Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. On 13th October this year, the Norwegian government announced the closure of its embassy in Uganda and Guangzhou, China, next year as part of comprehensive reforms in its foreign services. A few days after Norway made the announcement the Republic of North Korea also announced the departure of their foreign mission from Uganda.
What does this mean?
Let us start by explaining the difference between a temporary closing and exiting the country. If it’s a temporary closure of the mission the diplomat workers do not move out of the country. Even though the building is not open to the public. But diplomats stay at home, and in some cases, people continue to work at the embassy. In the case of an embassy exiting the country, a lot of decisions have to be made by authorities including redirecting diplomat positions from these missions to other diplomatic and consular missions in another country.
Where does the Norway and North Korea case fall
Norway and North Korea’s announcement of embassy closure in Uganda is permanent according to the statements made by the two nations’ authorities. In a statement that was released by the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfeldt said as part of the changes, Norway will have fewer, but more robust Foreign Service missions while more diplomatic staff will be posted to the Norwegian Embassies in Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa and Nairobi “in order to strengthen efforts in priority areas such as food security, business development and regional security in Africa.
The Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) to Uganda informed the President of Uganda that North Korean connections will be continued through Malabo- Equatorial Guinea.
How the exit is likely to affect the countries’ relations
Mr Iddrisu Tahiru a Ghanaian diplomat in an interview with Africa-Press said that if Norway and North Korea pull out their embassy in Uganda it will affect their relations negatively. He added that it means that politically the Norwegian and North Korean governments no longer consider their relations with Uganda as important. Mr Tahiru explained more that the presence of the embassy facilitates and improves many achievements in terms of
trade and investments, tourism, education and scholarships, and Consular Services. So if the embassies exit the country all these issues may be affected. Norway provides substantial aid to Uganda. In 2022, Uganda received NOK 382 million in earmarked funds from Norway for efforts in priority areas such as civil society, education, energy, refugees, and women’s rights. Norway wishes to maintain the strong ties that exist between the two countries.
“A substantial portion of today’s aid is already administered by the Norwegian development agency, Norad. Future cooperation will be managed by Norad and another mission in the region, yet to be determined,” the embassy explained. Norway supports a variety of projects in Uganda, spanning education, health, agriculture, and assistance to refugees. Uganda is a long-term ally of North Korea. North Korea has provided training for pilots, technicians, police, marine forces, and special forces.
Contrasting opinion
Ms Sultana Muhammad foreign affairs analyst interviewed to Africa-Press on the embassy exit issue and said that It doesn’t affect relationships because closing an embassy is different from severing diplomatic ties. The closures of the embassies are purely an economic issue for those countries as they try to reduce the costs of diplomatic representation. Normally, they get one embassy in the region to handle all diplomatic and consular issues. Sometimes, they delegate another country altogether to represent their interests. Ms Muhammad’s opinion does not differ from Norway’s and North Korea’s statements. The Norwegian statement stated that concentrating and consolidating is expected to better serve Norwegian national interests and increase the effectiveness of Norway’s international engagement. Meaning that the country is scaling up its presence in some locations.
Norway says the closing of the embassy in Kampala is based solely on overall administrative assessments related to the need for reallocation of the foreign service’s resources. North Korea also said that the country took a strategic measure to reduce the number of embassies in Africa, Uganda inclusive in order to increase the efficiency of the country’s external institutions.
Will Uganda still receive Aid from these nations?
The two nations’ statements that announced the exit of their embassies promised that the development cooperation with Uganda would continue. The Norwegian government assured Uganda that the closure of the Embassy in Kampala does not mean that Norwegian aid to the country will be discontinued, or that there will be less focus on the rights of women and minorities. Also, North Korea promised that their physical absence would not block the two nations’ cooperation and that the relations between the two nations will continue and will be further strengthened and developed. Mr Tahiru says that both nations’ promises are possible. However other countries may be considered first before Uganda.
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