Uganda president says his country is unfairly criticized

Uganda 's president accused the international community of portraying his government as a human rights abuser, blaming Ugandans living abroad for a "smear campaign."

Photo: Uganda president says his country is unfairly criticized

Uganda president says his country is unfairly criticized

Yoweri Museveni spoke Thursday during a tour of mass graves in the Luwero Triangle, site of an insurgency Museveni waged against former President Milton Obote in the mid-1980s. Obote used detentions and extra-judicial executions to maintain power during two terms as president.

"Those self-exiled Ugandans who feed the international community with negative information about human rights abuse in Uganda were party to the mass killings in the Luwero triangle," Museveni told about 20 foreign diplomats who were on the tour.

Museveni was once hailed as a reformer in this central African country that suffered under the brutal dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s. But he has upset the West by intervening in Congo 's civil war, boosting military spending and reneging on a 2001 promise to retire from politics. The West has cut aid to the government in reaction to his moves to consolidate power and quash dissent, reports the AP.

I.L.