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President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has offered a comprehensive, albeit critical, perspective on the protracted conflict in the Middle East, particularly the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran.
The long-standing geopolitical dispute has seen periods of intense proxy conflict and recent direct engagements, contributing to instability and a tragic toll on human lives across the region.
Museveni, speaking as both Uganda's President and Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, asserted that the failure to achieve lasting peace stems from critical errors committed by multiple actors.
A Call for Principled Diplomacy
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Museveni contends that Iranian Islamists err in viewing Israel as an illegitimate "transplant," arguing that the UN-sanctioned partition of Palestine was historically correct.
Simultaneously, he criticises Israel for refusing to implement a two-state solution, asserting the historical presence of Palestinians in the land.
Misconceptions from All Sides
He further implicates Western imperialists, specifically referencing the 1953 CIA-backed overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh, as a root cause of enduring resentment and the rise of extremist views.
The Perils of External Force
Ultimately, Museveni warns against the belief that external force can resolve such conflicts, citing historical examples of interventions leading to adverse reactions and ultimate failure. He advocates for a return to principled diplomacy, urging Iran and its allies to recognise Israel, and Israel to reciprocate by embracing the two-state solution.
Israeli strikes in Iran
Below is the president’s full statement:
Citizens of the World, my names are: General (Rtd) Yoweri Museveni of the Resistance Movement of Uganda and President of Uganda. I am also Chairman of the NAM until 2027. The other day, I saw a Complaint by the Iranian Ambassador to Uganda as to why we have not commented on the tragic situation in the Middle East. It is true that we have not yet externalised our long-held views on that situation. Good enough, we have got good relations with both Israel and Iran, not to forget the United States of America and the other Countries of the World.
In our long history of resistance, we abhor chauvinism of identity (race, tribe, religion, etc) or gender (looking down upon women). We always stand for the politics of interests — legitimate interests of the stake - holders.
With that outlook, we have noticed and told most of the concerned actors, the following mistake - makers:
(1) The first group that we have interacted with and told, are the Iranian Islamists. Whenever I visit Iran, like when His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President, I told them that their stand that Israel is a “transplant” in the Middle East and does not belong there legitimately, is a mistake. We told the Iranians that according to the Bible, Israel is part of that area. The Romans dispersed the Jews after Masada, who continued to suffer wherever they went in Europe, North Africa and Asia until they tried to go back to their homeland with the Zionist Movement. The habitual mistake makers, the British imperialists, in the person of some wonderful man known as Lord Balfour, in 1924, offered the Jews Uganda as a homeland!! Imagine the absurdity. The Jews wisely refused the ridiculous offer and insisted on Palestine where they had a historical, legitimate claim. It was, therefore, correct that the United Nations decided to partition Palestine among the two People. It has been wrong for some of the Arabs and Iranian Islamists to refuse to recognize that historical solution.
(2) The second group of mistake - makers are the Israelis themselves. Why have they refused the implementation of the two States solution? It is not correct for them to say that the Palestinians do not belong there. Whenever, I would meet Mzee Benzions Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s father, I would ask him about the 7 tribes of Canaan that we read about in the Bible — the Jebusites, etc. What happened to them? How about the Philistines of Gaza? Even if you assume that all those People perished, there are People who migrated into the area when the Romans dispersed the Jews in AD 70. You cannot say that they do not belong there. If you say that, then what would you say about the Europeans who migrated to the Americas, Australia, South Africa, etc, in just the last 400 years? This is, indeed, what Idi Amin was saying when he expelled our Indians that they did not belong to Uganda. We rejected that logic.
(3) The third mistake - makers in the matter, are the Western imperialists, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who, in 1953, overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh because they wanted to steal the oil of Iran. It is them that created that huge resentment that produced these clerics who have their own mistaken positions. I was, indeed, amazed that they did not even know well even the history of their own Country. Imagine, me Yoweri Museveni of the Great Lakes of Africa, from the Bible, I had heard repeated references to the “Persians and Medians”, whose laws “do not change” (ebitahinduka). When I visited Iran, I asked Ahmadinejad: “What happened and who were the Medians?” Neither Ahmadinejad nor anybody around, knew about the Medians. It was when they went to the University that they got some old man that knew something about the Medians. Fundamentalists of all types — Islamic or Christian — are a danger to humanity. We all have heard of the Inquisition of the Christian fundamentalists and we know how the Islamic fundamentalists destroyed the great Country of Sudan.
(4) Mistake number four is to believe that the use of force, especially force from outside the concerned Country, is a solution. It is not and always invites reactions that may even affect the interventionists. You want examples? Here they are: The Papacy trying to maintain Catholic hegemony in Europe; Metternich of Austria -Hungary trying to fight the bourgeois ideas of the French Revolution on the behalf of the old feudal order of Europe; the 14 intervention powers that intervened in the Soviet Union to extirpate the Communist Movement; etc. All failed and, sometimes, the interventionists ended up disappearing. You want examples? Where is the Austro-Hungarian Empire?
Therefore, force should be for legitimate defence and not for aggression. We appeal and advise the actors in the Middle East to draw back from the use of force and go back to the principled diplomacy. Iran and the Islamists should listen to our advice to recognize Israel and Israel should implement the two states solution.
As I conclude, I would like to use this opportunity to remind all of us, that, we are all praying People. Perhaps it’s time that we all agree to pray together and consult that Creator that cares for all of us without preference.
May we have the willingness to humble ourselves and pray and ask for God’s wisdom, that we may do what is right in His eyes; maybe that time has come and only He has the power, the right and the Justice to decide what is the way forward for all of us.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA AND CHAIRMAN OF NAM (2024-2027).