'Commonwealth heads meet not relocated'

Apr 26, 2007

THE Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to take place in Kampala in November, has not been relocated, both the Government and the Commonwealth Secretariat have said.

By Felix Osike
and Agencies


THE Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to take place in Kampala in November, has not been relocated, both the Government and the Commonwealth Secretariat have said.

Two British newspapers, both quoting a ‘senior government source’, yesterday reported that the summit may be moved to another country – possibly South Africa – because of concerns for the security of the Queen and the 53 heads of Government expected to attend.

“I am beginning to think it may not happen. You can’t have the Queen visiting if people are shooting each other in the streets,” the anonymous source was quoted as saying in both The Times and The Guardian. “There will be a Plan B.”

But the Commonwealth Secretariat refuted the reports. “Reports of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November being moved from Kampala are incorrect,” conference secretary Matthew Neuhaus said in a statement yesterday. “Commonwealth governments collectively have accepted President Yoweri Museveni’s invitation to host the meeting. This year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Kampala, Uganda, and there are no alternatives under consideration.”

Neuhaus said a memorandum was issued to all Commonwealth governments yesterday “on the very day of the erroneous reports.”

President Yoweri Museveni briefly commented on the reports when announcing a cancelled press conference at State House last night, in the presence of Alpha Conare, the head of the AU commission.

“I have read the article in The Guardian,” Museveni reacted. “It (the summit) cannot be shifted like that by anybody. It can only be done by a decision by the Commonwealth, which has already been taken. It will be here in Uganda and the Queen will attend.”

Foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa, in a separate statement, denied the reports, suggesting that they were orchestrated by the opposition. “The public should ignore the erroneous reports that are the handwork of some elements in and outside Uganda, who are bent on frustrating a successful CHOGM in Kampala,” Kutesa asserted.

British government officials, the UK papers claimed, had raised security concerns over the violence in Kampala. “Political unrest, the jailing of opposition leaders and a continuing strike by judges who say they want to defend their independence has prompted doubts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office over whether the summit can go ahead in November,” The Times reported. It indicated that South Africa would be the obvious alternative.

The paper also alleged that Britain’s preference was for Museveni to ease the political unrest and create a stable backdrop for the summit to go ahead.

Queen Elizabeth 11, the titular head of the Commonwealth, is set to travel to Uganda with her husband, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as her oldest son, Charles, the Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. By convention, the Queen makes a state visit to the host country before the Commonwealth Summit.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are expected to stay at the State House in Entebbe, while the conference will be split between Kampala and the Speke Resort Munyonyo on Lake Victoria.

Prince Charles, who will be attending his first overseas engagement with the Queen in 33 years, is scheduled to visit war-ravaged northern Uganda.

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