Uganda Protests Danish Aid Cut

Feb 01, 2002

STATE minister for international co-operation Maj. Tom Butime, has criticised Denmark’s lumping Uganda with other dictatorial regimes.

By John EremuSTATE minister for international co-operation Maj. Tom Butime, has criticised Denmark’s lumping Uganda with other dictatorial regimes.The Danish government this week decided to cut off aid to Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eritrea, and to reduce assistance to Uganda, saying it “does not want to maintain dictators in power.”But an irate Butime told journalists yesterday, “Uganda is not one of the countries where dictators are in power.”He described the paragraph as infuriating.While saying bilateral relations between Uganda and Denmark were still excellent, Butime said the reduction in Danish assistance by 30 million Kroners (sh6b) will negatively affect particularly the road sector programme. The Danish Ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Flemming Pedersen, told The New Vision on Thursday that one of the reasons for reducing aid to Uganda was because of Ugandans’ exploitation of resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).“Denmark holds the view that the Government of Uganda is ignoring the plunder of DRC resources by its nationals,” Flemming said.But Butime denied the government was condoning the plundering of Congo resources.“The Uganda Government position is that it has never sanctioned anybody or any company, either in private or public capacity to engage in the exploitation of Congo resources.“This was confirmed by the addendum report of the UN expert panel chaired by Ambassador M. Kassem of December 14, 2001,” Butime said.The minister said the Government will act on the suspects as soon as the UN panel that investigated the issue shares corroborated criminal evidence with the Justice Porter Commission that also investigated the alleged plunder of DRC resources.“Indeed, the Porter Commission is expected to work and share information with the UN panel based in Nairobi this month and to publish its report in March,” Butime said.The ministry’s acting Permanent Secretary, Mr. John Bakayana Kityo, and the director for international co-operation, Mr. James Mugume, attended the press conference at the ministry’s headquarters in Kampala.Butime said Uganda will withdraw the last two battalions remaining in Congo in accordance with the Lusaka Agreement as soon as the UN security Council deploys adequate peace-keeping forces to take charge of the security situation there.Butime also said the Government was discussing the possibility of re-opening five missions closed two years ago due to lack of funds. He listed Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the Hague in the Netherlands and Tehran in Iran.Ends

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