The Commander Land Forces of Uganda’s army, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has sent a stern warning to any countries or individuals who may harbor intentions of attacking Russia, saying such, is an attack on Africa.
In what seems like an assurance of standing with Russia against any attackers, Gen Muhoozi who is also a son to Uganda’s leader, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, said Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin “does not have to threaten nuclear war.”
“We hear him. An attack on Russia is an attack on Africa,” Gen Muhoozi posted on his Twitter handle on Saturday afternoon.
Since launching its Special Military Operation in Ukraine that in February this year, Russia has unfairly be greeted with tough sanctions by the West and the U.S.
Russia, in this special military operation, which is ongoing, seeks to demilitarize Ukraine so that there would be no weapons posing a threat to Russia, protecting the people of Donetsk and Lugansk Republics and to denazify Ukraine by not only canceling laws encouraging Nazi ideology and practices, but also, withdrawing any legislation, which discriminates Russians.
Uganda was among the about 20 African countries which in March abstained from voting as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In July this year, President Yoweri Museveni assured Russia of continued cooperation with Uganda on grounds that it’s not Kampala’s doctrine to be an enemy of other people’s enemies.
He made the remarks at a press conference in Entebbe alongside Russia’s Foreign Minister, H.E Sergey V. Lavrov, who was in Uganda as part of his tour in Africa in a bid to strengthen Moscow’s relations with the continent.
“We want to trade with Russia, we want to trade with all countries of the World. We don’t believe in being enemies of somebody’s enemy, no. We want to make our own enemies not to fight other people’s enemies, this is our doctrine,” Museveni said on Tuesday.
“When there was the cold war, one day they asked me a question, ‘are you pro-east or pro-west?’, I said you must think I am an idiot, why do you think my main job is to be pro-somebody?”
“I am pro myself and I deal with all other people according to how they relate with my own interests. These people think we are stupid, such a question is idiotic. It is not my job to be pro-east or pro-west, I am pro myself and I deal with people according to the way they deal with me,” he added.
In the same month, a delegation from European Union urged Uganda to decide which side it supports in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
At a joint press conference, Ambassador Attilio Pacifici, the head of the European Union delegation to Uganda, said that Russia’s invasion was an unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, that is threatening the peace and unity of the European continent, adding that coercion has no place in the 21st century.
He added that this crisis has come with a high cost to humanity, with lives lost, large refugee numbers, international economic disruption as well as agricultural and fuel supply shortages. According to Pacifici, this was the aggression of one country by another, and it has to be condemned by all peace-loving humans, and that is what is expected of Uganda.
But, President Yoweri Museveni defended Uganda’s relationship with Russia. “How can we be against somebody who has never harmed us?” Museveni asked.
If Russia makes mistakes, we tell them,” Museveni said, citing his participation in student demonstrations against the crushing of the Prague Spring by the Soviet Union in 1968.
“But when they have not made a mistake, we cannot be against them,” he added.