ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 378 - 15/11/1999

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Uganda

A country on notice

by Crespo Sebunya, Uganda, October 1999

THEME = DEPENDENCE

INTRODUCTION

Western donors are increasingly getting irritated over Uganda's increased military expenditure,
and are now putting the government on notice that aid to Uganda is "on the line"

The latest to warn Uganda was The Netherlands, which sent Development Cooperation Minister, Ms. Evelin Herfkens with a promise that $8M will be given to Uganda this year, but included a stern message that the military should receive less money...or else!

"We have signed an agreement with the Ugandan government to provide aid, on condition that military expenditure is reduced", said Herfkens, explaining further to journalists that the ball now rests in Uganda's court to take positive action on this point otherwise "it will be very difficult for me to convince the Netherlands parliament to aid Uganda. Also, The Netherlands will lobby the European Union (EU) to stop military aid to developing countries in order to bring peace to Africa".

The Netherlands is not the first country to issue such threats. It's no secret that Finland has long suspended aid to Uganda because of its expanding military expenditure; international human rights organizations have done the same. However, most threats had come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which in February 1999, suspended a disbursement of some $20 million to various economic programmes until the government reduced its expenditure. The money was released three months later when the government seemed to comply with the message.

Shopping spree - Donors' irritation is quite understandable. Last year, the Ugandan government went on a shopping spree when it purchased a substantial amount of weapons. These included 120 battle tanks, 61 Armoured personnel carriers, Fighter aircraft (including 6 MIG-21s), 35 tonnes of Garril assault weapons. Countries in Eastern Europe, Israel, South Africa were all contacted to see if they could supply the weaponry and when it arrived, the tanks rumbled along southern Uganda's dusty roads, destroying some of the road surfaces in the process. With such a shopping list, the government overshot its defense budget and violated some terms of the debt relief agreement signed in 1995 between Western donors and Uganda. The terms stipulated that arms expenditure should not exceed 2% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Now it ranges between 2.5%-2.8% of the GDP.

The government justified overshooting its budget estimates because of increased security threats to the country. Gerald Sendawula, Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, puts it this way: "The increased expenditure on defense was due to the need to bring forward the purchase of equipment for the Uganda Peoples' Defense Force (UPDF) - this purchase was originally scheduled for future years but because of the present situation, it had to be brought forward."

Uganda þ Sudan and Congo RDC - In recent years, Uganda's relationship with Sudan has never been of the best and on many occasions has nearly resulted in a shooting match between both armies. Sudanese aircraft have bombed Ugandan territory on several occasions. Sudan has also accused Uganda of supporting the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels.

Sudan and Congo RDC are perceived by the Ugandan authorities as working closely to destabilize Uganda. Sudan, which supports the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, is also suspected of supporting the Allied Democratic Front (ADF) rebels fighting in western Uganda, and of having displaced at least 100,000 people in the region.

Uganda believes Sudan is helping the ADF, and that's one reason why Uganda's troops entered Congo RDC. "We wanted to secure all airports to deny Sudan a chance of arming the ADF through cities in Congo RDC," Amama Mbabazi, Uganda's Minister of Regional Cooperation told a Ugandan private television station recently. But donors remain unconvinced with this reasoning. Bernard Ryelandt, the EU's representative in Uganda says: "True. Uganda's security concerns have to be considered, but Uganda's intervention in Congo RDC goes much further than this. We don't think it is security concerns that drove Ugandan troops into Kisangani, which is 700 Km from Uganda border", he said. The fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan troops in Kisangani made the situation worse for Uganda, whose credibility was increasingly suffering as a result of her inability to crush the ADF - which, after all, the centre point in justifying Ugandan intervention in Congo RDC.

Investing in Uganda - Until recently, Uganda was applauded by donors over her commitment towards economic reform. Uganda's economy was booming and an encouragement to western donors. The economy was growing at 6% annually, inflation was kept in single digits and exports were growing in 1998, reaching some US $600 million. Foreign investors had committed $5 billion to be invested in Uganda as a result of reforms, and had actually invested 30% of that amount leading to a creation of 80,000 jobs.

Western donors also felt that Uganda deserved debt relief and was in fact the first country to qualify for debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme. The money went towards improvements in the social sector, especially in Primary Education and this has largely been a success, for now 6.5 million children of school-age are attending school, compared to only 2.5 million who did so before the programme was launched in 1996.

The government is also trying to convince donors that it is committed to fighting poverty in the countryside, with projects on the way for improving rural feeder roads, providing safe water and empowering rural inhabitants economically. Nevertheless, donors don't feel the government is doing enough. Health expenditure should represent 25% of the budget, not 20%, and expenditure on education should top 30% instead of 23%.

And there's no getting away from the fact that western donors are adamant: the only way for Uganda to fight poverty, is to abandon.

Effects of a war situation within Uganda - An on-going war situation has caused economic activities to shift to different parts of the country. For example, in the north, especially in Acholi, cotton production forming part of that region's economy, has shifted to the west. The slaughtering of livestock by both the government army and the rebels has virtually decimated the means of livelihood in northern Uganda.

In 1998, a UNICEF team led by Tim Burton investigated the extent of rebellion and its effect on northern Uganda. In its report, the team stated that the war is undermining tribes, particularly the Acholis. "As the conflict continues, people's ties to ancestral lands are loosening and more families are sending their young people to safe areas", the UNICEF team has noted.

Foreign donors are convinced that rather than fighting wars, Uganda should be fighting poverty.

END

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