EDRINE BENESA: Inside Museveni’s Flawless Foreign Policy Rivals Have Failed to Defeat in 40 Years

What the report says

Watchdog Uganda published an opinion piece arguing that Yoweri Museveni’s foreign policy has helped sustain the National Resistance Movement’s hold on power for four decades. The article traces that claim back to Museveni’s arrival in Kampala in January 1986 and says his government used diplomacy, aid relationships and regional military involvement to reinforce domestic legitimacy.

The piece cites Uganda’s engagement with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in the late 1980s, along with donor support and economic recovery, as part of Museveni’s early strategy. It also highlights Uganda’s support for anti-apartheid and regional liberation movements, as well as Betty Bigombe’s peace efforts with the Lord’s Resistance Army in the 1990s, presenting these as examples of a government that balanced security and peacemaking.

According to the article, Museveni later expanded Uganda’s regional role through interventions in Congo, Rwanda’s conflict aftermath, Somalia and South Sudan. It says those actions helped position Uganda as a security partner to Western governments and a regional power broker, while also shielding Museveni from outside criticism on governance and human rights. The article names officials such as Sam Kutesa, Betty Bigombe, Amama Mbabazi and Henry Okello Oryem as key figures in carrying out that diplomacy.

The broader significance, as framed by Watchdog Uganda, is that foreign policy has been tied to regime survival: external alliances, military deployments and aid have all been used to strengthen Museveni’s political position at home.