President Yoweri Museveni has partly attributed the endless wars in Africa and the rest of world to greed for natural resources including oil.
The President made the comments Thursday afternoon at Speke Resort Munyonyo where he spoke at the ongoing Global Peace Leadership Conference.
He said that colonization of Africa had largely been influenced by greedy Europeans who came in to find resources like spices but in the end stayed for good.
“The issue of scarcity of resources like spices had big consequences for Africa. Can we not manage resources better, other than this wanting to kill and grab?” asked the President.
“If Europeans wanted spices, did they have to colonize us? Couldn’t they have got it and gone away?”
He cited the instability that has rocked other countries elsewhere in the world such as Iran, Libya and Iraq all of which he said were about oil. He lashed out at Western countries such as America for fueling conflict with Iran through their agenda to impose puppet leaders on the citizens who would in the end serve America’s interests.
“Mohammad Mossadegh (former Iranian Prime Minister) was democratically elected in 1953 and he was not an extremist. But because he wanted to change the laws on oil, the CIA organized a coup and he was removed. It was the greed of Americans. America wanted puppets,” the President noted in his speech.
Museveni also gave the example of neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Patrice Lumumba who had been elected was killed by “some people who did not like his politics”.
“Lumumba is resting but Congo has never had peace”.
In his address which touched various aspects and drew comparisons between coexistence in Africa and the rest of the world, Museveni asked delegates to use the initiative to find concrete solutions on how scarce resources can be managed better.
He wondered why countries whose economies have advanced have failed to embrace universal affluence but instead prefer policies that maintain wealth among a few while the rest such as Africa remain impoverished.
The conference was attended by dignitaries from around the world many of whom gave credit to Uganda for its role in advancing peace and security on the African continent. It has attracted Heads of State, first ladies, religious, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, youth, women, community organisers and among others.
In assessing the drivers of conflict and the lack of peace world over, the President also hinted on what he termed as ‘group chauvinism’ often laced with intolerance especially in parts of Europe, Middle East and Asia.
“Tolerance is missing in Middle East and Europe and it i has caused a lot of problems on many issues. There should be respect for another person’s identity but not to try to impose your identity to others,” he said, alluding to the contentious issue of homosexuality which he said the West has continuously attempted to impose on Africa.
