Museveni: Tribal politics fuelling conflicts in Africa

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has called on African countries to focus on integration for development and blamed the current conflicts on the continent on tribalism.Museveni was yesterday presiding over a special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in Kampala, Uganda.The president said tribes should instead be used to promote trade, adding that many people from across Africa had flocked to South Sudan for business and left their tribes behind.“These conflicts are fueled by ideological mistakes. If tribes are important, what were Ugandans and other people doing in South Sudan when the crisis broke out?” he said in reference to the ongoing conflict in the world’s newest nation, South Sudan, which broke out on December 15.The conflict mainly pits President Salva Kiir’s Dinka tribe against his former deputy Riek Machar’s Nuer.Museveni commended the East African Community (EAC) partner states for having strong state structures and said that the same should extend to conflict ridden parts of Africa.“Weak structures invite opportunists to make mistakes. That is why thorough and honest dialogue is a must on such issues,” he said.Museveni said with strong and focused integration, the EAC had in a short time managed to get rid of non tariff barriers like road blocks and multiple administrative procedures along the northern corridor.EAC Secretary-General Richard Sezibera said the EAC fully supports the resolutions of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), pushing for a peaceful end to the conflict which started in December last year in South Sudan.He expressed optimism that collective and quicker decision making will be easy with the envisaged formation of the EAC Peace and Security Council.Igad for crisis talksIgad leaders are expected to meet in the South Sudan’s capital Juba tomorrow to discuss the ongoing crisis in South Sudan and to encourage a negotiated settlement, media reports indicate.The EALA Speaker Margaret Nantongo Zziwa advised that it is important for the EAC to draw upon the experience and lessons learned from other regions and to manage the roadmap to the single currency carefully.“It is in our best interest to consult widely as a region to avoid what befell the Euro Zone, which continues to reel from economic depression, huge public debts and unemployment,” she said.Zziwa advised the private sector to devise mechanisms that hold the EAC accountable to its commitments, saying that the re-emergence of some of the non tariff barriers arise from the passive or active complicity on the part of the business community.The fourth meeting of the second session of the third EALA assembly is taking place at the Parliament of Uganda. The session is scheduled to end on January 31.During the course of the week the lawmakers will hold debate on three bills. These include; the EAC Disaster risk reduction and management Bill, 2012, the EAC Integration (Education) Bill 2014, and the EAC Supplementary appropriation Bill, 2014.The EALA members are also scheduled to meet with various stakeholders in line with the EALA Strategic Plan 2013- 2018. The meetings will present the lawmakers with an opportunity to exchange ideas aimed at strengthening the Community, according to the Speaker.

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Museveni: Tribal politics fuelling conflicts in Africa