Richard Wanambwa
18 December 2011
US President Barack Obama has appointed a seasoned diplomat, Ambassador Barrie Walkley, as his special advisor in the Great Lakes Region and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Amb. Walkley will coordinate regional interests on behalf of the US government while specific ambassadors accredited to different countries will as well perform their duties but in consultation with him.
Amb. Walkley, told Sunday Monitor in an interview recently that America has realised that while there are countries in the region that can provide security, there are others that cannot and therefore, the US intends to help such nations. He said that although, his office will be based in Washington, he will monitor the region and more often trips to verify information received by his office in Washington.
“I was appointed to this position just a week ago and this is my first appearance in Uganda. My responsibilities are to help and coordinate regional activities on behalf of America in the Great Lakes Region,” he said.
The US views the region as a strategic partner in the fight against global terrorism. President Obama recently dispatched 100 troops to help find marauding LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony. In a letter to Congress, Mr Obama said the troops will advise his government and others in the region on how to hunt down Kony.
“We need to coordinate the activities and our interests in the region are three; the US wish is to help governments in the region to preserve integrity and security, build economies and we also want to consolidate democracy, rule of law, human rights,” Amb. Walkley said.
Fighting gender-based violence
Amb. Walkley also said the just concluded International Conference on the Great Lakes Region which was fighting sexual gender-based violence was well thought given the fact that those women in the region are the most abused by all sorts of conflicts.
“Having raised sexual gender-based violence; there is a tendency to see this subject as a woman’s thing. But this is a serious governance issue. You are not going to have good governance when you have sexual gender based violence,” he said.
He warned militias and negative forces operating in the region against their acts, saying the US will not hesitate to prosecute such groups and individuals at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
President Museveni yesterday called on his African colleagues to hold a special session to discuss the relevance of the ICC to Africa because, according to him, the body seems to target Africans more than any other world leaders.
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