Uganda’s Museveni Is In South Africa

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday afternoon for a two-day visit.

Officially, he is there to attend “solidarity conference on Western Sahara”, the region in west Africa that has been trying to gain independence from Morocco.

The conference, in Pretoria, is co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

South Africa and Uganda are directly hosting the Rwandan dissidents that are the cause of latest fallout between Kigali and Kampala.

Despite several bilateral summits between President Kagame and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, his International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is allegedly sabotaging efforts to fully restore relations.

The Minister met exiled Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa and his group, and later announced that they were ready for talks with Rwanda government. All this was done secretly, and announced in media without notifying Kigali – which Rwanda found very unusual and suspect.

Since 2014, no ordinary Rwandans can travel to SA due to visa ban following death of another dissident Patrick Karegeya in a hotel room. Kigali has denied any role.

The Rwanda-SA spat is recently playing out in the media as different articles bashing the other are released in SA media.

Western Sahara is a Non-Self-Governing Territory of the UN that lies in the Sahel region bordered by the Kingdom of Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania.

The territory has been occupied by Morocco since 1975.

Even if no public engagements between Ramaphosa and Museveni have been announced, the later is there for two days – allowing for plenty of time for side deal making.