Uganda peace keeping troops in Somalia

James Mugume, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that stability in Somalia will improve only if operations are improved.

He says there has been a request by African Union to have every member of the Union to contribute troops to back up Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopian troops to pacify Somalia.

Mugume expressed concern that many Africa Union member states are still reluctant to send peace keeping troops to Somalia.

He says the UN Security Council should take a stern action on ensuring Somalia receives the necessary number of peace keeping troops to fight insurgents and maintain law and order for the Somali transitional government to take over.

Uganda was the first country to commit peace keeping troops to Somalia, and has committed the highest number of soldiers to the war ravaged country.

The post Uganda‘s Foreign Affairs Ministry appeals to UN Security Council over Somalia first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The Uganda Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. James Mugume has blamed the poor publicity of the fourth coming African Union summit on the World Cup which is taking place in Africa’s economic powerhouse – South Africa.

The 15^th African Union (AU) Summit due on 19th and 27th July 2010 in Uganda has received little awareness from the Uganda public because of little publicity.

Foreign Affairs PS, James Mugume

Mugume told the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs that most of the airtime on various Uganda media houses has been dedicated to airing programmes related to the World Cup making it hard for the ministry to publicize the AU summit.

The Foreign Affairs Permanent secretary adds that other forms of advertisements like billboards are equally awash with advertisements of the world cup.

The world cup which is being hosted for the first time on the African Continent will end on July 11 2010.

By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media

The post Poor publicity for Uganda African Union summit blamed on World Cup first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The Uganda Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pledged to provide proper accountability for the money that will be given to the Foreign Affairs ministry to organize the forthcoming African Union (AU) summit in Uganda.

The 15^th Africa Union summit which will attract heads of African governments, civil society organizations and business executives among others is lated for 25th to 27^th July, 2010.

Foreign Affairs minister, Sam Kuteesa

Uganda opposition politicians and activists have already expressed fears that the money geared towards organizing the summit may be diverted to personal use by ministry officials.

Top foreign affairs ministry official including the Minister Sam Kuteesa are alleged to have misused funds meant for organizing the 2007 CHOGM summit according to the Uganda parliamentary public accounts committee report.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, James Mugume told Parliament that his ministry has put in place measures to ensure that the funds are not mismanaged like warning accounting officers of the various ministries to be cautious with their expenditures.

Mugume says the Uganda foreign affairs ministry is also ensuring that proper procurement guidelines are followed in procuring goods and services meant for organizing the summit.

Meanwhile, the Uganda Committee of Parliament for Foreign Affairs has allowed the disbursement of more 2 billion Uganda Shillings to the Ministry of Finance to beef up its budget for AU summit.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa says the budget was raised from about 9 billion Uganda Shillings to about 11 billion Uganda Shillings because there was need to cater for 13 more Heads of State that will come from the Caribbean to attend the summit.

Minister Kutesa says he has clearly explained to the parliamentary committee the reasons behind the budget increment by 2 billion shillings which the Uganda Foreign Affairs Parliamentary committee accepted.

Anthem of the African Union

By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media

The post Uganda Government pledges to account for AU summit cash first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.