Uganda given British “benchmarks of fairness”

Cook told IRIN on Tuesday that Britain had given the Ugandan government “a set of benchmarks” by which the fairness of the referendum would be assessed, but that he could not comment further until they were published in Uganda next week. He disagreed with “rump political parties” and opposition elements calling for a boycott because they considered the referendum itself undemocratic. “The referendum is allowed for in the constitution, which is widely accepted ... We think a boycott is not a very helpful gesture,” he said. Ugandans would be better advised to engage with even a flawed referendum process in order to move the process of democratisation forward, he added.