Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni (wearing hat) receives Israeli Prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Museveni's immediate right) at Entebbe
International Airport on July 4, 2016.
By FREDERIC MUSISI in Kampala
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday landed at
Uganda's Entebbe airport for the half day visit to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of his government's raid on the same airport in 1976.
The Prime Minister was received by several government
dignitaries, the Jewish community in Uganda, and members of the
diplomatic corps, among others.
In an interview at his Jerusalem office on Friday ahead of his
visit, Mr Netanyahu said that his visit was an attempt to thaw relations
that have been icy for decades over the Palestinian question and
Israel’s dealings with the apartheid regime in South Africa.
“I’m very open about it, that’s true,” said Mr Netanyahu, the
first sitting Israeli Prime Minister to visit Africa in over two
decades.
“Why should there be such a dissonance between these strong
bilateral ties and the multilateral ties? Why not correct this
absurdity?”
The Israeli PM said he had not visited Africa earlier because of fraught relations with many countries on the continent.
“Israel was blacklisted in Africa, basically kicked out by
political pressure from many, many countries in which we were involved
in the 60s and 70s and it took a while to change.”
Mr Netanyahu will also visit Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia before returning to Israel on Friday.
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