VIDEO: Museveni explains why Uganda rejected foreign military bases

Uganda has long maintained that it will not host foreign military bases on its soil, a position President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni says is rooted in the country’s belief that it can defend itself without external armies.

Museveni’s remarks have gained renewed attention as tensions escalate in the Middle East, where Iran has targeted United States military bases in several Arab countries following the widening regional conflict.

Speaking previously about Uganda’s defence policy, Museveni said Western countries had once offered to help build Uganda’s army after the National Resistance Army took power. However, he rejected deeper military involvement.

“We were very confident. That’s why for instance, the Americans came here and the British in these western countries and they said, we want to help you build your army. We said, but we have already built the army. That’s how we defeated the government,” Museveni said.

He added that Uganda preferred cooperation limited to knowledge sharing rather than hosting foreign troops.

“So that’s why you find that we don’t have foreign bases here, foreign armies here based in Uganda, because we didn’t need them. We said, foreign armies, what we can defend ourselves. We don’t need anything from anybody,” he said.

His comments come at a time when American military facilities across the Middle East have come under threat. The United States maintains bases in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, where thousands of troops are stationed.

Museveni argued that the presence of foreign forces can create complications for host countries. He cited what are known as Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), which define how foreign soldiers are treated under local law.

“There’s what they call sofa. SOFA means status of forces agreement. If foreign forces are in Uganda, how should they be handled?” he said.

According to Museveni, the United States and Britain proposed agreements that would allow their soldiers to be tried in their own countries rather than in Uganda if they committed offences.

“The Americans and the British brought their SOFA to me. When our forces are here, if they make a mistake, they should not be tried here, they should be tried in the US. Why?” he said.

Museveni said he rejected the proposal after asking for a reciprocal arrangement.

“Then I said, okay, can we make it reciprocal so that if our own people are in the US they make a mistake, they are brought back here? No, no, no, no,” he said.

He added that serious crimes against Ugandans could not be handled outside the country.

“What if he kills a Ugandan or rapes a Ugandan girl? There’s no way we can say that you take him away to be tried somewhere else. There’s no way.”

Museveni said Uganda therefore declined to sign such agreements.

“So we never signed a single… we have never signed a single Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with anybody in all the time we have been here. So they just come and go. We refused.”

Analysts say the debate over foreign military bases has resurfaced as conflicts in the Middle East expose the risks faced by countries hosting large foreign troop deployments.