US Politicos Deny that Oil is the Reason for US Troops in Uganda



By B. McPherson
Politicos speaking on behalf of the US federal government deny that the decision to send military advisors to Uganda has anything to do with the recent discovery of oil in that country. Uganda is governed following a republic model. The president, Yoweri Museveni, has won every election since 1986. While the final counts place Museveni first, there are grave doubts about the fairness of the elections. Opponents have been effectively silenced.
Uganda is embroiled in a decades long civil war. They have signed peace treaties with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) but a guerrilla group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the north of Uganda has continued hostilities. The leader of the LRA,  Joseph Kony, is seeking to establish a theocracy in that area and attempting to achieve it through the rape, murder and torture of men, women and children.
President Museveni has been linked to a US fundamentalist Christian group and has instituted harsh laws against homosexuality.
Information about the deployment of American troops to African countries remains murky. While Museveni maintains that they will only act as advisors and not be fighting, that stand is often abandoned if the ‘advisors’ are fired upon. The extent of the area receiving ‘advisors’ remains unclear. According to an Ugandan newspaper, the New Vision, US military may be deployed over a wide area.
“ According to an earlier message by US president Barrack Obama, the , US troops, could also deploy from Uganda into South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo.”New Vision

Oil was discovered in Uganda in 2006 near the border with the DRC and refineries are scheduled to begin operations in about three years. Meanwhile foreign interests have entered the exploration and development of the deposits – the UK, France and China(PRC).
In addition to the developing oil and natural gas fields, Uganda has a rich treasure trove of minerals available for exploitation. The presence of metallic ores and industrial minerals have been proven. Ref. Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre. 
Those that remember the Vietnam War, will recall that started with an 'incident' and hostility towards American advisors in South Vietnam.

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