ADDRESS

BY

H.E. YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

TO THE

ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE

18TH MAY, 2018

MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE
Your Excellency,

Their Excellencies, the former Heads of State,

Hon. Speaker of the Assembly,

Hon. Members of the Assembly,

Government Ministers and Officials,

Distinguished Partners and Invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

In the month of March, in the year 2007, a contingent of

the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) landed in
Somalia as the first contingent of the African Union force
that had to go to Somalia which had been taken over by
extremist terrorists. Somalia had become a no-go-area
for all civilized people. The USA Army had been forced to
withdraw after heavy losses. Many people thought that
we were mad to agree to involve ourselves in that
situation. I was, however, confident that we would

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defeat the demented terrorists. What many people did
not know was that that Army had its beginnings here, in
Mozambique, in Montepuez, Cabo Delgado.

The historical relationship between the Revolution of

Mozambique and the Revolution of Uganda, actually,
started with the politics of Uganda. Before colonialism,
the linguistically similar or linked Peoples of what is now
called Uganda, had their peace and prosperity constantly
disturbed and undermined by the ego-centric and
myopic chiefs of that area that were always fomenting
conflicts among the fraternal peoples of the area:
Rwanda, Ankole, Bunyoro, Buganda, Karagwe, Buhaya,
Busongora, Bukedi, Burundi, etc. These Kingdoms and
Chiefdoms are in present day: Burundi, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda and Congo–Kinshasa. These wars
fomented by the myopic Kings and Chiefs were
accompanied with tribal chauvinism and sectarianism
although the Peoples’ prosperity, partly, depended on

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trading among themselves. Goods would come, for
instance, from Zanzibar, through Bagamoyo, Tabora,
Karagwe, etc., all the way to the Great Lakes (Uganda,
Congo, etc.). Therefore, the wars that were fomented by
these Chiefs run counter to the Peoples’ interests. This
political and ideological fragmentation (in terms of
People’s outlook, focus and political organization),
enabled the colonialists to conquer our People. The
chiefs were busy fighting each other instead of fighting
the invading imperialists.

To the ideology of tribal chauvinism and sectarianism

created by the Chiefs, the imperialists added another
poison, sectarianism of religion imported from Europe
(Catholics vs Protestants) and the Middle East (Moslems
vs Christians). Therefore, even when Political Parties
were formed in 1950s, they found themselves caught in
this trap: sectarianism of tribe and religion.

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On top of the political fragmentation caused by this
ideological bankruptcy, or rather on account of it, there
was the issue of a sectarian and brutal Army that
engaged in extra-judicial killings, rape and plunder. The
progressive elements in our area, led by the late
Mwalimu Nyerere, pushed for patriotism (uzalendo)
within each country instead of identity chauvinism; and
Pan-Africanism throughout Africa so as to guarantee
better our strategic security and also to ensure our
prosperity through trade where we exchange goods and
services, taking advantage of the bigger African Market.
The leaders beyond Tanzania in our area, never paid
attention to these survival imperatives. Hence, Uganda
in particular, got herself mired in the very politics of
sectarianism of religion and tribe with the attendant
phenomenon of tribal Armies brutalizing and abusing
People, destroying their property and squandering their
development time by creating crisis after crisis.

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It is at this stage, in 1965, that a new force started
forming. Starting with student groups, we rejected the
politics of identity (religion and tribe) and distilled and
stood for the politics of interests (prosperity through
trade and security through Pan-African action). We were
aware of Mwalimu’s Pan-African stand, which we totally
identified with. Mwalimu’s Pan-Africanist stand
included the support for the Liberation Movements
fighting to liberate the remaining Colonies in Africa
which included: Mozambique, Rhodesia, South Africa,
Namibia, Angola and Guinea-Bissau. Our student group
had two interests in the Liberation Movements. First of
all, we supported their cause to free the unliberated
parts of Africa. However, we also had the ulterior motive
of wanting to learn from them so that we could fight our
own local reactionary tyrants.

Taking advantage of the United University of East Africa

(which was comprised of the University Colleges of:

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Makerere, Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi), many members
of our group got ourselves admitted in University
College, Dar-es-Salaam. This was deliberate. We had
not only come to study but to also network in
preparation for the struggle we intended to launch in
Uganda. This is how we linked up with Mwalimu
Nyerere and Frelimo. We started a Pan-Africanist
Student Movement known as the University Students
African Revolutionary Front (USARF). The immediate
task of this group was sensitize the students about the
need to support, morally, the anti-colonial armed
struggles that were going on in Mozambique, Angola and
Guinea Bissau. That is how I first visited the “Zona
Liberatada”, base Limpopo and Base Beira, at the end of
1968. That visit exposed the lies of those who were
saying that there was no armed struggle going on inside
Mozambique. There was an insidious enemy campaign
denigrating freedom fighters that they were bogus

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fighters, spending most of the time in night clubs in Dar-
es-Salaam.

We were planning another visit. In fact on the day

Comrade Mondlane was killed, I was due to meet him at
a Café on a Petrol Station on Upanga Road for those who
know Dar-es-Salaam. I waited for him, but he did not
show up. After waiting for some hours, I gave up and
boarded a bus to go back to the University. Aboard the
bus, I heard the passengers saying that the Radio had
announced that the Leader of the Mozambiquan
Resistance had been assassinated with a bomb hidden
in a book.

Very soon, our links with Mwalimu and Frelimo came in

handy. Our reactionary groups in Uganda, predictably,
got themselves into a crisis, in fact into a series of crises:
1964, 1966, 1969 when Obote was shot and, finally,
1971 when Amin came into power. Straight away,

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Comrade Samora offered to train our fighters at
Nachingwea and in the Liberated Zones. Frelimo trained
three groups for us of 5, 14 and 53 between 1971 and
1974. Some of the trainees were not well selected and
they did not turn out to be useful. In fact, Comrade
Samora had to dissolve and send away the group of 53.
It was the group of 28 that Mwalimu and Comrade
Samora helped me to train at Montepuez between 1976
and 1978, that turned out to be the most useful. By the
time Amin collapsed on the 11th of April, 1979, this
group of 28 had helped me to raise a force of 9,000
soldiers. Although the political problems of Uganda were
not resolved immediately, Uganda has never looked
back. When you hear that Uganda has got an Army that
defeated Al-Shabaab in Somalia, remember that the
beginnings of this Army were in Montepuez. It is not
only the UPDF that was given birth to by Frelimo. One
of the 28 graduates of Montepuez was a Rwandese, Fred
Rwigyema. Therefore, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)

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of Rwanda, eventually, also benefitted from this
solidarity.

I, of course, know the role of Frelimo in supporting Zanu

in Zimbabwe. In the Christmas of 1972, while in
Kampala in the underground, having infiltrated back
into the country following the disaster of September,
(1972) when our ill-prepared group was defeated by Idi
Amin, I heard on BBC that Zimbabwean freedom fighters
had attacked some Rhodesian Whites having entered the
Country from Tete Province in Mozambique. Above all,
Frelimo could not have supported us if it had not
successfully prosecuted their own war. By defeating the
offensive of Kaulza D’ Arriaga and opening the 3 rd Front
in Tete, Frelimo, in no small way, contributed to the
collapse of the Portuguese Colonial Regime. Right from
1964 when the first shot had been fired, Frelimo had
steadily developed the rural based armed struggle and
surrounded the towns in the North – Mueda, Villa

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Cabral, Mocimboa da Praia, etc. They had avoided the
adventurism of some freedom groups that would start
conventional forms of war prematurely.

I am, therefore, here to Salute the People of this

Mozambique for this invaluable contribution. The People
of Uganda will never forget this solidarity.

Let us now work together to consolidate security, create

prosperity for our people and ensure the fast growth of
our economies. In Uganda, over the last 50 years of
struggle, we have identified 10 strategic bottlenecks that
must be addressed in the respective countries of Africa,
where Uganda is one of the examples. These are:
1. Ideological disorientation. The main manifestation
of ideological disorientation is the opportunistic
misuse of identity at the expense of the genuine
interests of the people. Such genuine interests
should answer the question: “Who will guarantee
my prosperity?” “Is it the members of my tribe or my
religious sect that will do so or is it the members of
the “other communities?” “Who will buy my milk,

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 my beef, my coffee, my bananas or my tea?”
Ideological disorientation only emphasizes identity
and eclipses interests or even acts against the
interests of the people. This generates the
sectarianism of tribe or religion you have seen
causing so much damage.

2. As a consequence of number one above, many

African countries end-up with weak States ─ weak
armies, civil services, etc., because they are not
based on merit or are not ideologically oriented with
the right attitude.
3. The under-development of the human resource (lack
of education, lack of skills and poor health of the
African populations).

4. Under-developed infrastructure (no electricity, no

modern roads, no modern railways, no ICT
backbone, no piped water, etc.); this makes the
costs of production in the economy go up and
cannot, therefore, attract investments so as to
expand production, create jobs and expand the tax
base to help the State get revenues to run the
country.

5. As a consequence of number 4 above, there is no

industrialization and, therefore, Africa has
continued to suffer haemmorhage through the loss
of money and jobs, being a donor to other

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 continents by continuing to export raw-materials
where we get only 10% of the value of our products
(coffee, cotton, minerals, timber, etc., etc.).

6. The problem of a fragmented African market on

account of colonialism. The 53 former colonies, the
modern African States, are, individually, too small
markets to attract, retain investments and cause
them to thrive. China, which started liberalizing and
opening up in 1978 (China started participating in
the UN system in 1982), has since attracted a total
of enterprises worth US $ 2.6 trillion. The whole of
Africa in that same period has only attracted
enterprises worth US $0.65 trillion. (Source:
UNCTAD Website). Yet China is still a communist
country while most of Africa is now “democratic”
and operating really market-led economies. What is
the problem? One of them is a fragmented market.
The other bottlenecks also play a role in
discouraging and stifling investments. The other
good examples are poor infrastructure and a non-
skilled workforce. Fortunately, we have done a good
job on this by creating ECOWAS, EAC, COMESA
and SADC. We are aiming at the common market of
the whole of Africa. Unfortunately, some actors
continue to allow non-tariff barriers. Yet the
growing Purchasing Power of Africa would have
attracted investments if the African market was
really integrated.

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7. The under-developed services sector ─ tourism,
hotels, banking (financial services ─ expensive
money, etc.), insurance, professional services (e.g.
doctors ─ hence medical tourism to India, etc.).

8. The under-development of agriculture ─ no

complete commercialization of agriculture (still alot
of subsistence agriculture – 68% in the case of
Uganda), no irrigation, low use of fertilizers, poor
crop and livestock disease control, poor soil
conservation, poor seeds and breeding stock, etc.
The population in the agricultural sector has,
therefore, no money and their purchasing power is
low.

9. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was the mistake on

our part of nationalizing private sector assets ─
banks, shops, farms, etc. This interference with the
private sector by policy or by corruption has also
been another bottleneck. The private sector is the
most efficient engine of growth. Although China is
still a communist country, it has used the private
sector to transform their economy. The private
sector work very hard because they are working for
themselves.

In the Bible, in the Book of John, Chapter 10,

verses 11 – 13, it says: “the hired hand is not the

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 shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he
sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and
runs away. The wolf attacks the flock and scatters
it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand
and cares nothing for the sheep”.

10. Suppression of democracy in the past has also been

another bottleneck.

Mozambique is an important player. It has got enough

electricity, water, the railway system, good harbours,
abundant labour, etc. Uganda is very rich in
Agriculture, has electricity now, the ICT backbone,
minerals etc. Once we co-operate, the sky is the limit.
Let us get moving. Uganda is rich in natural resources
but it has been having the disadvantage of distance from
the Ocean. This distance, will be overcome by the
modern railways in Kenya and Tanzania. African
countries, by overcoming these bottlenecks, will become
middle income countries and first World Countries.

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We co-operated to win in the revolutionary wars. Let us
co-operate to modernize Africa, ensure prosperity and
strategic security for our people.

I thank you and wish you success.

May I, now, propose a toast for the good health of

President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi and the fraternal people of
Mozambique and their success.

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