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“WELCOMING NEW AMBASSADOR OF UGANDA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1265 on June 23, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WELCOMING NEW AMBASSADOR OF UGANDA
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HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new Ambassador of Uganda to the United States.
His Excellency Perezi Kamunanwire presented his credentials to President Bush last month, succeeding the long-serving ambassador, Mrs. Edith Ssempala.
Ambassador Kamunanwire's previous diplomatic experience includes serving as his country's ambassador to Germany (1986-88) and to the United Nations in New York (1988-96).
In his capacity as a senior African diplomat, Ambassador Kamunanwire has also served as chairman of the Committee of African Ambassadors to the UN (1990-91); chairman of the Special Political Committee of the 45th session of the UN General Assembly (1991); chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Committee to Elect the UN Secretary General (1991); vice chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the 1992 UN Conference on Environmental Development (1991); chairman of the Committee for Rationalization and Revitalization of the Work of the UN General Assembly (1993); co-convener of the Seventh Pan-African Congress in Kampala, Uganda (1994); and vice president of the UN Non-
Proliferation Treaty Review (1995).
Ambassador Kamunanwire has also had a distinguished career in the academic world. Since 2003, he has been an adjunct professor at the Center for Conflict Management and Organizational Research at Bulgaria's Sophia University.
From 1997 to 1999, Ambassador Kamunanwire was director of the Black Studies Program at the City College of the City University of New York, where he has also been a lecturer since 1974. Since 1997, he has also served as a lecturer in the International Relations Program of City College's Department of Sociology. At City College, he has developed and taught courses on the United Nations, African politics, human rights, and other related topics.
Ambassador Kamunanwire was educated at Columbia University in New York, where he earned a B.A. in political science and a master's degree in international relations.
Ambassador Kamunanwire is the author of Education for Development: The Establishment and the Success of Universal Primary Education in Uganda (2000) and co-editor of A Study Guide for Uganda (1970). He contributed the foreword to We, The PanAfrikans: Essays on the Global Black Experience, by Professor Kannuti Kiteme (1973).
In 2003, Ignatius College in New York awarded Ambassador Kamunanwire an honorary doctor of laws degree, in recognition of ``lifetime achievements in the field of international relations.''
On June 14, my colleague (Mr. Smith of New Jersey) and I, in our capacity as cochairs of the Congressional Caucus on Uganda, hosted a welcome reception for Ambassador Kamunanwire. The Department of State's
``Washington File'' published an article about that event the next day
(``U.S. Lawmaker Hails Uganda as Emerging `Superstar'''), which, without objection, I would like to insert in the Congressional Record.
Ambassador Kamunanwire is a personable human being and an able diplomat. I look forward to working with him on issues of common concern to Uganda and the United States.
U.S. Lawmaker Hails Uganda as Emerging ``Superstar''
(By Jim Fisher-Thompson)
Washington.--Uganda is ``emerging as one of the superstars of Africa,'' in part because of its success in fighting HIV/AIDS, House Africa Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith
(Republican of New Jersey) said at a June 14 reception honoring Ugandan Ambassador Perezi Kamunanwire.
Smith was joined by fellow lawmaker Edolphus Towns
(Democrat of New York). The lawmakers are co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Uganda, formed in November 2004.
Congressional staff members, including Smith's Africa specialist, Greg Simpkins, also attended the evening event, as well as Rwandan Ambassador Zac Nsenga and former U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone Joseph Melrose.
Smith welcomed Ambassador Kamunanwire, most recently Uganda's envoy to Germany, who presented his credentials to President Bush on May 15, noting that he represents a country that has made significant inroads in AIDS prevention.
``Uganda is truly emerging as one of Africa's real superstars, and that is well known to people here on Capitol Hill--on both sides of the [political] aisle,'' Smith said.
In particular, the nation is setting an example for AIDS prevention, the lawmaker said, because of President Yoweri Museveni and his government's strategy of ``working with local faith-based organizations and others . . . especially to reach young people with the message of [sex] deferral and of life for themselves and their loved ones.''
Smith, a champion of human rights and health issues in Africa who has visited the continent numerous times, including a recent trip to Uganda, said, ``Frankly, I was blown over by the enthusiasm I saw for family values [there]
. . . so it was a very remarkable trip.''
Uganda is one of 12 African nations targeted in the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPF AR), initiated by President Bush in 2003. The program is a five-year, $15 billion effort aimed at battling the killer disease in 120 nations worldwide using the ABC strategy, which stands for ``Abstain, Be faithful and Correct and Consistent use of condoms. ``
On the treatment front, as of March 31, life-saving antiretroviral medicines have gone to 561,000 people worldwide under the PEPFAR program--61 percent of them women. During that period, 75,000 people received anti-AIDS drugs in Uganda. Antiretroviral prophylaxis was also provided to women for 342,200 pregnancies, preventing an estimated 65,100 infant HIV infections, according to a PEPFAR fact sheet.
On the security front, Smith added, ``We're also very encouraged and hopeful about what's happening in northern Uganda with the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA],'' the rebel movement that has kidnapped children from villages, forcing them to serve as child soldiers.
``I know the government of Uganda is doing everything it can to try and mitigate and hopefully end that despicable activity by [LRA leader] Joseph Kony in abducting young children,'' Smith told the gathering.
Turning to Kamunanwire, the lawmaker pledged: ``We will work with you. Our committee is a workhorse committee. We write a lot of laws'' in areas such as human trafficking, and
``we want to work with you on trade, environmental protection, humanitarian and human rights issues.''
Kamunanwire, who described himself as ``the new boy on the block,'' thanked the caucus for the welcome and pledged to work closely with Congress, as his predecessor Ambassador Edith Ssempala had done, on issues of interest to both Africa and the United States.
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