Africa-Press – Uganda. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gen Jeje Odongo, and German Ambassador Matthias Schauer last Friday met to discuss the state of the diplomatic relationship between the two countries .
Sources, who attended the closed-door meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Monitor that the disagreement between the two parties widened as the ambassador warned the government on the increasing torture.
“The meeting was heated up but afterwards the two acted gently and agreed on a few issues. The issue of torture in the country was one of the key issues they discussed,” the source said.
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A State of torture?
“The ministry, however, asked the diplomats to communicate to the right people when addressing concerns,” the source added.
Mr Okello Oryem, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, was hesitant to divulge details. He, however, noted that the meeting was peaceful but quickly noted that the German Embassy delegation did not apologise over the accusations of breaching diplomatic protocols.
“If we were not right, why did they ask to meet us? We are not the ones who called them for a meeting. With diplomatic issues, there is apologising and our friends did not but, yes, we agreed that we need to communicate formally however serious the matter can be,” he said.
After the meeting, the ministry released a statement highlighting the proceedings of the meeting.
“…they noted with satisfaction that relationships between Uganda and the Federal Republic of Germany were strong. They held productive discussions on issues of bilateral Interest and agreed that in all engagements, established methods of communication shall be followed,” in part read the statement.
Last week, the two countries clashed over what the Ugandan government described as a total breach of diplomatic protocols.
The clash ensued after the German ambassador wrote to the Chief Magistrates of Buganda Road Court asking for the release of novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija’s passport.
Mr Schauer indicated that the embassy had received an invitation from PEN International for Mr Kakwenza to attend an event.
“In diplomatic ways, the ambassador was meant to write to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and not to the chief magistrate directly. We as a government sometimes hesitate to address the court directly, and who are they? If Uganda was to do the same, they would have come for our heads,” Mr Oryem said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Mr Oryem’s comments follow a letter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the German Embassy on Kakwenza’s passport.
“The ministry with deep concern informs that the above mention communication was in breach of articles 41.1 and 41.2 of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations….” the letter read in part.
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