Sam Waswa October 4, 2021 1 mi
President Yoweri Museveni has asked the people of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa to follow in the path of Uganda by striving to address the question of politics of identity.
The President in a brief message, told the Ethiopians that Uganda in the past, had suffered immensely because the people were focused on the politics of identity.
“I have been watching and participating in the African scene for almost the last 60 years; one of the big problems we faced in Uganda was the politics of identity: I am this tribe; I am that tribe. I am this religion I am that religion. That caused us a lot of problems,” he said.
“Uganda started coming up only when we addressed that issue of politics of identity and moved to the politics of interests.”
The president was on Monday afternoon addressing tens of thousands people in Addis Ababa who converged at the inauguration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahemed, who is starting on his second 5-year term.
Museveni was speaking in light of the ongoing conflict in the country’s Tigray region which is now reported to be spreading to the Amhara and Afar regions.
The conflict is pitting government forces against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group, which dominated national politics before he took power.
Abiy’s office, which blames the rebels for starting the war last November with attacks on federal army camps, has said certain conciliatory measures, like declassifying the TPLF as a terrorist group, can only happen after a new government is formed.
