Vice President Jessica Alupo last evening landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Manhattan, New York, to attend the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which opens today under the theme ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation: UN that delivers for all.’
Ms Alupo, as the head of the Ugandan delegation, diplomatic sources said, is one of only five granted entry visas to the United States.
Others included her bodyguard, Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi, Health ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine, and Foreign Affairs Minister Adonia Ayebare.
This perhaps is the smallest known Ugandan delegation to travel from Kampala for an international summit. Typically, between 30 and 50 officials from various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have travelled for the UNGA meetings every September, even after President Museveni variously talked tough on restricting foreign travel by public servants to cut wasteful public expenditure.
This time round, multiple diplomatic sources told Daily Monitor that senior government officials ‘were left in shock,’ with even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ‘not able to work any magic’ to persuade the US embassy in Kampala to grant them visas to travel to New York.
‘Many [officials] begged, others pleaded for intervention, but there was nothing much we could do,’ a senior diplomat told this newspaper. Even VP Alupo was allowed only an aide, and diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denied visas.
The sources said the five granted visas were drawn from a ‘compromise’ list of eleven officials, later trimmed to seven, and eventually whittled to five.
The US government, in this case its embassy in Kampala, upholds discretion on who is granted an entry visa.
In response to inquiries by this newspaper, the US Embassy in Kampala yesterday maintained: ‘Visa records are confidential under US law; and we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.’
Diplomatic sources, speaking to this newspaper, however, attributed the visa rejections to the Ebola outbreak in the region since May 15. Uganda reported 21 confirmed and probable cases and three deaths by July 16. Nonetheless, the country was cleared by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 27.
The government has stepped up vigilance and active cross-border surveillance, especially as the outbreak appears to be raging next door in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with 7,400 cases and 3,600 deaths.
Despite Uganda’s containment of the outbreak, sources indicated that the American government, a key benefactor for Kampala’s health programmes, grew tense about the resurgence of cases during the recent week’s long burial rituals and mourning for King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV- who was laid to rest on September 12-during which motley groups of people intermingled.
Kampala and Washington, according to sources, quietly agreed not to raise public alarm about the matter, but to continue monitoring the situation.
Even then, despite the Africa CDC and WHO giving Uganda a clean bill of health, several countries around the world continue to impose entry bans, temporary suspensions, or heightened screening for travellers from Uganda, South Sudan, and DRC.
The US CDC’s website states that travellers from DRC, including US citizens and nationals, who have been in the country within 21 days before departure, will not be allowed to board commercial flights with US destinations. Similarly, US citizens and nationals who have been present in Uganda or South Sudan (and not present in DRC) within 21 days of arrival in the US must only enter through designated airports for enhanced screening.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja faced hurdles last week in entering Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and raised the issue of ‘travel restrictions’ during a meeting with the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The UAE slapped travel restrictions on travel from Kampala on June 6 in response to the Ebola outbreak.
The 81st session of UNGA opens today under the theme ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all’ through next week on Monday. UNGA is the assembly of the 193 UN member countries.
The theme for this year’s meeting comes against the backdrop of continuing setbacks in multilateralism and rising stakes in international diplomacy, first tested by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and further strained early this year by the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and the joint US-Israeli assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Multilateralism is the prevailing world order agreed upon 81 years ago after World War II and requires countries to follow international norms and principles and adhere to international institutions such as the UN.
However, the system has come under immense strain over the years, especially with some superpowers such as the US acting unilaterally to protect national interests.
VP Alupo is scheduled to address the session tomorrow afternoon alongside the heads of state and governments of Poland, Namibia, Slovakia, Kenya, Serbia, Mozambique, Guinea, Eswatini, Burundi, Germany, Spain, Australia and Rwanda.