Museveni meets European Union Army Generals

THE European Union Military Committee, the highest military body in the EU Council arrived in Uganda yesterday on a two day visit to discuss the Somalia crisis. Drawn from Generals of the European member state armies, the 27 Chiefs of Defence of the EU by their Chairman from Sweden, Gen. Hakan Syren met President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe before holding meetings with Ugandan Generals at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Entebbe.

A communiqué issued by the EU yesterday said that Africa is high on the list of strategic partners.

President Museveni greeting European Union Army Generals

Meeting the officers, President Yoweri Museveni advised European powers that the only way of fighting pirates in Somalia is to build a strong government in the war-torn country.

“Unless these pirates live in water which I doubt, the solution to ocean piracy is to ensure a stable government in Somalia,” Museveni told  the European Generals. 

Museveni told his visitors that  what is required is control over the Somali territory airspace to ensure that Al Qaeda does not use the airspace to ferry in arms.
Museveni said that controlling Somali airspace will ensure that arms are not smuggled into the country.

He said that there was also need to control the Indian Ocean coastlines. “I am seeing a lot of time wastage in controlling the Ocean when the problem originates from the hinterland,” Museveni observed.

Museveni said that pacifying Somalia needs a few committed African countries. He proposed that the African Union force should be composed of a few states but with strong military capacity and led by one country. The President said that Uganda is willing to raise the 20,000 soldiers needed for the stabilization of the war torn country.

The President defended the Somali transitional government saying; “I hear people who accuse the interim government of being weak, it was weak from day one that’s why the African Union decided that it needed an army to protect it.”

Museveni said that  the anti-African Union sentiments in Somalia are fueled by foreigners from Asia. "Why do these Al Qaeda foreigners from Asia tell us to leave? They are the foreigners who should leave Somalia for Africans,” he said.

 President Museveni praised the bravery of the UPDF and Burundi soldiers in Somalia.

“We went to protect national institutions but now we are controlling more than what we are supposed to protect because we have defeated Al Qaeda in all their attempts to attack us,” Museveni explained.

Chairman of the European Military Committee, General Hakan Syren from Sweden explained to the President the role of the European defence Committee. He thanked President Museveni for Uganda’s involvement in peace making.

The  team was accompanied to State House by state Minister of defence General Jeje Odongo and Chief of Defense Forces General Aronda Nyakairima.