Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will not make a decision on sanctions against Iran until he gets better explanation from the U.S. government on the sanctions to better understand the dispute over Iranian controversial nuclear program, CNN said.
"We are just students on this matter," the president said. "It is a debate I have not been following," Museveni continued.
Uganda is a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Museveni said that the country is a representative of Africa and would follow what Africa decides.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Uganda Friday seeking support from the country for Iranian nuclear program. Ahmadinejad described the sanctions as a "joke."
He said Iran wanted Uganda to understand that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes adding that Western suspicions were "baseless." Earlier he accused the West of trying to deny countries' rights for nuclear energy.
However, Museveni called for a "nuclear weapons-free world." Ugandan president backed nations' rights for an access to nuclear technology, as long as they are for "peaceful purposes."
"Nuclear weapons are dangerous for humanity, even more dangerous than all the other previous weapon systems," he said. "We should, therefore, work for a nuclear weapons-free world," Museveni continued. "This means that those who have these weapons should work to get rid of them under an internationally agreed and verifiable treaty."
Iran has economic agreements with more than a dozen African nations. Iranian president had also visited Zimbabwe this week.
The United States and other Western countries suspect Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program and are seeking new sanctions following Iran's move to enrich uranium to 20%.
The UN-sponsored deal to supply nuclear fuel for a research reactor in Tehran proposes Iran ship out low-enriched uranium to be processed into higher-grade nuclear fuel and then returned to Iran.
MOSCOW, April 225 (RIA Novosti)
