Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

European Union
Although the European Union has a significant aid program in Uganda and a delegation based in the country, it has avoided making public statements about the human rights situation. It focuses on infrastructure, transportation, health, and education, as well as some capacity building for NGOs. In addition, the EU provides non-project aid, notably direct balance of payments support to the Ugandan government. However, in September, the president of the European Commission, Jacques Santer, called for the member states to discuss whether all E.U. aid should be suspended to all the countries involved in the Congo crisis.

United States
Several high-profile U.S. visits to Uganda took place, but U.S. criticism of Uganda’s human rights practices became increasingly muted as the U.S. focused increasingly on isolating Sudan and improving its relationships with what it dubbed the “new leaders,” including President Museveni. During a December 1997 visit, Secretary of State Madeline Albright described Uganda as a “beacon of hope” and focused her attention on condemning the LRA and meeting in Kampala with John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Uganda during his March African tour and met with the leaders of a number of African countries to sign the “Entebbe Declaration.” With little discussion of human rights issues, the Clinton visit was seen as an uncritical endorsement for the Museveni government in the eyes of many observers, including many Ugandans.

In testimony in July on the crisis in Sudan and northern Uganda, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice noted that the UPDF “has not been as efficient as it could be in combating the LRA and protecting civilian populations.” She went on to state that the UPDF and government-sponsored local defense forces “must guard against human rights abuses,” but concluded that “[a]busive tactics are an aberration for the UPDF. For the LRA, they are standard operating procedure.” On the issue of democratization in Uganda, Rice made a speech in March in which she merely stated that “we have urged genuine political pluralism and systems that incorporate a wider spectrum of political beliefs.”

In addition to some $77 million in development assistance, Uganda also participated in a number of U.S. military programs. As part of the U.S. effort to contain Sudan, the U.S. provided Uganda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea with non-lethal military equipment. In Fiscal Year 1998, Uganda received some $3.85 million in such equipment. Uganda also received approximately $400,000 in military training under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, designed to help professionalize the army. Uganda was also one of the first countries to receive training and equipment under the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI), a program aimed at enhancing the capacity of African armies to respond to humanitarian crises and peacekeeping purposes. The second phase of Uganda’s ACRI training was scheduled for late 1998, but was postponed until August 1999, related to U.S. concern about Uganda’s involvement in the Congo crisis.