[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 115 (Wednesday, September 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1842]]
                                 UGANDA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 14, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express our Nation's 
gratitude for the contribution made by the people and government of 
Uganda to the relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
  Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa was in Washington recently 
when he announced that his country was donating $200,000 to the Bush-
Clinton Katrina Fund. Expressing his government's sympathies toward the 
people affected by Hurricane Katrina, Minister Kutesa said: ``We know 
that, under the guidance of the two former presidents, money collected 
by the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund will go where it is needed most and 
where it can be used best.''
  While a contribution of $200,000 may seem small in comparison to the 
vastness of the hurricane's destruction, please keep in mind that 
Uganda is a small country that has also suffered its share of 
devastation.
  Americans must remember the terror and oppression of the Idi Amin 
regime, which came to an end in 1979 but its effects are still being 
felt. The ruthless dictator Idi Amin deliberately destroyed Uganda's 
economy and infrastructure and displaced hundreds of thousands of 
people from their homes and businesses.
  In 1986, after a long civil war, President Yoweri Museveni came into 
office with promises to stabilize the country, facilitate economic 
growth, and restore dignity and humanity to the political process. In 
the years since, he has largely lived up to those promises, although--
like any country trying to emerge from decades of tyrannical 
government--Uganda still has problems that need to be addressed.
  Uganda's contribution to the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina 
should be seen in the context of the bonds of friendship between our 
two countries. Uganda is a key regional ally in the global war on 
terror, and through the efforts of President Museveni and his 
government, East Africa is a more stable place today than it was twenty 
years ago.
  Indeed, Uganda has faced its own, home-grown terrorism, in the form 
of the brutal Lord's Resistance Army, which has raped and pillaged the 
northern part of Uganda and terrorized the population there. Led by 
religious zealot Joseph Kony, the Lord's Resistance Army kidnaps 
children and forces them to be soldiers in a pointless war against 
their own families and neighbors. There is a very good reason that the 
Lord's Resistance Army has consistently been listed as a major 
terrorist organization by the State Department's annual publication, 
Patterns of Global Terrorism.
  Uganda also faces a terrorist insurgency by the smaller, but no less 
deadly, Allied Democratic Forces. The ADF, as it is known, extends its 
tentacles beyond Uganda: several of its members were captured in 
Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and they are now 
interned by the U.S. Government at Guantanamo Bay.
  With all this in mind, our gratitude toward Uganda and its people, 
and particularly toward President Museveni, should be clear and strong.

  Mr. Speaker, it recently became my pleasure to become the co-chair of 
the Congressional Caucus on Uganda. I encourage all Members of this 
body to consider joining the caucus so that they can study more closely 
the U.S.-Ugandan bilateral relationship and learn more about how Uganda 
and the United States can work together on matters of mutual concern.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I ask that an article entitled ``Uganda Is 
Latest African Donor of Relief to Hurricane Katrina,'' by Washington 
File staff writer Jim Fisher-Thompson, be entered into the Record. This 
article treats in more detail some of the issues I have just described.

                       [From the Washington File]

Uganda Is Latest African Donor of Relief to Hurricane Katrina--Foreign 
              Minister Kutesa Describes $200,000 Donation

                        (By Jim Fisher-Thompson)

       Washington.--Uganda has joined other African nations 
     responding to devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina with a 
     donation of $200,000 for relief and rebuilding efforts in New 
     Orleans and communities along the Gulf of Mexico coast.
       Visiting Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told the 
     Washington File September 7 that the government of President 
     Yoweri Museveni and the people of Uganda ``feel with you and 
     sympathize with you at this time of sorrow. We know you have 
     lost dear ones, as well as considerable property. And we want 
     Americans to know we are thinking of them and are standing 
     shoulder to shoulder with them.''
       The official made a point of mentioning the donation was 
     not just a pledge but that the money would be transferred 
     immediately to the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund.
       Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast August 29. The 
     storm and subsequent flooding have devastated parts of 
     Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and left thousands 
     homeless.
       A statement released by the Ugandan Embassy September 8 
     announcing the donation quoted Museveni as saying, ``The 
     United States has been generous in responding to natural and 
     humanitarian disasters all over the world, including in 
     Africa. Uganda has more than once been the beneficiary of 
     this generosity and justice requires us to aid the people in 
     Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who have lost their homes 
     and loved ones.''
       President Bush named his father, a former president, and 
     former President Bill Clinton to head up fund-raising efforts 
     for reconstruction that may cost more than $150 billion. The 
     hope is they can duplicate their very successful fund-raising 
     efforts for victims of the devastating tsunami that struck 
     South Asia in December 2004.
       Kutesa said, ``We know that under the guidance of the two 
     former presidents money will go where it is needed most and 
     where it can be used best.''
       Uganda joins other African nations contributing to Katrina 
     relief including: Djibouti, $50,000; Gabon, $500,000; and 
     Kenya, $100,000.
       Noting the symbolic value of the Uganda donation matched 
     against the immense sums needed for reconstruction, Kutesa 
     told the Washington File, ``America has been very generous in 
     helping Uganda fight HIV/AIDS and developing its economy. So 
     it is only right that we try to help as much as we can. We 
     wish we could do more but we are limited.''
       Kutesa said, ``We know what human tragedy can mean. 
     Unfortunately in Africa much of it has been man-made instead 
     of natural. The human tragedies of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, 
     for example, led to the deaths of more than 800,000 
     Ugandans'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
       Now, he said, Uganda is one of the best friends America has 
     in Africa and ``we look forward to strengthening our 
     relations as we both cope with the aftermath of disasters 
     that have struck our countries.''
       Kutesa's next stop in America is New York City, where he 
     said he will participate in the annual United Nations General 
     Assembly meeting the week of September 13-17. President 
     Museveni plans to attend with a number of other African 
     leaders.
       A highlight of the U.N. gathering, Kutesa said, will be a 
     meeting of the foreign ministers of the Democratic Republic 
     of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda in a tripartite peace process for 
     eastern Congo begun two years ago with the help of the U.S. 
     State Department. After Burundi recently joined, the Great 
     Lakes peace effort is now called the ``3 plus 1'' talks.

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