In the last 365 days, President Museveni traveled out of Africa twice. First, he attended the second Africa-Russia Summit in July 2023 before proceeding to Serbia where he launched Uganda’s Coffee Hub
In November of the same year, Museveni traveled to the United Arab Emirates on the invitation of its leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Since then, the president has restricted his movements to Africa, especially within the Greatlakes Region.
Museveni last attended the UN General Assembly in New York in 2017. Over the last seven years, he has delegated this role to his vice president, prime minister or any other senior government official.
But this has not been always the case. President Museveni attended all UN General assembly meetings between 2004 and 2011, according to a count conducted by Bbeg Media. He also took an average of seven trips out of Africa every year within the same period. In 2007 alone, the president travelled out of Africa 14 times largely to other Commonwealth countries to promote Uganda ahead of the CHOGM summit held in Kampala that year.
So, why does the president rarely venture out of the continent for official visits or international conferences nowadays? Here is one clue.
Two years ago, Museveni told an NRM caucus meeting at State House Entebbe that he had “grown tired” of traveling to some of these international meetings, specifically the UN General Assembly.
“They take us as small people, leaders from Africa,” he said. He narrated that when US president enters the main conference hall at the UN general assembly, every other leader is asked to stand up but the same respect is not extended to other leaders.
But this is just one of the reasons why Museveni has cut back on his foreign travels. Here are four others.
Covid-19 pandemic
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, President Museveni has been careful about his movements both within and outside the country. He rarely ventures out of the confines of State House and when he does, he keeps a big distance between himself and the audience. He religiously wears a face mask and has increased bio-security around himself. This means that he can’t travel outside the country as often as he used to do.
Doesn’t fit into the crowd
Another reason could be that he feels he does not fit in with the current crop of young leaders. In years gone by, Museveni felt comfortable sitting next to say Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia at an international meeting. Today, given the winds of political change that have swept across the continent, Museveni does not share a lot in common with many of the youthful leaders on the continent. Some are in fact fit to be his children.
Western hostility towards his government
Many countries in the West that used to praise the president as one of the new breed of good African leaders have now become critical of his long stay in power. They say his government’s human rights record is bad and in fact, some like the US and the UK have sanctioned some of his officials. To pay them back, Museveni has kept away from their conferences and meetings.
Age factor
Last but very important is the age factor. Museveni turned 80 this year, a year younger than President Biden who withdrew from the US presidential race because he had begun to lose some his cognitive abilities.
At 80, Museveni might not be able to put up with the fast-paced nature of some of these conferences, where leaders are shuffled from one meeting to another. The body is not as strong as it used to be because nature has kicked in. The president does not move with an armoured toilet vehicle because it is fashionable. He does so because with age, you have to be on high alert to respond to body needs.