Clinton visited Yoweri Museveni, left, as part of her seven-nation African tour that will last 11 days |
Yoweri Museveni told democracy is not about "strong men" keeping power for decades but about "strong institutions"
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Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has told Uganda's
long-serving president to consider his own legacy and strengthen democratic
institutions.
In comments made before meeting Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the
East African nation since 1986, Clinton said: "It is important for leaders
to make judgments about how they can best support the institutionalisation of
democracy."
"It's not about strong men; it's about strong institutions,"
Clinton, who is on the last leg of her 11-day African tour, said in the Ugandan
capital, Kampala.
Although US officials stressed that Clinton's visit to Uganda was
aimed at thanking it for its strong security assistance in Somalia and
elsewhere, Washington has keenly followed Museveni's increasingly authoritarian
policies.
Security forces have frequently clashed with opposition figures
challenging Museveni’s decades-long grip on power, suspecting the politicians
are taking advantage of public anger over the rising cost of living to
instigate Arab-style uprisings.
Museveni rejects his critics’ accusation that he is clinging to power,
arguing that he has people’s mandate gained through winning elections, although
the opposition often disputes the election results.
Clinton's visit took her to a military base where Ugandan and US
soldiers showed her the US-made "drone" aircraft now patrolling the
skies over Somalia, where an African Union force is battling al-Shabab
fighters.
Uganda, a strong US security partner, has contributed the bulk of the
Somalia force along with Burundi.
Clinton said she foresaw a day when drones might help the US and
Uganda with another of their joint military efforts - the hunt for Joseph Kony,
a reclusive warlord believed to be holed up in the jungles of the Central
African Republic.
Gay legislation
Clinton also praised activists who opposed a tough draft law in Uganda
targeting gays and lesbians, calling them an inspiration for others struggling
to secure equal rights around the world.
She presented a coalition of Ugandan rights groups with the state
department's 2011 Human Rights Defender Award, a signal to African and Islamic
countries that the US will not backtrack in its fight against the legal and
political persecution of homosexuals.
"It is critical for all Ugandans - the government and citizens
alike - to speak out against discrimination, harassment, and intimidation of
anyone. That's true no matter where they come from, what they believe, or whom
they love," Clinton said.
The issue was raised in talks she held with Museveni, whose government
has been accused of allowing political and religious leaders to drum up
anti-gay feeling in the deeply conservative East African nation.
"You are a model for others and an inspiration for the
world," Clinton said to representatives of the group, formed in 2009 to
combat draft legislation which proposed the death penalty for anyone convicted
of "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill, which sparked a global outcry, stalled in parliament but has
been reintroduced in a watered down form by a member of Museveni's party.
The new version dropped the death sentence, but would still outlaw the
"promotion" of gay rights and punish anyone who "funds, sponsors
or abets homosexuality".
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