KAMPALA— Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has left for the US for the US-Africa Leaders Summit, State House has said.

The summit is slated to open on Tuesday, Dec 13 in Washington DC at the invitation of President Joe Biden.

“On his way, the President will make a stopover in the UK where he will have some engagements. The three-day summit hosted by the President of the United States Joe Biden aims at building on the shared values and priorities as well as to foster new economic engagements,” the Presidential Press Unit said in a statement.

The US-Africa Leaders Summit will also cover issues that include among other topics peace and security, strengthen regional and global health security, promote food security as well as respond to the climate crisis.

According to PPU, Museveni recently pointed out that he is attending the summit with the aim of getting partners to cooperate with in the process of accelerating the ongoing value addition of products and also expanding and diversifying the economy citing the new industry of designing and manufacturing of electric vehicles like buses and cars.

Museveni will use the summit to further deepen ties between Uganda and the US that have in the past years been waning.

The US has on several occasions accused the Ugandan government officials of superintending human rights violations against citizens.

A number of officials have since been sanctioned and their assets abroad frozen .

Several US government officials have also expressed concern over the just concluded 2021 general elections in which they said cases of human rights violations increased whereas others say the polls were not free and fair.

However, the invitation of Museveni to the US is to the detriment of the opposition led by the National Unity Platform as well as the Chairperson of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Robert Menendez who petitioned Biden to withdraw Museveni’s invite.

Menendez argued that Museveni has twice changed the constitution to suit his needs, impeded democratic processes, turned a blind eye to rampant corruption, and subjected civil society, and political leaders to illegal detention, violence and torture with impunity.

It is however expected that at the sidelines of the US-Africa summit, presidents Museveni and Biden will meet for a chat.

Uganda remains a key ally of the West, led by the US in their fight against terrorism.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK