WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the statement below on Uganda’s recent elections.
“Uganda’s elections – like the recent elections in Tanzania - were a hollow exercise, staged to legitimize President Yoweri Museveni’s seventh term and four decades in power.
“But even more so than Tanzania, Uganda is a key regional security partner to the United States. Yet, its ruling regime prioritizes domestic control through political violence, abductions, imprisonment, intimidation of opponents, and the misuse of state resources to maintain its grip on power. Uganda is also linked to destabilizing regional activities, including in South Sudan—making the regime an increasingly problematic exporter of instability. Tanzania and Uganda are moving along similar paths, raising serious concerns about what this portends for other countries with upcoming elections, including Ethiopia and Kenya.
“I applaud how the Trump Administration is pursuing commercial and security gains in the region, but I’m concerned this will be increasingly difficult to do given the current trajectory. As with Tanzania, the administration should reassess the U.S. security relationship with Uganda, beginning with a review of whether sanctions are warranted under existing authorities against specific actors, including General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.”