UGANDA PREZ WILL MAKE OIL CURSE A BLESSING

Methinks Uganda’s President doth protest too much. Newly discovered oil may not become a curse to his country but there have already been military clashes and civilian deaths (including a foreign oil worker) in the contested Uganda-Congo border region where the oil is and preliminary efforts by the 2 countries’ leaders to keep the peace only looked promising until lower level talks on specifics broke down.

Uganda Pres: Oil Discovery Blessing, Instead of Curse to the Country
October 10, 2007 (Xinhua News Agency via RigZone)

WHO
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Congolese President Joseph Kabila

click to enlarge

WHAT
Oil wealth will not be the classic “oil curse” to Uganda but will fund rapid development, Museveni promises.

WHEN
A refinery is already under construction and scheduled to begin turning out refined products in 2009.

WHERE
The oil discoveries have been on Uganda’s western border in the Lake Albert region that separates it from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

WHY
Museveni’s government will develop a policy for managing oil wealth. It will spend to build more dams to generate hydroelectric power, to industrialize, to do scientific research, to build infrastructure and to increase durable capacity. It will not spend on make-work salaries and subsidies to inefficient programs.

The contested oil region. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Museveni: "I recognize that oil is a finite resource for which proper planning must be undertaken. This resource will be for all Ugandans irrespective of where the reserves are located. It will not only be for this generation but also the coming generation…A framework for effective and sound management of these resources would be a key priority of government in the days ahead…"
- Museveni: "I want to assure all Ugandans, that Uganda's oil discovery is an opportunity for the country rather than a curse…"