President Yoweri Museveni has had a busy schedule in the US, where he addressed the UN General Assembly, met US President Barrack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in the past week.
Museveni at the interview. PHOTO BY PPU
He also gave an interview to Al Jazeera, where he talked about the security and economic situation in Africa, Uganda and the region and offered solutions. The interview, in which he also addressed issues of democracy and media freedom in Uganda, was aired Sunday night 10pm.
“Uganda is one of the freest countries in the world,” he said when asked about media freedom. He said “Uganda has made very big progress from where it has come from,” with all indictators like primary education, infant mortality and HIV rates showing huge progress.
Museveni said he foresees “a modern Uganda, with a large middle class, industrialised in an East Africa federation and African common market.”
He dismissed suggestions that he was grooming his son to take over from him. “That man (Muhoozi Kainerugaba) is an army officer. He is not interested in politics in Uganda,” Museveni told the interviewer.
When Museveni met Hagel on Friday, he discussed the fight against Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shebab militants in Somalia following a bloody attack by the insurgents in Kenya.
In talks at the Pentagon with Museveni, Hagel “praised” the efforts of Ugandan forces to combat Al-Shebab fighters in Somalia, his spokesman said. President Museveni is in the US for the 68th United Nations General Assembly and earlier met President Barrack Obama.
“Secretary Hagel thanked President Museveni for Uganda’s leadership in the region and its commitment to the African Union Mission in Somalia,” while noting Congress had approved $14 million in additional support for the effort, press secretary George Little said in a statement.
The New Vision
