Voice of America - October 30, 2007
Howard Lesser
Washington, DC

Click to download/open (MP3)
Click to download/open (Real Audio)

President George W. Bush welcomes Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni to the White House today for talks on a wide variety of shared concerns. As a regional player, Uganda has been the only country contributing troops to an African Union peacekeeping effort to stabilize conditions in Somalia since its transitional government regained control of the capital Mogadishu in January. President Bush will also have an opportunity to weigh in on the conduct of Uganda's fight against HIV/AIDS, peace talks with the Lord's Resistance Army, and pacification of the country's northeastern Karamoja region. Elizabeth Evenson is a research fellow specializing in Ugandan affairs for the New York office of Human Rights Watch. She says that the strategic nature of the talks must be supplemented by a humanitarian component.

"We think there is quite a bit of common interest in terms of stopping violence against civilians in Mogadishu. And so I think it's completely consistent for President Bush to urge President Museveni to condemn attacks against civilians and to call on the African Union mission in Somalia to do more to protect civilians. And similarly, the two countries have a common interest in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. And there, we're asking President Bush to press President Museveni to repudiate some of the hostile statements that he's made against people living with HIV and AIDS," she said.

Washington credits the Ugandan government with playing a leading role on the African continent in curbing the rate of HIV/AIDS infections. But Evenson says that President Museveni should be made aware of the harm done to a national health system when prejudicial attitudes against AIDS infected patients discourages them from seeking further treatment.

"The government encouraged a very open discussion of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. But it seems that that environment is increasingly being replaced by one in which those living with HIV have been targets of discrimination. And so that is deterring people from seeking treatment and closing down what had been a pretty open and honest dialogue about how to protect yourself from HIV/AIDS," she said.

On Uganda's internal security front, long-running conflicts with northern rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and gun-toting fighters in the northeastern Karamoja region also offer challenges for the Ugandan army to demonstrate justice and concern for human rights. Researcher Elizabeth Evenson says President Bush has a good opportunity in this week's White House encounter to press Uganda's leader for a commitment to curb abuses by Ugandan soldiers and ensure prosecutions for serious crimes committed.

"While we recognize the right of the Ugandan government to do something about the gun violence in Karamoja, which is quite high – Human Rights Watch has actually documented human rights violations by soldiers committing those operations – we would actually ask President Bush to urge President Museveni to carry out a full investigation of events and to make sure that human rights violations are transparently and systematically prosecuted by his government," she notes.

As for ongoing peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA, Evenson points out that it is important to emphasize that to reach an acceptable settlement, Kampala needs to find a solution that will abide by international standards of justice for all sides.

"The discussions between the parties has centered around the proposal to have national trials for human rights violations and crimes committed during that conflict. So we've recommended that those prosecutions need to meet certain international fair trial standards and to be accompanied in the event of conviction by penalties that are consistent with the gravity of those crimes," she said.

071030
VA071013

Copyright © 2007 - Voice of America. You are welcome to use any material that is published by voanews.com, or you may link to any of the web pages that Voice of America has published on the internet. There is no need to request further permission. Should you wish to establish a link to any VOA web pages, please send your request to pubaff@ibb.gov. We would appreciate that credit for any use of VOA material be given to voanews.com, Voice of America, or VOA, and we ask that you not abridge or edit any VOA material which you may use.

AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bridgestone/Firestone Charitable Trust, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Elton John AIDS Foundation, John M. Lloyd Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Roche and Trimeris, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2007. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2007. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .