----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elum Aniap Godfrey Ayoo 
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] 
Cc: Edward Mulindwa 
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 11:58 PM
Subject: Belgium Wants Museveni Out 


Belgium Wants Museveni Out 

The Monitor (Kampala) 
NEWS
January 22, 2004 
Posted to the web January 22, 2004 

By Walakira Geofrey
Kampala 

The Belgian government wants President Museveni to leave office at the end of his term in 2006. 

The Belgian ambassador to Uganda, Mr Adam Keoenraad, says the European state is also opposed to holding a referendum on lifting the Constitutional two-term limit on the presidency. 

"Belgium wants Museveni to stand down in 2006," Keoenraad said on Tuesday during a visit to the Uganda Human Rights Commission office in Kampala. 

The ambassador was reacting to a question posed by a journalist on whether Mr Museveni should be allowed to seek another term. 

"As for me I am opposed to the issue of changing the existing constitutional presidential structure in Uganda just to make one person retain power," the ambassador said. 

Keoenraad urged Museveni to retire like all other democratic African leaders like Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. 

Keoenraad said Uganda does not need to incur the costs of a referendum on whether the term limits should be lifted. 

The ambassador revealed that donor countries, which include Belgium, would not accept Museveni to spoil his image for the sake of seeking another term in office. 

Speaking about the reluctance to leave power, Keoenraad said many African leaders come to office when the gates are widely open but when they over stay in power, they get 'narrow.' 

Museveni has not publicly announced that he intends to seek another term in office in 2006. 

However, demands by the Cabinet and other key lieutenants to lift the limits would, if successful, make him eligible to stand again. 

Critics of the move say it is undemocratic and could turn an incumbent into a life president. 

A recent poll commissioned by The Monitor and conducted by premier East African research firm, Strategic Public Relations & Research Ltd showed that 54 percent of Ugandans want Museveni to retire in 2006. 

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"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)

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