Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of Special Operations, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has traveled to Egypt where he is expected to hold talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“It is true, Lt Gen Muhoozi on Thursday arrived in Egypt at the invitation of President Abdel Fattah el Sisi,” said Lt Col Chris Magezi, the Director of Information, UPDF Land Forces, when contacted by this website on Friday morning.
Magezi said Gen Muhoozi would meet President “El-sisi along with other senior military and government officials.”
Muhoozi’s trip comes just a day after returning from Rwanda where he held private talks with President Paul Kagame to normalise bilateral ties with Uganda.
The recent trips have given Muhoozi skills and experience in regional and international diplomacy.
During the Uganda-Rwanda cold war, President Museveni sent Gen Muhoozi to meet with Angola’s senior officials who were mediating the conflict.
Muhoozi would later visit Kenya and Somalia, where he held talks with Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and President Mohamed Abdullahi who were on bad terms, threatening to upend gains of the UPDF-led AMISOM troops in the war-torn country.
The former Special Forces commander recently met with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Analysts have since argued that these trips could benefit Muhoozi in the future should he go into politics.
Muhoozi ties
The UPDF Land Forces commander is a big fan of Egypt, where he received military training 10 years ago.
Last year Muhoozi Tweeted: “My late grandfather Mzee Amos used to tell us that the first Banyankore came from Egypt. When I was there for a course (for 6 months) I never had a problem with any Egyptian. If anybody thinks of fighting Egypt, he should know he will be fighting Uganda as well.”
He also disclosed that he met with President El-sisi in 2011.
“It was an honor to meet my boss 10 years ago, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi,” Muhoozi tweeted in 2021.
“Today he is the President of Egypt! He is a great man. Uganda shall continue working with Egypt to ensure stability in the Nile Basin,” he added.
Uganda’s relations between Egypt and Uganda nearly collapsed during President Morsi’s regime especially after he threatened to wage war on Ethiopia over the construction of the ‘Grand Renaissance Dam’.
The Islamist and radical leader had vowed to “replace with blood every drop of the Nile lost in the construction of the dam.”
The comments sparked off international outrage, with several leaders including Museveni openly warning Morsi that Black Africa would never tolerate neo-colonial attitudes.
However, El-sisi’s reign has seen a blossoming of relations between Uganda and Egypt in areas of defence, trade and counter terrorism.
Muhoozi, who was accompanied by his military assistant, Col MCDans Kamugira, flew to Cairo on a charted Uganda Airlines flight.
Relations
In April 2021, Egyptian and Ugandan intelligence agencies signed an agreement for regular exchange of information, essential to combat terrorism and other crimes.
El-Sisi visited Uganda in December 2016 where he announced his country’s readiness to carry out more joint projects in Uganda.
In May 2018, President Museveni visited Cairo and met with his Egyptian counterpart where a number of agreements on Electricity and Renewable Energy and establishment and management of industrial zones were signed
The turnover of the Arab Contractors Company in Uganda is estimated at more than $200 million. The company has several infrastructure projects, such as the Pallisa-Kamonkoli, the Masaka-Bukakata and the Pallisa-Kumi roads, as well as the construction and rehabilitation of Kayunga Hospital.
In 2020 the trade exchange between Uganda and Egypt stood at about $110 million. On March 16, the Egyptian African Businessmen Association concluded a joint cooperation agreement with the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Uganda aimed at increasing the volume of bilateral trade exchange to $1 billion within three years.
In February 2020, the Uganda Investment Authority confirmed that more than 40 Egyptian companies are working in Uganda in various industries, most of them in infrastructure, energy, mining and construction, with a capital of $130 million.
Source: Chimpreports
