United States has warned that lack of “professional militaries” could plunge the East African region into a bloody crisis.
“Strong, professional militaries are essential to regional security. Security, in turn, is essential to development as it allows economies to prosper and democratic institutions to grow,” said US Ambassador Scott Delisi on Monday in Uganda.
“If, however, those militaries threaten that prosperity, if they do not support the democratic institutions they are meant to uphold, then the foundation of our efforts crumbles, and East Africa risks falling back into the bloody cycle of revolution and counter-revolution,” he warned.
Scott was speaking at the opening ceremony of a five-day workshop dedicated to improving regional responses to transnational and irregular threats in eastern Africa.
The workshop was launched by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and co-hosted by the Government of Uganda.
The comments come hardly a week after Uganda Defence officials threatened that the army was “closely watching” political trends in the country and would not hesitate to seize government with the intention of “refocusing” the country.
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