NEW YORK, Sept 25- Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says Africa must not allow terrorism to exist on the continent and as long as terrorists are allowed to exist and have havens here, they will remain a threat to the continent.
“African countries have become part of the terrorism concept and this must stop. The continent must not allow terrorists to exist,” he said and cited as examples Somalia and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where armed groups have caused mayhem that led to the loss of lives and thousands of displaced communities.
The president was addressing the summit of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council convened by President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire in New York on Monday to discuss the partnership between the AU and the United Nations (UN) on African peace and security issues.
On Sudan and South Sudan, President Museveni welcomed the meeting between Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit to resolve outstanding issues, including the conflicts in Darfur and Kordofan in the Sudan.
Regarding their border conflict, the Ugandan president said the two countries should learn a lesson from history where African countries took the colonial borders as they were or advised them to get surveyors to establish the disputed boundaries.
He cautioned that tinkering with the boundaries as they were known could cause problems.
The border conflict between Sudan and South Sudan is over oil-rich regions claimed by both sides as part of their sovereign territory.
On the situation in Egypt, President Museveni called on the AU to maintain the principle on unconstitutional changes of government in dealing with the situation in Egypt.
Meanwhile in Kampala, police and security agencies had beefed up security with more deployment of uniformed and plain clothes security operatives in many public places, including supermarkets and shopping malls in Kampala following Saturday’s terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya.
Security has also been beefed up in the Malaba and Busia border areas.
The al-Shabaab have repeatedly warned of attacks against countries which have troops serving under the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Uganda has the biggest contingent in Somalia.
-BERNAMA
