Museveni’s role critical in US-Africa relations
Oct 01, 2008
Gen. Yoweri Museveni made US military history on September 26, by becoming probably the first (foreign) sitting head of state to be invited to lecture students of the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
By Paddy Ankunda
Gen. Yoweri Museveni made US military history on September 26, by becoming probably the first (foreign) sitting head of state to be invited to lecture students of the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
In June of this year, President Museveni achieved another milestone by being the second incumbent head of state to be received at the world famous military college (in recent memory), the first being the President of Indonesia, Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
That visit which was intended to provide an opportunity for the President to attend the graduation of his son Maj. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (now a Lieutenant Colonel), transformed into a preparatory visit for another stopover in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting. The reason for this is the President’s eminent reputation amongst military professionals the world over.
At a luncheon hosted by the Commanding General of the US Combined Arms Center (the organisation that oversees the Command and General Staff College) Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a rising star in the US army, and his wife Stephanie, it was clear that President Museveni was held in high regard by his hosts.
The General and his guests kept prodding the President for more information on his experience with revolutionary warfare. Reportedly, they listened attentively as the President gracefully expounded on the obscure aspects of this complicated form of warfare.
Finally, Gen. Caldwell requested the President to accept to address the officers at the college which the he courteously accepted, and suggested he might be able to drop in briefly after the UN meeting in September. Gen. Caldwell and his officers could not conceal their elation.
There was excitement at the college in the build-up to President Museveni’s presentation. One lecturer mused: “What an amazing guest speaker they’ve got lined up for us. Since we never had the opportunity to talk to Mao Zedong or Che Guevara, what good fortune that we can talk to Yoweri Museveni, a guy who did everything that Mao and Che did plus is our friend.â€
Eisenhower Auditorium, the main lecture hall at the college in the Lewis and Clark building, was packed to capacity for Museveni’s talk last Friday.
As the President took the podium the anticipation was palpable, and he did not disappoint. In his customary brutally honest manner, he explained that peoples’ war is a tool that can be wielded by oppressed peoples to defeat aggressors.
His presentation did not pull any punches. He criticised some wrong-minded policies of the US in the past for example the ‘constructive engagement’ with Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
He also lauded US policy where it had been correct for example in supporting the Mujahedeen war against Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. The President said in Africa, peoples’ war had been used to liberate the continent from colonisation.
In Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola peoples’ war had defeated white minority dictatorships. Uganda was one of two examples in the world, the other being Cuba, where people had liberated themselves without external or limited assistance.
The struggle in Uganda had transitioned through four phases. Phase I was clandestine operations, this was from 1971-78. Phase II was guerrilla warfare from 1981-83, mobile warfare from 1984-85 and conventional warfare from 1985-86.
Going in to great detail about each one of these phases in the Ugandan experience, the President conveyed his virtuosity in the theory and practice of peoples’ war to his audience.
The President’s lecture on the “Strategy of Protracted Peoples’ War†will endure in the professional military community as a seminal exposé on this topic. After his address, the President took some questions from his audience.
Questions ranged from what the President thought about the US military’s newly-created unified combatant command (AFRICOM), to questions about regional situations, but most centred on his experiences. At the end of the question and answer session, there was a rapturous standing ovation from the students and faculty.
Gen. Caldwell was not done making the most of the President’s visit. He led the President into another lecture hall, where he had assembled most of the US military experts on insurgency and counter-insurgency warfare for a more intense discussion.
The President’s interaction with them left them all yearning for more, but it was time to leave to attend to other business.
The transformation in African-U.S. relations has been tremendous in the past decade and half.
From one of suspicion and outright hostility in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, to an increasingly warm and amiable one. In this growing alliance between the two continents the kind of ruthless honesty demonstrated by President Museveni on several occasions is absolutely critical, for a friendship built on deceit is not friendship at all for friends politely tell each other the truth.
The writer is the UPDF/
army spokesperson
Gen. Yoweri Museveni made US military history on September 26, by becoming probably the first (foreign) sitting head of state to be invited to lecture students of the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
In June of this year, President Museveni achieved another milestone by being the second incumbent head of state to be received at the world famous military college (in recent memory), the first being the President of Indonesia, Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
That visit which was intended to provide an opportunity for the President to attend the graduation of his son Maj. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (now a Lieutenant Colonel), transformed into a preparatory visit for another stopover in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting. The reason for this is the President’s eminent reputation amongst military professionals the world over.
At a luncheon hosted by the Commanding General of the US Combined Arms Center (the organisation that oversees the Command and General Staff College) Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, a rising star in the US army, and his wife Stephanie, it was clear that President Museveni was held in high regard by his hosts.
The General and his guests kept prodding the President for more information on his experience with revolutionary warfare. Reportedly, they listened attentively as the President gracefully expounded on the obscure aspects of this complicated form of warfare.
Finally, Gen. Caldwell requested the President to accept to address the officers at the college which the he courteously accepted, and suggested he might be able to drop in briefly after the UN meeting in September. Gen. Caldwell and his officers could not conceal their elation.
There was excitement at the college in the build-up to President Museveni’s presentation. One lecturer mused: “What an amazing guest speaker they’ve got lined up for us. Since we never had the opportunity to talk to Mao Zedong or Che Guevara, what good fortune that we can talk to Yoweri Museveni, a guy who did everything that Mao and Che did plus is our friend.â€
Eisenhower Auditorium, the main lecture hall at the college in the Lewis and Clark building, was packed to capacity for Museveni’s talk last Friday.
As the President took the podium the anticipation was palpable, and he did not disappoint. In his customary brutally honest manner, he explained that peoples’ war is a tool that can be wielded by oppressed peoples to defeat aggressors.
His presentation did not pull any punches. He criticised some wrong-minded policies of the US in the past for example the ‘constructive engagement’ with Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
He also lauded US policy where it had been correct for example in supporting the Mujahedeen war against Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. The President said in Africa, peoples’ war had been used to liberate the continent from colonisation.
In Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola peoples’ war had defeated white minority dictatorships. Uganda was one of two examples in the world, the other being Cuba, where people had liberated themselves without external or limited assistance.
The struggle in Uganda had transitioned through four phases. Phase I was clandestine operations, this was from 1971-78. Phase II was guerrilla warfare from 1981-83, mobile warfare from 1984-85 and conventional warfare from 1985-86.
Going in to great detail about each one of these phases in the Ugandan experience, the President conveyed his virtuosity in the theory and practice of peoples’ war to his audience.
The President’s lecture on the “Strategy of Protracted Peoples’ War†will endure in the professional military community as a seminal exposé on this topic. After his address, the President took some questions from his audience.
Questions ranged from what the President thought about the US military’s newly-created unified combatant command (AFRICOM), to questions about regional situations, but most centred on his experiences. At the end of the question and answer session, there was a rapturous standing ovation from the students and faculty.
Gen. Caldwell was not done making the most of the President’s visit. He led the President into another lecture hall, where he had assembled most of the US military experts on insurgency and counter-insurgency warfare for a more intense discussion.
The President’s interaction with them left them all yearning for more, but it was time to leave to attend to other business.
The transformation in African-U.S. relations has been tremendous in the past decade and half.
From one of suspicion and outright hostility in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, to an increasingly warm and amiable one. In this growing alliance between the two continents the kind of ruthless honesty demonstrated by President Museveni on several occasions is absolutely critical, for a friendship built on deceit is not friendship at all for friends politely tell each other the truth.
The writer is the UPDF/
army spokesperson