come at a time of deepening insecurity across the continent. Sudan’s civil war has displaced millions. Eastern DR Congo remains mired in militia violence. The Sahel is reeling from a wave of coups and terrorism. Somalia, the EAC’s newest entrant, continues to face insurgent threats. 

Yet Museveni remains convinced that “homegrown federations” can provide both strategic autonomy and economic resilience in ways that top-down, globalized approaches cannot.

Museveni outlined two “historical missions,” prosperity and strategic security, underpinned by four ideological principles: patriotism, Pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation, and democracy.

Using Uganda’s own agricultural surplus as an example, he stressed the urgency of intra-African trade.

“Prosperity can only come from producing a good or a service... and selling it sustainably,” he said.

In a symbolic moment, Museveni juxtaposed Africa’s internal disunity with the global space race: “Coming to multi–dimensional strategic security, only four countries have been to the moon. These are: the USA, Russia, China and India. Can Uganda manage a serious space programme even when it becomes a first world country?” he asked. “As we tried to answer that question, there was already an answer given by our elders before Independence. This was: ‘Uhuru na Umoja’ — ‘Freedom and Unity’.”

That unity, Museveni suggested, is not continental in theory but regional in application.

“The internal market is not enough,” he said. “That is how we (the ruling NRM party) identified the second ideological principle of Pan-Africanism — Love Africa. Why? It is because you need it for your prosperity.”

Widely regarded as a senior statesman with considerable influence beyond Uganda’s borders, Museveni’s voice carries weight in regional affairs, reflecting his long tenure and deep involvement in East Africa’s political landscape.

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