The consulate general in Guangzhou in China will also be closed. At the same time, six Norwegian embassies are being strengthened with more diplomats.
Diplomatic positions freed up through these closures will be used to increase staffing at other Norwegian foreign missions. The closures will take place in 2024, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– In a changing time, we must have Norwegian diplomats out in the world to follow global issues that concern us, and to promote Norwegian positions. At the same time, we must continuously assess where we should be present in order to safeguard Norwegian interests as best as possible with the resources we have, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the changes are “part of a larger process where the foreign service’s set-up is assessed in order to secure Norwegian interests in a new era, and where Norwegian presence abroad is adapted to best safeguard Norwegian foreign and development policy priorities. Norway will have fewer, but more robust, foreign stations.”
The notice of winding up comes in the wake of the Ukraine war and the uproar over Uganda’s new, strict gay laws. The World Bank recently decided to stop all new loans to the country. The rationale was that the LGBT+ laws were in conflict with the bank’s core values.
– Aid will continue
In connection with the embassy closure in Uganda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes that the work on priority issues such as food security, business development and regional security in Africa will be strengthened by the embassies in Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa and Nairobi getting more diplomats. The embassy in Beirut is also being strengthened with one diplomat who will work with aid to Syria.
Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim (Sp) promises continued Norwegian aid cooperation despite the closure of the embassy. Photo: Espen Røst Espen Røst
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that the closure of the embassy in Kampala does not mean that Norwegian aid to the country ceases, nor does attention to the rights of women and minorities. The decision is the result of an overall assessment of the foreign service’s resources, says the press release
– Norway will continue to invest significant aid funds in Uganda, through our civil society partners and multilateral organisations. We also maintain our commitment to the human rights situation in the country, especially the rights of women and minorities, says Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim.
Caritas Norway: – Very unfortunate
Several foreign missions have been closed in the period following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the subsequent change in focus in foreign and development policy. The need for redeployment of resources is also this time the justification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The closure of the embassy in Kampala comes as a surprise to many and was not mentioned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ aid budget that was presented last Friday. Norway has had a presence in Uganda since 1994.
– Very unfortunate. With this, Norway loses a point of contact with one of the most important countries in southern Africa, says program manager in Caritas Norway Knut Andreas Lid.
Program manager in Caritas Norway Knut Andreas Lid. Photo: Caritas
He fears the long-term consequences for aid, and points out, among other things, that Uganda is one of the world’s most important recipient countries for refugees. For several years, Caritas has received support from Norwegian aid for food security measures for South Sudanese refugees in the country.
The news of closure comes after there has long been speculation as to whether Norwegian aid to Uganda will be affected by the country’s controversial new LGBT+ legislation.
Cooperation on hydropower
Aid and business cooperation have been the embassy’s primary areas of work.
The embassy has had a long-standing collaboration with the Ugandan authorities on renewable energy with Norwegian professional advice in various areas, including legislation. Norwegian companies have also been involved in hydropower development in the country.
Norway has also contributed with advice on tax legislation related to petroleum extraction. According to the plan, Uganda will start oil and gas extraction in 2025.
State Secretary Bjørg Sandkjær (Sp) visited the country in February 2022 and then discussed, among other things, agriculture and food security with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
However, the anti-homosexuality law, which the president approved in May this year, has complicated cooperation with Western countries.
Would review the collaboration
– In light of what has happened, we will, in close dialogue with other donor countries, review the cooperation with all our partners in Uganda to assess whether there is a need for changes. Human rights and equality are cross-cutting considerations in all Norwegian aid, said Development Minister Anne Beate Tvinnereim to Panorama in June this year.
Then the news had just arrived that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni would approve the anti-homosexuality law. The law involves up to 20 years in prison for “promoting homosexuality”, life in prison for having sex with someone of the same sex and the death penalty for performing “gross homosexual acts”.
The law has provoked strong reactions internationally. US President Joe Biden has said that he is considering all forms of cooperation with Uganda, including the US’s large AIDS program (PEPFAR) and other forms of aid and investment.
Norway was the first contributor
It is not yet known how the embassy closure will affect aid to the country. Most of Norway’s Uganda aid goes to Norwegian organizations such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Plan, Caritas and the Strømmestiftelsen, and to multilateral actors such as the UN, development banks and global funds.
An embassy closure will not automatically affect this assistance, but the organizations fear that a reduced diplomatic presence in the long term will also affect their work.
– I think that the embassy closure is also bad news for the country’s sexual minorities. With a reduced international presence, their situation will become even more vulnerable, says Caritas’ program manager.
Since 2000, NOK 7.6 billion in earmarked aid has been given to Uganda. In addition, the core support of multilateral organizations benefits Uganda. Norway has supported Uganda via, among others, the World Bank, the Global Fund and the vaccine alliance GAVI as well as a number of other multilateral institutions.
When the country experienced a dramatic outbreak of Ebola in September 2022, Norway played an important role by being the first country to contribute flexible millions to the fight against Ebola.
Read more: Here are 11 reasons why Uganda cracked the Ebola outbreak
DKK 380 million
In 2022, a total of NOK 380 million was paid in bilateral aid to Uganda, of which approximately NOK 149 million via the regional grant to Africa. 122 million went via Norwegian and international non-governmental organisations. Refugee support and support for research and institutional collaboration are also provided.
In 2023, NOK 258 million in aid will be paid to Uganda, while NOK 210 million will be paid in 2024, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ grant portal. Various types of health cooperation, equality initiatives, vocational training for young people and support for renewable energy (hydropower) are mentioned in the state budget as ongoing efforts.
– Norwegian aid contributes to, among other things, food security, girls’ education, women’s rights and participation in peace and security efforts, access to energy for vulnerable groups and the care of refugees and their host communities. Stopping such efforts will affect vulnerable groups, Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim told Panorama on 2 June this year.
Norwegian aid and business cooperation with Uganda under the current president Yoweri Museveni (79) has occasionally been controversial. Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, has been accused of acting dictatorially, suppressing minorities and committing abuses against the opposition. Various corruption cases have also been revealed in connection with the aid cooperation.
Traditional cooperation
It is a traditional African embassy that is now being closed down. Diplomatic relations between Norway and Uganda were established on 21 July 1964, and Uganda became one of the first African countries where the state Norwegian aid administration established an office, first at Norwegian Development Aid and later at The Directorate for Development Aid.
For the first twenty-five years, Norway’s ambassador held on Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi in Kenya, but with a special side accreditation to Kampala.
From 1975, Norway failed to appoint a side-accredited ambassador to Kampala. After the fall of the Idi Amin regime in 1979, the Nairobi ambassador was again side-accredited. The embassy in Uganda was then established in 1994.
Today it also has responsibility for Rwanda and Burundi. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now working on solutions to safeguard Norway’s diplomatic representation to these countries after the embassy in Kampala is closed.
For a total of 29 years, Norway has had an embassy in Kampala. Aid cooperation has been the embassy’s most important commitment. Photo: NTB
Ambassador for six weeks
Uganda
Form of government: Republic
President: Yoweri Museveni
Population: 48.4 million
GDP per capita: 2,694 PPP dollars
Ranking HDI: 164 out of 188
Source: United Nations association
– The decision to close a foreign station will of course have consequences for our employees. We will ensure that the employees affected by the closures are looked after in a good way. But we have a responsibility to manage the resources as efficiently as possible. Now we are going to increase staffing at many foreign missions, and then unfortunately we will have to close some other places, says the foreign minister.
The embassy in Kampala has 5 delegates from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 17 local employees.
The current ambassador, Anne Kristin Hermansen, has been Norway’s ambassador to Uganda for only a short time. On 28 August this year, she took over the baton from Ambassador Elin Østebø Johansen, and on 20 September she delivered her credentials to the President of Uganda.
The government has previously decided to close the Norwegian embassies in Sri Lanka, Slovakia and Kosovo in 2023, in a process where diplomatic resources are moved to certain international bodies and parts of Europe.
In addition, the embassy office in Antananarivo in Madagascar and the consulate general in Houston in the United States have been closed. The diplomatic presence will be handled in a different way, including from nearby embassies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously described. At the same time, staffing is being increased at the embassies in Bucharest, Kyiv and Vilnius, as well as the EU delegation and the NATO delegation in Brussels.
2023-10-13 10:59:22
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