President Yoweri Museveni has told off the European Union (EU) that Africans specifically Ugandans are not interested in traveling to their countries.
He said by imposing travel sanctions to some Ugandans, EU is wasting its time.
“”I read in the newspapers about the European Union Parliament sanctioning some Ugandans from traveling. For anybody to think that Africans are dying to go to Europe is something that shows lack of seriousness. Well, I need a lot of persuasion to leave Uganda. I normally do it for friendship,” President Museveni said during his state of nation address on matters of security on Saturday.
“I want to comment on excitement caused by some foreigners trying to interfere…Apart from ideological differences, Idi Amin killed a lot of people. If we’d listened to foreigners, we’d have made mistakes. Foreigners can lead to a lot of distortions. Ignore them, ” he added.
Museveni’s comments follow the move by EU Parliament to recommend sanctions against Ugandan individuals and organisations which they claim are responsible for human rights violations during the recent general election. The EU Parliament said the elections were not democratic and transparent.
In its statement issued on Thursday, the Parliament resolved that “…sanctions against individuals and organisations responsible for human rights violations in Uganda must be adopted at EU level under the new EU (European Union) human rights sanction mechanism, the so-called EU Magnitsky Act”.
The resolution was endorsed by 632 votes, with only 15 against and 48 abstentions.
The resolution were based on human rights violations that happened during the recently concluded general elections.
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