Ignore the excitement of foreigners- says Museveni on EU MPs' demand for sanctions

President Museveni has described as excitement of “some foreigners” the recommendations by the European Union Parliament for sanctions against Ugandan officials for human rights violations during the just concluded 2021 election.

The EU Parliament in a statement issued on Thursday resolved that sanctions be slapped against individuals and organisations involved in human rights violations in Uganda and that these must be adopted at the EU level under the new EU human rights sanction mechanism.

However, addressing the country on the security situation on Saturday night, President Museveni said whereas not all foreigners have excitement, some try to interfere in Uganda’s affairs but urged Ugandans to ignore them.

“I read in the newspapers about the EU Parliament sanctioning some Ugandans from traveling. For anybody to think that Africans are dying to go to Europe is something that shows lack of seriousness,” Museveni said.

“I normally need a lot of persuasion to travel out of Uganda. I only leave Uganda because of friendship.”

Museveni said he has a lot of experience showing foreigners interfering in the country’s affairs, noting that in 1971 when Amin took over power, the West supported him, despite people like(Museveni) and others opposing him from day one.

He said later, foreigners realized that Amin was not a good person and turned against him.

According to Museveni, the same thing happened when he went to the bush in 1981 and many foreigners didn’t support him but later realizing he was on the right path and turned around to support his cause.

“What would have happened if we had listened to foreigners?  For us, we do what we think is right regardless of what other people think. When you hear some of the external people interfering in our affairs, ignore them. Don’t listen to what they are saying because they can lead to a lot of distortions. If we had not stood our ground, Uganda would have been in a bad situation,” Museveni said.

“Ugandans should concentrate on their work. We know what we are doing very well. Those who don’t understand us will do(understand)  with time. Uganda should have a modern, skilled and middle-class society.”

According to experts, the latest developments are a clear sign of the continuing fallout between Museveni and the West.

Whereas the West claims increased cases of human rights violations on citizens, the Ugandan government insists the West is only interested in meddling into the country’s affairs that they say can't be allowed to happen.