The diplomatic spat between Uganda and the United States that started last Thursday with diplomats walking out on President Yoweri Museveni, while he gave out his inauguration speech has now gone to social media.
The officials from the Kampala US Embassy, Washington, Canada and the European Union strode out of the Kololo Independence Grounds, when President Museveni made what has been described as ‘disparaging remarks’ about The Hague based International Criminal Court (ICC).
During his speech, Museveni crowed about his refusal to arrest Sudanese President Omar Bashir who was in attendance, yet he was indicted by the court; before branding the latter as a “bunch of useless people.”
A strong argument broke out last evening between government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo and the US Embassy on social media, as the two traded accusations with barely any diplomatic gloves on.
Mr. Opondo in the bitter exchange accused the United States Government of hypocrisy and playing double standards.
Opondo and a section of Ugandans have questioned Washington’s moral authority to demand Uganda’s adherence to the Rome Statute, which they themselves are not part of.
The Government mouthpiece wondered why the US has not closed its Mission in Sudan if they are in support of the arrest of its president.
In defense, the embassy responded that their Mission is Sudan though still operational, is not headed by an Ambassador, but a lower Charge d’ Affairs who is not appointed by the President but the Secretary of State.
They also admonished Opondo for labeling the US hypocritical; “We don’t think that word means what you think it means. If the US government had said Uganda should close its embassy in Khartoum while we kept ours open, that would be hypocrisy.”
Earlier, Opondo had accused the US of backing some of the world’s dictators with known unpleasant human rights records.
“The US Government could afford a cozy relationship with and sell arms to Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, the murderer,” he charged.
“When the US didn’t like Fidel Castro, it closed its embassy there for 50 years, yet he wasn’t on a criminal indictment. That’s Hypocrisy.”
Last week, the US Department of State in Washington came under similar fire from US reporters who questioned why the US officials attended the Kololo function in the first place, well aware of President Bashir’s presence.
“Why is it okay to sit in the VIP section with President Bashir, or wherever it was they were – why is that okay or it was deemed to be okay and then it was only when President Museveni made his comments against the ICC that it was determined that they shouldn’t stay around?” charged one of the journalists during a press brief.
In response, Elizabeth Trudeau, the Director, Office of Press Relations said that although the US embassy in Kampala raised their concerns to the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister about the presence of President Bashir at Kololo, the US diplomats took a decision to attend too, owing to the strong bilateral relations between the two countries.