US embassy cable - 01ABUJA2515

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002515 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, ECIN, MARR, UG, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SPEAKS ON AFRICAN 
INTEGRATION AT THE WAR COLLEGE 
 
1. SUMMARY:  President Yoweri Museveni, guest lecturer at the 
Nigerian National War College on September 17, was billed to 
speak to the filled hall about regional integration.  His 
well-received speech focused largely on globalization as the 
driving force for integration.   Museveni argued that states 
and supranational structures of significantly large 
population groups would give Africa the might necessary to 
demand trade rights and access to global markets.  However, 
he warned, Africa must eschew religious, ethnic and tribal 
conflicts that prevent integration and economic development. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
 
2.  President Yoweri Museveni, accompanied on the dais by 
Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chief of Defense Staff Ibrahim 
Ogohi, Chief of Naval Staff Afolayan, Chief of Air Staff 
Wuyep, Senator Udo Udoma and the NWC Commandant Rear Admiral 
HL Okpanachi, gave the inauguration lecture for Course 10 at 
the Nigerian National War College on September 17.  Course 10 
includes students from Benin, Burkina-Faso, Niger, Togo, and 
for the first time, Uganda and France. 
 
 
3.  While integration was the main point of Museveni's paper, 
dubbed "Why Uganda? Why Nigeria?  Why the African Union?", he 
identified globalization as the impetus for integration (the 
speech sounded remarkably similar to many recent Thomas 
Friedman columns).  First, Museveni launched into an 
anthropological discussion of the value-added of larger 
political units; states versus tribes.  (Museveni must have 
also recently read Jared Diamond's book, "Guns, Germs and 
Steel").  He discussed the transition of humanity from 
hunter-gatherers to static agricultural-based societies. 
Museveni argued that these societies had to organize to 
irrigate and therefore developed larger social structures. 
He then asked why development of more complex structures had 
escaped Africa?  Africa's low population levels due to 
disease and the high availability of "gatherable" resources 
made it unnecessary for Africans to develop structures more 
complex than tribes. 
 
 
4.  Museveni argued the consolidation of tribes into states 
by colonial powers was largely positive and noted that those 
African leaders who challenged this process were doomed to 
failure by the march of history.  Implying that tribal 
structures were outdated and unhelpful for development, he 
joked, "I have a problem with my Kings in Uganda.  They wear 
feathers and kingly attire, but," he emphasized, "they were 
conquered.  'Your Majesty, where were you?  I was not a chief 
then?", he asked rhetorically. 
 
 
5.  Rejecting the claims of African apologists railing 
against the history of colonialism and the dissolution of 
tribal structures, Museveni opined that Africa must organize 
larger structures ("at a supra-tribal level") to survive. 
Comparing Uganda to China, and noting that in the last 10 
years he had become a favorite of the World Bank because 
2,300 new companies had invested in Uganda, Museveni pointed 
out that in the same period, 300,000 new companies had 
invested in China.  Why, he asked?  Because China has two 
billion people, he argued, and companies seek markets.  While 
Uganda could not compete alone (it was too small), and 
individual tribes even less so, larger African groupings 
could and should compete on the world stage.  Provided the 
chauvinisms of tribe and religion were resolved, he 
explained, the 750 million people in the African Union would 
have much stronger diplomatic and economic bargaining power 
(collectively more than the sum of their individual parts). 
Museveni laughed as he noted that he, as a Head of State, 
regularly had to go begging for South Africa's support 
whenever he made an international effort because Uganda was 
simply too small to go it alone. 
 
 
6. Turning to resources and value-added products, Museveni 
recounted that tobacco growers in the West Nile area had 
demanded part of the revenue from taxes on cigarette sales 
since they grew the crops.  He explained to the growers that 
they would not get additional revenue; the consumers buying 
the cigarettes were the real source of the wealth.  Comparing 
this to Nigeria's oil revenue allocation debate and arguing 
that the wrong topic was being debated, Museveni emphasized 
that oil was not the wealth of Nigeria, but its large 
population.  Nigeria's strength was its human capital and its 
120m strong market, provided that people received education 
and had enough individual wealth to be consumers.  For 
success in development, he stated, one needs three things: 
educated people, fresh water, and arable land.  Dismissing 
the importance of oil, he proclaimed, "Agriculture is the 
everlasting petroleum." 
 
 
7.  However, as long as Africans fell victim to 
inter-religious and inter-communal conflicts, Africa would 
not develop as an integrated unit, Museveni emphasized. 
Africa must avoid the kinds of conflict seen in the Middle 
East, Museveni argued.  What do you care if someone else eats 
pork, or is from a different tribe -- what you should care 
about is whether he will buy what you are selling.  But 
instead of talking about trade and access to markets, 
Museveni lamented, Africans are talking about pork. 
Emphasizing his point, Museveni said he had become the first 
Christian in his family in 1947.  However, he flatly stated 
that at the Durban conference on racism, he had declared that 
he was considering returning to his local tribe's religion, 
because, "back at my home, we never cared what anyone else 
ate." 
 
 
8. COMMENT:  Somewhat light in its delivery, Museveni's 
speech, containing many nuggets for his Nigerian audience was 
well-received.  Nigerian dependence on oil puts the country 
at economic risk should shocks occur in world petroleum 
prices.  Privatization and diversification into non-oil 
sectors have been central tenets of the Obasanjo 
Administration, but globalization and privatization have been 
viewed as strictures imposed by the International Financial 
Institutions and Western states.  Another African leader 
carries more credibility than Western leaders in Nigeria when 
discussing the benefits of free markets.  More importantly, 
Museveni's strong statements against inter-communal and 
inter-religious conflict are sorely needed here, as events of 
the past few years in Kaduna, Jos, Lagos and elsewhere have 
clearly and sanguinely demonstrated. 
Jeter