Uganda is poised to take center stage in the international arena this January as it hosts three significant summits consecutively: the highly anticipated Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Heads of State Summit starting today, the 15th, and running until the 20th, an extraordinary IGAD session to address tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia on the 18th, and finally, the G77+ China Summit from the 21st to 23rd. I explore the three summits and their significance.
Uganda on the global stage
It might be time for Uganda to assume global leadership. Kampala had not had the chance to host massive international gatherings except in 2007 when the Common Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in Kampala 2007, and the 35th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), the following year. Even then, CHOGM had 48 representatives from 56 Commonwealth member countries, while the 57-member OIC is still way smaller compared to what Kampala is hosting this month. But this time, we are talking about 120 members of the NAM, over two times bigger than any of the blocs that Uganda has ever hosted in Kampala. On the other hand, the G77+China grouping is even enormous! It has since expanded from just 77 member states to 134 countries today. In between the two major meetings comes a mediation summit that Uganda chairs to ease and perhaps end the current tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia over a seaport deal Hergeisa signed with Addis Ababa. This meeting, called by IGAD and the government of Djibouti, is normally for its eight-member nations league unless otherwise stated. Regardless, the three big summits are a lot to happen in a single month, at the start of a new year, and in a little East African nation that has dealt with and is still dealing with so much in recent years. From COVID-19 impacts to international sanctions, soaring public debt, and security and climate challenges, Uganda is up for the game.
We will now learn more about the three summits in the subsequent paragraphs.
From a member to a host: Uganda and the NAM
Uganda became independent in October 1962, when most African countries were fighting liberation wars against European imperialism on the African continent. Exactly two years after becoming independent and three years since the establishment of NAM in 1961, Uganda joined the body at the Second (II) Summit of Heads of State and Government, held on October 5–10, 1964, in Cairo, Egypt. Uganda has since remained a member of the NAM. But what is NAM? The NAM is a group of states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc or alliance. To put this into perspective, in the current international system where the U.S. rivals with China or Russia, for instance, these countries “do not ally” with any of them. In other words, they remain neutral—they sit on the fence.
The NAM emerged during the Cold War, between 1945 (after World War II) and 1991 (when the Soviet Union collapsed). During this period, no direct “hot wars” were fought between the two major rivaling powers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union (although they fought proxy wars such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War, among others). Instead, the two powers were embroiled in a geopolitical and ideological conflict characterized by tensions. The two major powers formed the Western Alliance (led by the U.S.), and the Eastern Bloc (led by the Soviet Union).
The NAM officially came into force in 1955 at the Afro-Asian Bandung Conference in Indonesia, which discussed decolonization, economic prosperity, and the “Third World” position in the Cold War era. The NAM is largely associated with five personalities: the former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; former president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Josip Borz; former Indonesian president, Sukarno; former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein; and Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President, Kwame Nkrumah. The NAM held 18 conferences, the first in 1961 in Belgrade, Serbia, and the last in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2019. Uganda is hosting the 19th NAM summit in Kampala starting today through the 20th of this month. Uganda's NAM chairmanship will last three years (2024-2027).
After the Cold War, was the NAM still useful? The contemporary NAM has adapted to the changing global geopolitical landscape to focus on issues such as climate change, representation at the UN, economic prosperity for the “Global South,” and “attacking” U.S. hegemony. At the U.N. General Assembly, the NAM bloc has become an important advocacy group that influences policies for the developing world.
The most recent case in which non-alignment prevailed was in the 2022 U.N. vote to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the vote, 141 countries supported the resolution, while 32 others abstained. Of those that abstained were the two Asian heavyweights, China and India. In Africa, 17 countries abstained, including Uganda.
The Group of 77 and China
The next highly anticipated meeting is the Summit of the Group of 77 (G-77), which will run from the 21st to the 23rd of this month and will be at the same venue as the NAM. The G77 was established on June 15, 1964, by seventy-seven developing countries signatories of the “Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries” issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. Today, the group has 134 members, including China. The G-77 aims at providing a platform for the countries of the South to promote their collective economic interests and voices at major decision-making tables such as the U.N. According to the G-77 website, 53 meetings have been held since 1971, with the latest one in Havana, Cuba, last September. Again, Uganda's G-77 leadership will last a year.
Extraordinary IGAD Summit on Ethiopia-Somalia tensions
Two Horn of Africa countries, Ethiopia and Somalia, are now caught in diplomatic crises that were sparked after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a deal with Somaliland to build a port in the Gulf of Aden, in the territory of Somaliland, in exchange for diplomatic recognition of Somaliland. Somalia has called this “an act of aggression” and vowed to defend its territory, hence sparking tensions between the two countries recently.
Somaliland broke away from Somalia (Mogadishu), and its capital is Hargeisa. Only a few countries, including the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Ethiopia, recognize Somaliland’s “self-proclaimed” independence, and Hergeisa is not represented at the U.N. either. As you can imagine, Somaliland is fighting to win diplomatic and international recognition. Taiwan, also claimed by China as its own, is in a similar situation after Beijing fended it off and replaced Taipei worldwide. Only Eswatini recognizes Taiwan’s independence and has established diplomatic relations with it in Africa. China has condemned Ethiopia’s actions, and several countries have called for a peaceful settlement.
The African Union has urged the two countries to “engage without delay in a negotiation process to settle their differences in the most constructive, peaceful, and collaborative manner” to serve peace and security in the region, while IGAD, a smaller regional integration in the region comprising eight countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda), has equally taken this up seriously and appealed to the two sisterly countries to “collaborate towards a peaceful and amicable resolution of the situation, upholding the shared values that unite the IGAD family.” IGAD and the government of Djibouti have now called for an urgent meeting in Kampala to resolve the tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia. This is the third big international meeting in Uganda.
Uganda is all set
Hosting such international conferences comes with huge costs and benefits, as we will see now. For a poor country like Uganda, with underdeveloped infrastructure, housing, and the like, it is almost impossible to welcome high-profile visitors in large numbers. At Entebbe International Airport, the country’s only international airport and a gateway for these summits, the Parliament noted that substantial construction works have been done at the terminals in preparation for the visitors. It should also be noted that the same airport has been undergoing upgrades through a USD 200 million loan from the Chinese Export and Import Bank. In May 2023, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority reported that the upgrade was 85% complete.
At least the newly built Kampala-Entebbe Expressway will give the visitors a good first impression, thanks to China. Moreover, the expressway leads to Munyonyo, where the Speke Resort Convention Centre, the venue of this year's NAM and G-77+China summits, is located. Although the road has been criticized for lacking lights, its management reported that the installation of street lights was progressing well. Moreover, if the guests were to go out at night, as Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and member of the central planning team, hopes to do, they might also have a feel of the newly opened Kampala flyover that has substantially been completed.
The government of Uganda has allocated UGX 66 billion (about USD 17 million) for the NAM and G-77 + summits. This might sound like a lot, but that is what it is to host government delegations and important guests. India, for example, hosted the G20 Summit in New Delhi last year at the cost of USD 100 million, while China spent a whopping USD 24 billion on hosting the 2016 Hangzhou G20 meeting.
But that aside, questions about where these high-level summits would be held were asked for a long time. As always put in the hospitality language, meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) are important to such gatherings. Uganda did not have a venue to accommodate such a huge crowd of international delegates.
However, this has been solved with the help of Uganda’s richest man, Sudhir Ruparelia, who has also been named the richest East African. In 2019, Forbes magazine estimated Sudhir's net worth at USD 1.2 billion. He owns a range of businesses, including the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, which, in 2007, was the venue for the CHOGM. This time, the government invested UGX 86 billion (about USD 22 million) in Sudhir to build a state-of-the-art conference facility with a seating capacity of 4,400 people for the two major meetings.
In November 2023, Sudhir told the media that work was progressing well and that they were working day and night to meet the deadline. On the security front, the Cabinet Minister for National Security, Jim Muhwezi, told The New Vision that Uganda was “secure” and “ready” for the summits. I also think that the G-77+ China summit might be targeted by climate activists, who have recently been protesting the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project that China is supporting. It now appears that Uganda is ready to host the two mega summits.
The IGAD meeting, given the smaller nature of the crowd, may not be an issue, as it could happen at the State House.
Significance to Uganda
This is an opportunity for Uganda to showcase its global leadership at a critical juncture when international society faces a range of issues: the Ukraine war, the Gaza war, the Sudan war, and other security threats, as well as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the NAM, for instance, preaches non-alignment, such summits are hoped to strengthen diplomatic alliances that could potentially foster trade, investment, and cooperation. China, especially, has been Uganda’s top lender and investor. The two summits are hoped to bring Beijing and other potential investors closer to Kampala. The EACOP project, which China showed interest in investing in, might be prioritised on the sidelines between China and Uganda during the summits. Moreover, the summits will offer Uganda a platform to showcase its economic potential and attract investments. Bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the events may result in new partnerships that benefit Uganda’s development agenda. For the next week or two, the world will focus on Uganda, which could attract tourists and open new doors for investment.
The IGAD meeting is hoped to find a lasting solution to the Ethiopia-Somalia situation that has deteriorated in recent days. But it is also an opportunity for Uganda to showcase its mediation and leadership role in regional stability in the IGAD bloc. The conflict in Sudan is also hoped to be discussed in the IGAD meeting.
While there are numerous benefits that Uganda could reap from these summits, challenges also lie ahead. Corruption has been a major phenomenon associated with such high-level meetings. In the 2007 CHOGM, some USD 4 million was believed to have been lost to corrupt government officials, and several ministers, including Sam Kutesa, the former President of the UN General Assembly's 69th session and Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, have been and are still being investigated. As the international community turns its gaze towards Kampala, the world awaits the outcomes of these critical meetings and the potential impact on global cooperation, economic development, and regional stability.
Great 👍 piece of work. I think I have understood more about NAM, IGAD and G77+China blocs. Let's wait for the outcomes.