Ex-Envoy Kananathan praises Museveni’s neutral stance on Iran-Israel conflict

Kampala, Uganda – June 25, 2025 —Ambassador Kananathan, has applauded President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for his recent statement on the Iran-Israel conflict, issued in his role as Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a coalition of 120 member nations.

In his remarks, Ambassador Kananathan described President Museveni as “a leader of remarkable statesmanship, with a firm grasp of historical context and facts.” He continued, “In my view, President Museveni exemplifies balanced and wise leadership. His analysis is thoughtful, fair, and offers real guidance. He could easily serve as a judge—he didn’t take sides, and that’s what sets him apart in today’s deeply divided global environment.”

President Museveni’s statement has drawn international interest for its calm and balanced take on the decades-long Middle East conflict. He identified multiple actors who have contributed to the situation: the Iranian leadership’s rejection of Israel’s legitimacy, Israel’s resistance to a two-state solution, the West’s imperialist legacy, and a general overreliance on force over dialogue.

His remarks have been praised for providing a much-needed voice of reason and balance. By referencing both religious and historical roots of the crisis—while also confronting modern geopolitical failures—Museveni brought a uniquely African and non-aligned perspective to the discussion, resonating with leaders and analysts around the world.

Ambassador Kananathan stressed that under President Museveni’s stewardship, Uganda continues to champion peaceful engagement, respect among nations, and the non-alignment philosophy. “At a time when many voices are driven by narrow interests, President Museveni’s leadership brings clarity and courage. The world urgently needs such wisdom,” he noted.

Serving as Chair of NAM until 2027, President Museveni is increasingly viewed as a stabilizing figure in global diplomacy. His recent statement is being seen as a guiding example for how middle-tier nations can offer leadership in conflicts where larger powers have failed to mediate effectively.

The statement ended with a strong call to renounce violence and recommit to meaningful dialogue—urging all parties to act with humility and seek divine guidance in the search for peace. This closing appeal struck a chord with diverse audiences, highlighting a moral dimension that transcends politics and ideology.

Full statement of President Museveni  is as follows 

Citizens of the World, my names are: General (Rtd) Yoweri Museveni of the Resistance Movement of Uganda and President of Uganda. I am also Chairman of the NAM until 2027. The other day, I saw a Complaint by the Iranian Ambassador to Uganda as to why we have not commented on the tragic situation in the Middle East. It is true that we have not yet externalized our long-held views on that situation. Good enough, we have got good relations with both Israel and Iran, not to forget the United States of America and the other Countries of the World.

In our long history of resistance, we abhor chauvinism of identity (race, tribe, religion, etc) or gender (looking down upon women). We always stand for the politics of interests — legitimate interests of the stake-holders.

With that outlook, we have noticed and told most of the concerned actors, the following mistake-makers:

(1) The first group that we have interacted with and told, are the Iranian Islamists. Whenever I visit Iran, like when His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President, I told them that their stand that Israel is a “transplant” in the Middle East and does not belong there legitimately, is a mistake. We told the Iranians that according to the Bible, Israel is part of that area. The Romans dispersed the Jews after Masada, who continued to suffer wherever they went in Europe, North Africa and Asia until they tried to go back to their homeland with the Zionist Movement. The habitual mistake makers, the British imperialists, in the person of some wonderful man known as Lord Balfour, in 1924, offered the Jews Uganda as a homeland!! Imagine the absurdity. The Jews wisely refused the ridiculous offer and insisted on Palestine where they had a historical, legitimate claim. It was, therefore, correct that the United Nations decided to partition Palestine among the two People. It has been wrong for some of the Arabs and Iranian Islamists to refuse to recognize that historical solution.

(2) The second group of mistake-makers are the Israelis themselves. Why have they refused the implementation of the two States solution? It is not correct for them to say that the Palestinians do not belong there. Whenever, I would meet Mzee Benzion Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s father, I would ask him about the 7 tribes of Canaan that we read about in the Bible — the Jebusites, etc. What happened to them? How about the Philistines of Gaza? Even if you assume that all those People perished, there are People who migrated into the area when the Romans dispersed the Jews in AD 70. You cannot say that they do not belong there. If you say that, then what would you say about the Europeans who migrated to the Americas, Australia, South Africa, etc, in just the last 400 years? This is, indeed, what Idi Amin was saying when he expelled our Indians that they did not belong to Uganda. We rejected that logic.

(3) The third mistake-makers in the matter, are the Western imperialists, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who, in 1953, overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh because they wanted to steal the oil of Iran. It is them that created that huge resentment that produced these clerics who have their own mistaken positions. I was, indeed, amazed that they did not even know well even the history of their own Country. Imagine, me Yoweri Museveni of the Great Lakes of Africa, from the Bible, I had heard repeated references to the “Persians and Medians”, whose laws “do not change” (ebitahinduka). When I visited Iran, I asked Ahmadinejad: “What happened and who were the Medians?” Neither Ahmadinejad nor anybody around, knew about the Medians. It was when they went to the University that they got some old man that knew something about the Medians. Fundamentalists of all types — Islamic or Christian — are a danger to humanity. We all have heard of the Inquisition of the Christian fundamentalists and we know how the Islamic fundamentalists destroyed the great Country of Sudan.

(4) Mistake number four is to believe that the use of force, especially force from outside the concerned Country, is a solution. It is not and always invites reactions that may even affect the interventionists. You want examples? Here they are: the Papacy trying to maintain Catholic hegemony in Europe; Metternich of Austria-Hungary trying to fight the bourgeois ideas of the French Revolution on the behalf of the old feudal order of Europe; the 14 intervention powers that intervened in the Soviet Union to extirpate the Communist Movement; etc. All failed and, sometimes, the interventionists ended up disappearing. You want examples? Where is the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Therefore, force should be for legitimate defence and not for aggression. We appeal and advise the actors in the Middle East to draw back from the use of force and go back to the principled diplomacy. Iran and the Islamists should listen to our advice to recognize Israel and Israel should implement the two states solution.

As I conclude, I would like to use this opportunity to remind all of us, that, we are all praying People. Perhaps it’s time that we all agree to pray together and consult that Creator that cares for all of us without preference.

May we have the willingness to humble ourselves and pray and ask for God’s wisdom, that we may do what is right in His eyes; maybe that time has come and only He has the power, the right and the Justice to decide what is the way forward for all of us.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

AND CHAIRMAN OF NAM (2024–2027)