AMBASSADOR TOLD THEM TO STOP SUPPLYING MILITARY HARDWARE AND TALK PEACE LIKE THEY ASKED MUSEVENI ON KONY!
The African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) and the EU Political and Security Committee held their 6th Joint Formal Retreat and 14th Joint Annual Consultative meeting last week.
The meeting ran from May 2-3 2023 in the Belgian capital-Brussels. The meetings were held within the framework of AU and UN partnership. The AUPSC was led by its current chair-Uganda whose Permanent Representative at AU is Amb. Rebecca Amuge Otengo who’s also Uganda’s ambassador to Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
As expected, according to Inspectors, the meeting went on smoothly with the Europeans allowing almost 96% of the proposals fronted by the African Union Peace and Security Council headed by (read) Amb. Otengo.
With Otengo in full control of the meeting, the Europeans according to Inspectors wanted to seize this opportunity to trick Uganda and Africa as a whole into passing a resolution condemning what they called Russian aggression against Ukraine. The motion had according to Inspectors been crafted in a way that if passed, Africa and Uganda in particular would have been finally cornered and therefore moved away from their reluctance to condemn Russia. We’re told, not only did the motion targeted Africa as a continent, but also Uganda as a country whose head of state Gen. Yoweri Museveni has always tried to play a non-alignment policy in respect of the Ukrainian war.
“The idea was that once Uganda changes it’s stance, the other countries would follow suit. Museveni is highly respected on the continent and his view is usually taken as the official view of Africa. Most presidents consult him on security matters” says an Inspector knowledgeable on the issues.
We’re told once the Europeans saw that it was Uganda (read Otengo) currently chairing the AUPSC, they allegedly saw this as a grand opportunity to finally corner Gen. Museveni and his followers on the continent regarding Russia.
Henceforth, after all motions had been adopted, the Europeans mooted theirs also wanting African chorus against Russia and president Vladimir Putin over the actions in Ukraine.
However, we’re told the Europeans were slapped with a rotten egg in their faces after Otengo tactfully watereddown their motion with full backing from her other African colleagues.
First of all, she told them that as PSC, their mandate only stopped at issues that had been discussed and adopted by the Summit of heads of State. The issue of Russia/Ukraine War according to Otengo had never been part of the agenda. Besides, inspectors said Otengo was mindful of the fact that African states have always voted against the condemnation in the UN security council while others abstained with a few of them siding with the West.
“Our position has been and remains that this matter be resolved through peaceful means. There must be peaceful resolution of that conflict. That’s our position. Stop sending military hardware (to Ukraine) and settle it through peaceful means” Otengo according to Inspectors told angry whites in the meeting.
To prove how serious Africa prefers the peaceful approach, Otengo reminded the Europeans that they themselves have been on the forefront telling African governmnents to settle their differences (some internal) through dialogue as opposed to war. She cited the conflict in Ethiopia and Uganda itself where the Europeans themselves funded those initiatives but are now refusing to embrace the same when it comes to their own affairs in Europe.
“My president (Museveni) drove miles into Sudan to meet with monster Kony but the man never showed up. He was asked to talk peace with the rebels and he accepted, in Ethiopia, the same has happened. And it’s you who were funding some of those initiatives and participated in them. If we accepted what you told us, why is it becoming difficult for you to listen to our advice and end that conflict in Europe?” Otengo was quoted as telling them off.
Another member of the PSC was even more bolder when he informed the Europeans that Africa was now a different story to accept every directive from them.
“Africa is not the one you used to see and order anyhow. It’s now a different story. We can decide what to do” the member piled misery on them.
At the end of the meeting, the motion was dustbinned and an attempt was made to resurface it the following day but Africans stood their ground rallying behind the bold Amb. Rebecca Amuge Otengo.
“That matter was properly addressed by the chairperson. It can’t come back on the floor. The chair ably responded and ruled on it” the members from Africa insisted and that’s how it failed.
Inspectors said having failed to martial support for their motion, the angry Europeans resorted to asking Africa to account for it’s share of 25% budget meant for peace support operations in various countries such as Somalia. However, even on this one, the chair (read Otengo) was alert and gave a thorough response which left all of them convinced. She started by telling them that contribution cannot be taken to mean only monetary which the Europeans seemed to be advancing. She lectured to them that the largest contribution ever is human resource/soldiers.
Otengo informed the meeting that whereas the Europeans value their financial contribution, in Africa a man is owned by almost an entire village. Therefore, when such a person dies in the line of duty, his kids, wife and the extended family all suffer since he’s the bread winner. Secondly, African governmnents are also finding it hard to replace the soldiers who are killed during those peace keeping missions.
“Contribution should not be viewed in terms of monetary aspect alone. The biggest risk is in providing human resource. Do you know how many soldiers get disabled, those who are killed and those who get mental Illnesses arising from those operations? Countries are sacrificing a lot because even when some of the senior commanders are killed, it’s the same country which struggles to train a new person to replace the one killed. So, I think we need to understand each other before we insist on the 25% contribution by Africa (Union)” Inspectors quoted Otengo as saying in the meeting.
