Kenya has downplayed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s recent claim that Uganda is entitled to access the Indian Ocean.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei on Wednesday said Nairobi trusts the Ugandan leader “understands matters of sovereignty and natural resources.”
Dr Sing’Oei was responding to a question from journalists at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs in Nairobi, where he and top officials were issuing a quarterly update on Kenya’s foreign policy.
President Museveni, speaking during a radio show at the Mbale State Lodge earlier this week, warned that future wars could erupt if Uganda’s access to the Indian Ocean — which he called vital for “strategic defence and economic development” — continues to be obstructed.
“How can you say you are in a block of flats, that the compound belongs only to the flats on the ground floor?” he said.
“That compound belongs to the whole block. All the flats are entitled to the compound. So, for me, I say this is madness.”
Museveni likened landlocked Uganda’s situation to being “trapped inside the block” while others monopolise the exits, adding, “Where is my ocean? My ocean is the Indian Ocean. No! It belongs to all of us.”
The remarks have stirred unease in Nairobi and across the East African region, where analysts view them as a blend of historical frustration and political theatre.
Uganda, which depends heavily on Kenya’s Mombasa Port for imports and exports, has at times floated alternative routes through Tanzania — yet Museveni’s rhetoric about “entitlement” to the Indian Ocean touches on sovereignty issues rarely voiced so bluntly in regional diplomacy. However, Kenya has opted for restraint.
