31- October-2023
US to remove Uganda and three other African countries from Agoa trade deal
US President Joe Biden has revealed plans to expel Uganda, Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic (CAR) from a special US-Africa trade programme.
The countries were either involved in “gross violations” of human rights or not making progress towards democratic rule, the president said.
The US introduced the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in 2000.
It gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US for more than 1,800 products.
President Biden said that Niger and Gabon – both of which are currently under military rule following coups this year – are ineligible for Agoa because they “have not established, or are not making continual progress toward establishing the protection of political pluralism and the rule of law”.
Twenty three years later, Biden says some countries in Africa do not qualify on account of their human rights records.
“I am taking this step because I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the Agoa,” Biden said.
“Despite intensive engagement between the US and the CAR, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda, these countries have failed to address United States’ concerns about their non-compliance with the Agoa eligibility criteria,” Biden also said in a letter addressed to the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
While Niger and Gabon are accused of violating human rights and democratic principles because of the coups that have taken place in the countries, Uganda is accused of a controversial anti-homosexuality law, which was passed in May this year.
Read: Uganda fights off pressure over anti-gay law
After the passing of the law by parliament in May, Biden called for its immediate repeal.
“The enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act is a tragic violation of universal human rights. No one should have to live in constant fear for their life or be subjected to violence and discrimination. It is wrong,” Biden said, adding that the law would affect Uganda-US relations.
Biden also announced that his administration would consider slapping sanctions on Uganda and restricting the entry into the US of people engaging in human rights abuses or corruption.
Uganda officials brushed off the threats with President Yoweri Museveni saying the law was needed to prevent LGBTQ community members from recruiting others.
“The signing is finished, nobody will move us,” Museveni told lawmakers from his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in June.
Read: Museveni meets lawmakers over anti-gay bill
Last month, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that several American companies had already stopped importing textiles – which fall under the Agoa trade deal – from Uganda because of the passing of the anti-homosexuality law.
“The homosexuals in the US are interfering with our export of textiles. Some of the orders have been cancelled there,” Mr Museveni was quoted as saying by the privately owned Daily Monitor newspaper.
In August, Mr Museveni banned the importation of second-hand clothes, a move thought to target the US, which is a major supplier of the used garments to Uganda and other African countries.
The threat to exclude Niger and Gabon from Agoa is the latest US government action against the two junta-led countries.
The US State Department announced last week that it had suspended most foreign aid to Gabon and would only resume assistance if Gabon’s transitional government establishes democratic rule.
In August, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a similar measure against Niger, saying that the US “is pausing certain foreign assistance programs benefitting the government of Niger”.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea have all previously been expelled from Agoa after military coups in those countries.
