Museveni brands Nyege Nyege goers as “sinners;” slams “panicky Americans”

Museveni described the two governments as “mistake makers,” noting that sending out such alerts was unnecessary.

Moments before the opening of the annual Nyege Nyege festival in Jinja City last week, the United States embassy in Kampala issued a warning to its citizens not to go to that event for security reasons.

On November 13, the British Government also issued an advisory for its citizens to avoid traveling to Jinja, and other parts of Uganda including Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kasese, and Semuliki National Park because of a “growing terror threat in Uganda, including targeting of foreigners.”

But President Museveni a statement today, Wednesday, said if foreigners faced real danger in Uganda, his government would be first to let them know.

“I hear that the panicky Americans and British sent out what they call advisories to their citizens not to come to Uganda. These are mistake makers,” he said.

“If the situation was so bad, it would be us to advise people not to come to Uganda; not the British and the Americans. We know what we are doing, always. Even if a mistake occurs, we know how to handle it. These advisories by some of these actors are another form of interference in our internal affairs by these elements.”

Meanwhile, President Museveni congratulated the organizers and party-goers upon holding a successful and incident-free Nyege Nyege 2023.

Describing the revelers as “sinners,” Museveni said the success of the event showed their resilience and that of the security forces.

“I want to congratulate the Security Forces for successfully protecting the suspected sinners (Abasiisi) of Nyege Nyege in Jinja, until their function was over, without a single incident,” he said

“This shows you the strength of the Uganda security system- to be able to guard such a long pre-announced massive public function, the threats of the terrorists notwithstanding.”