sanctions: the spoiled brat uganda and the negligent u.s. parent
BY JOSEPH OCHIENO
Token chastising of the naughty kid Uganda by her master America: symbolic, impotent light sanctions. Over the years, I’ve heard visa restrictions and other minor inconveniences on a few individuals continuously framed as action against Uganda’s dictatorship.
The United States, the country that provides more than $1b per annum to Uganda (much of which is wasted or stolen), facilitates the growth of an authoritarian regime. Museveni’s tyranny over the last nearly four decades would be nonexistent if it weren’t for U.S. financial support. U.S. military equipment sings across the lands, waters, and skies of this country, and indeed across most of East Africa, Central Africa, and the Horn of Africa under the direction of Mr. Museveni’s trusted to momentarily suppress the voice of opposition. The U.S sends Museveni to the naughty corner with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Visa bans and empty Tweets are not the only option. Sanctions in their nature are various. I first learned about sanctions when we were campaigning for the isolation of apartheid regimes of South Africa (Azania) and Zimbabwe. We called then for embargos on arms and trade. Such sanctions had teeth and cut abusive and illegitimate governments off from the resources they needed to suppress dissent.
At the time, the leading opponents to such sanctions were the US (led by Ronald Reagan) and Britain (under Margaret Thatcher). They argued then, that sanctions would hurt ordinary people.
To an extent, sanctions do affect the vulnerable. In these cases, however, the vulnerable were paupers in their own countries, improvising their survival despite the system — not through it. The Ugandan majority today similarly leans on an informal economy, all economic activity not tied to a regime-friendly corporation effectively criminalized. In solving the crisis facing most Ugandans today, we should consider what we could learn from the economic isolation of apartheid regimes, the role of Cuban firepower, and other actions that presented a formidable threat to oppressive authoritarian states unlike the toothless joke of a stance the U.S. government continues to take on Uganda.
The America I know - the one we have lobbied over the years, especially at the peak of the atrocious wars in the north and east — has been a steadfast backer of the NRA regime. Mr. Museveni knows it.
America has decided not to place embargoes on military equipment and not to freeze funding. Even the hand weapons that killed over 50 Ugandans last year have not been revoked.
The U.S. has not mentioned any black mambas nor even publicly named the people on whom visa restrictions have been placed. The U.S. doesn’t hesitate to levy substantive sanctions on Zimbabwe, Iraq, and Iran. Being in bed with Museveni has given every new U.S. ambassador a chance to conveniently overlook his greed and abuses.
Museveni himself does not joke about the nature of his regime. He shamelessly boasts of the murders, torture, and forced disappearances committed by his armed forces. Years pass with nobody held to account.
Imagine a trade embargo that forbids Uganda Airlines from flying to London or Washington. Imagine a policy that prevents large American and British corporations from conducting business in and with Uganda. These are not difficult or far-fetched notions. They merely require a half dose of democratic will, and a modest desire not to do business with a military dictatorship.
Joseph Ochieno, former Spokesperson of the Uganda People’s Congress
