Letter to the Hon. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State - Booker, Risch Press State Department on Re-evaluation of U.S.-Uganda Relationship

Letter

Dear Secretary Blinken,
We are writing to express our grave concern about the state of democracy and ongoing human
rights abuses in Uganda, as exemplified by the country's presidential and parliamentary elections
on January 14, 2021, which failed to meet even the most basic international standards. We also
request information about U.S. policy toward Uganda and urge you to ensure that accountability
measures are pursued.
Throughout Uganda's recent electoral process, President Yoweri Museveni demonstrated the
depths to which he and his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) will go to preserve
their three decades' hold on power. Under Museveni's leadership, Uganda's security forces and
government officials utilized nearly every lever of state power to commit human rights abuses,
repress opposition figures and voices critical of the government, and manipulate legal and
constitutional processes. State authorities carried out hundreds of arrests and used violence to
intimidate and silence leaders and supporters of Uganda's opposition parties, journalists, civil
society representatives, and voters.
Despite repeated assurances that they intended to conduct free, fair, and credible elections,
government authorities carried out numerous acts of political violence and repression, including
attacks against leading opposition presidential candidate and sitting member of parliament Hon.
Robert Kyagulani Ssentamu (aka Bobi Wine) and the murder of opposition activists and leaders
of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and People Power Movement. Ugandan authorities also
arrested and harassed prominent human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and detained over a dozen
members of the civil society organization Citizens Watch on Election Day for election
monitoring activities, for which the Election Commission of Uganda had duly accredited them.
The U.S.-Uganda relationship has remained largely unchanged for years, spanning multiple
administrations. When lawmakers, civil society, and human rights organizations have raised
concerns with State Department, Department of Defense, and other U.S. officials about Uganda's
human rights record and failing democracy, these agencies have generally responded with
platitudes about Uganda's essential contributions to the African Union Mission in Somalia
(AMISOM), Uganda's role in managing the peace process in South Sudan and hosting nearly one
million South Sudanese refugees, its longstanding partnership with the U.S. on HIV/AIDS and
other health related programs, and additional regional security and development issues. Uganda's
critical role in these areas is undeniably true, but this should not grant President Museveni, his
government, and party - which are virtually synonymous - a free pass to commit human rights
abuses at home. Therefore, we urge the Treasury Department and the State Department to utilize
the authority of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and Executive Order
13818 to designate individuals who are responsible for human rights abuses and corruption in
Uganda in recent years, including as it relates to the 2020 electoral process. We also ask that the
State Department review all U.S. non-humanitarian assistance to Uganda to ensure that it is not
aiding or abetting corruption or human right abuses, and to ensure that human rights defenders,
independent journalists, democratic political parties, and civil society organizations are
appropriately supported.
Finally, we request that you provide the Foreign Relations Committee with the following
information, in writing, not later than March 31, 2021:
 A detailed analysis of the U.S.-Ugandan relationship, informed by an interagency review
of whether continued partnership with an increasingly brutal authoritarian leader poses
risks to U.S. interests in East and Central Africa, and a plan to mitigate such risks over
the next five years;
 A detailed list of all U.S. security assistance and capacity building programs for
Ugandan security forces since FY 2015;
 An assessment of the U.S. government's capacity to perform end-use monitoring of all
weapons sales and transfers to the Ugandan military, particularly those meant exclusively
for use in Somalia, as well as efforts to prevent U.S. training and equipment from being
diverted to suppress dissent within Uganda;
 A list of all current U.S. foreign assistance programs that involve a role for Ugandan
government agencies in the delivery of that aid;
 A summary of corruption scandals involving the U.S. and other foreign donor aid in
Uganda in the past decade and an assessment of related prosecutions;
 An overview of the U.S. government's engagement with the Ugandan government,
opposition political parties, and civil society organizations concerning the 2021 elections,
and how such engagement differs from previous elections;
 An evaluation of the credibility that the U.S. government assigns to the Ugandan
elections held on January 14, 2021;
 An assessment of the impact that several years of violent repression and impunity for
serious human rights abuses have had on the Ugandan political environment; and,
 A plan to intensify the U.S. response to human rights abuses beyond rhetorical
condemnations and to work with the Government of Uganda and local non-governmental
organizations to secure accountability for citizens who have been subjected to arbitrary
arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Uganda is a young and vibrant country with enormous potential. If managed by a competent and
uncorrupt government, rather than one that has time and again put its interests first, Uganda
could quickly become one of the region's largest agricultural exporters, tourist destinations,
energy exporters, and manufacturing leaders on the continent. Once again, Uganda could secure
itself as a net exporter of security to the region and genuinely claim the mantle of being the
"Pearl of Africa."

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