President Museveni pledges support to OACPS, offers Uganda as potential new headquarters

What the report says

Watchdog Uganda reported that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has offered Uganda as a possible new base for the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States as it considers moving its headquarters from Brussels. The commitment was made at State House Entebbe during a meeting with OACPS Secretary General Moussa Saleh Batraki, also attended by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, who heads the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly.

According to the report, Museveni welcomed the organisation’s reform agenda and backed its shift toward stronger South-South cooperation among developing countries. Batraki told the meeting that the OACPS has been trying to move beyond its historic role in coordinating development negotiations with the European Union and become a more assertive political and economic alliance. He said the organisation had faced serious financial and operational problems, including debts of more than €12 million and staff salary arrears, and that member states had begun pledging support at a summit in Malabo.

The article said Equatorial Guinea pledged €4.5 million, Angola €3 million and Eswatini €1.5 million, with additional commitments from Tanzania, China and Barbados. Uganda did not announce a contribution at that summit, but the report says Museveni later indicated Uganda would support the organisation; no amount was specified in the provided text.

Batraki said the OACPS wants its main headquarters in a member state while retaining a smaller Brussels liaison office for EU relations under the Samoa Agreement. He identified future priorities as intra-member trade, climate resilience and digital governance. Tayebwa also said Uganda wants to host the next Joint Parliamentary Assembly in October next year, and is seeking support for Ambassador Olara Otunnu’s candidature for UN Secretary-General.