Leadership Quote by Yoweri Museveni

"None of the parties want this conflict to go on" is the kind of sentence that wears neutrality like body armor. Museveni, a long-ruling head of state in a region where conflicts are rarely accidental, chooses a framing that sounds humane while quietly shifting responsibility away from decision-makers. It’s not "we will stop it" or even "it must end". It’s a claim about everyone’s private desires, offered as if desire were policy.

The specific intent is diplomatic: lower the temperature, present himself as a reasonable broker, and keep channels open with multiple sides. By asserting a shared reluctance, he invites the audience to imagine the war as a tragic misunderstanding sustained by momentum, not by strategy. That’s a powerful repositioning move for a politician who often needs to talk to allies, rivals, and external patrons at once.

The subtext is sharper. If nobody wants it, then nobody is fully to blame, and the conflict’s continuation becomes almost mechanical: spoilers, miscommunication, "unfortunate incidents". This erases asymmetries of power and intent - the fact that some actors can end violence faster than others, and that some benefit from prolonged instability (leverage, territory, security pretexts, domestic political consolidation). It also flatters the listener: you, too, are reasonable; the problem is the situation.

Context matters because Museveni’s political longevity is built on managing security narratives. In that register, peace talk is never just empathy; it’s positioning. The line works because it sounds like common sense while performing a quiet act of absolution.