Museveni Remains Defiant As Blair Attacks Arrest of Rival in Uganda

The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, remained defiant in the face of pressure from Tony Blair on the first day of the Commonwealth conference yesterday over the arrest of the country's opposition leader.

Mr Museveni, who until recently was feted by the West as a model African leader, made it clear he was not going to take any lectures from Mr Blair. He reminded Britain that it had been the colonial power in Uganda for more than 70 years and introduced democracy only as it was about to leave.

Uganda, in theory, could face sanctions or be suspended from the Commonwealth, whose 53 members are supposed to be democracies committed to human rights. Commonwealth embarrassment over the arrest was compounded by the fact that its next conference in 2007 is scheduled to be held in Uganda.

The three-day conference, which brings together former colonies from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, was opened by the Queen in Malta.

Mr Blair was given a difficult time by leaders at a closed-door session over what they see as his failure to use the EU presidency to push for a fairer trade deal at the world trade talks next month.

But the conference was dominated by Uganda, whose opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was in a military court yesterday accused of terrorism. His supporters claim it is a ploy by Mr Museveni, who has been in power for 20 years, to prevent Mr Besigye challenging him in March's election.

The military judge ordered Mr Besigye to be held until another hearing set for December 19, which could mean his name does not go forward as a candidate.

Mr Museveni, in a press conference arranged at the request of the Commonwealth secretary-general, Don McKinnon, said it was not the government but the director of public prosecutions who decided who should be tried.

"Nobody is going to stop Besigye standing for election but there's also the question of the wrong actions he is alleged to be involved in," he said. He added: "I hope no one in the international community is arguing that anyone is above the law."

Turning to Britain, he said: "The British came to Uganda to establish a colonial administration in 1890 and left in 1962 and in all that time, 70 years, we had elections only twice, one in 1961 and one in 1962. The one in 1961 was badly organised. There was no democracy for all the time the British were in Uganda."

Mr Blair said: "The UK has made clear its concerns about what is happening in Uganda. It is one of the basic principles of the Commonwealth that there should be proper respect for the proper functioning of democracy and, therefore, what has been happening in Uganda has caused us a great deal of concern."

Seating at the conference, decided on an alphabetical basis, left Uganda next to the UK and the two leaders side by side for three days. Mr Blair did not raise the issue with him yesterday morning but said he intended to. Decisive for Uganda will be the response of other African countries, particularly Nigeria. Mr McKinnon, though annoyed with Uganda, stressed that he preferred dialogue and entered into discussion with Mr Museveni.