By Our Reporter,
NATIONAL
Uganda has declined to participate in a vote at the United Nations (UN) sponsored by Ukraine and her allies, seeking to condemn Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
This is the third time for Uganda to exhibit a neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war at the United Nations General Assembly by choosing to abstain on Western sponsored resolutions to condemn Russia’s invasion of her former soviet cohort.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin earlier this month signed a law confirming four regions of Ukraine as part of Russia, and making them Russian territories, meaning any attack on them would mean an attack on the Russian Federation.
In a UN General Assembly emergency session which was held last night, states debated on Russia’s attempt to annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
This also included voting on a resolution tabled by Ukraine and its allies, condemning and rejecting the move, as a way to re-affirm Ukraine’s sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders.
Russia’s representative to the UN General Assembly Vasily Nebenzia greatly criticized and voted against the motion. He was joined by representatives from other 13 other states, while diplomats from 107 states supported the motion to reject Russia request for a secret vote and adopted a open vote.
However, a total of 39 states including Uganda stayed away from the voting process on the resolution, adopting a non alignment policy, and this marks the third time Uganda has abstained from voting on UN general assembly resolutions to condemn Russia for invading her neighbor.
Russian diplomat Nebenzya said that in the history of the UN there has never been “such an extent of cynicism, confrontation and extremely dangerous polarization as now.
Uganda’s state Minister for foreign affairs Hon. Henry Okello Oryem said Kampala will not change her non alignment policy on the Ukrainian crisis, and urged the UN to swiftly work out modalities to bring the conflicting parties into round table talks to end the crisis.
“We are neutral. We are not against and we are not for. Uganda’s position today is that there is no place in the world today for any such conflict and that there is a need given such a situation, for United Nations to rally the conflicting parties into dialogue for settling the conflict through peaceful talks,” said Oryem.
While commenting on Uganda’s move at the UN General Assembly, the spokesperson for Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda revealed that because Uganda is too poor and dependent on foreign aid, it has to execute a difficult balancing act between Russia and the Western world, so as to keep getting foreign aid from both sides, but it is a public secret that Kampala on the Russian side.
“If we are to look at today’s world dictators, then we have to point out Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi Jimping. Those are the patrons of other world dictatorial leaders, they are the ones who had supported Ghadaffi’s grip on power in Libya and Syria’s Assad. Do you think Museveni can support a UN General Assembly vote seeking to castigate his patron?” Ssemujju wondered.
“Our nation is too poor, it receives aid from Europe and America, and therefore the leadership in Kampala fears to enrage America, so its a strategy of hiding under a curtain of neutrality to secure aid from both the West and also the autocratic states,” he added.
Uganda’s close cooperation and cordial relationship with Russia is undoubtedly strong and in July this year, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Kampala at a time when the war in Ukraine was in a higher gear, and promised building a satellite for Uganda.
