Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has accused the United Nations Security Council of being slow in involving African troops in peace missions in the continent.
He claimed slow response to turmoil in African states was leading to loss of lives, and could be lessened by quick action by African states.
Mr Museveni said the civil war in South Sudan could have escalated to “another genocide” had Uganda not intervened.
The Ugandan leader said the UN is still debating the issue while his country sent in troops soon after the conflict began in December 2013.
“If we in the region had not acted when we did, quickly, the region could possibly have had another genocide.
“The UN Security council is still debating the issue up to now,” Mr Museveni noted in a speech to the General Assembly on the theme of UN cooperation with regional organisations such as the African Union.
Uganda sent two battalions of soldiers to the neighboring country to evacuate its nationals.
The Ugandan forces have remained in South Sudan ever since. They are seen as providing support for President Salva Kiir’s government as it battles rebel forces led by former Vice President Riek Machar.
He said African forces could also have stopped the 1994 genocide in Rwanda but “we could not do it because the UN was obstructing us,” he said.
He said Africa’s voice on the continent’s security matters was being ignored by the Security Council.
“This is a big mistake, and has already caused a lot of harm to Africa,” he said.
He pointed to the case of Libya “where Africa’s opinion was ignored; hence, the present massive human haemorrhage in that area,” he said.
“The chaos currently besetting Nigeria and Mali, as well as Libya, could also have been avoided if the Security Council “had listened to the voice of Africa,” Mr Museveni added.
He cited Somalia as a success story in cases where African troops were involved in peacekeeping missions.
He also made favourable comments about the UN’s first-ever combat brigade that helped defeat the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The brigade was “internationally supported” and made up of troops from “contiguous African states,” he noted.
He said the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis offers an opportunity for involvement of African troops in peacekeeping missions.
He said it is an intervention force, approved by the African Union two years ago, and an “an African-owned initiative for rapid military interventions as and when the need arises.”
– Daily Nation
