'We
Want To Be Development Partners,' says Ugandan High
Commissioner Abola
On
October 30, 2006, Uganda's high commissioner to
Canada, George Marino Abola, arrived at a
time when the Ugandan government and rebels of the
Lord's Resistance Army were talking peace to end a
20-year civil war.
Hailing
from northern Uganda, the region wrecked by two
decades of war, Mr. Abola is well aware of the
humanitarian challenges brought about by the
fighting. Though there have been some delays in the
negotiations, which are being brokered by the
autonomous government of south Sudan, Mr. Abola said
the talks have progressed well.
"The
Ugandan government is fully committed to a peaceful
settlement and we urge the international community
to put pressure on the rebels and make them see the
need for peace," he says.
With the
advent of peace, Mr. Abola, who presented his
credentials on Oct. 30, said it is important to
resurrect economic activity in northern Uganda to
sustain the peace. He anticipates that thousands of
internally displaced people will soon move back to
their rural areas. In that regard, Mr. Abola says
Uganda needs all the help it can get to help inject
life into the destroyed economy in northern Uganda.
"We are
not asking for aid, but to be development partners,"
he says. "Peace can not be sustained without
reconstruction and we encourage the Canadian
government to consider including Uganda in its list
of development partners."
Currently, Canada has 25 development partners,
mostly developing countries in Africa, the Americas,
Asia and one country in Europe. More than half of
these countries are in Africa. By 2010, at least two-thirds
of Canada's country-to-country aid money–disbursed
by the Canadian International Development
Association–will be focused on the 25 development
partners. The criteria for a country to qualify as a
development partner includes issues like the ability
to use aid effectively, levels of poverty, and
whether Canadian presence can have impact on
development in a particular country.
Mr.
Abola says he has talked to Canadian officials about
including Uganda as a development partner. "The
response is that Canada is actively considering that
position," he says. No timeline has been set yet,
but Mr. Abola expressed hope that it will be soon.
While in
Canada, Mr. Abola says he also plans to reach out to
the Ugandan diaspora, especially Asians who were
expelled in the early 1970s by Idi Amin, a
brutal dictator who ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979.
Mr. Abola says he encourages Canadian investors,
including from the Ugandan diaspora, to consider
investing in the east African country.
Mr.
Abola, jointly with President Museveni, will be
hosting the November
2007 Uganda Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM).
For
more details you can follow this link:
http://www.chogm2007.ug/
This is
Mr. Abola's first posting abroad as an envoy of the
Ugandan government. An economist by training, he has
been a businessman–who chaired several boards–and a
member of parliament.
