KAMPALA, Uganda, April 26 (UPI) -- There were no deals concluded between Uganda and Iran in the energy sector, the Ugandan president said following a weekend visit with his Iranian counterpart.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived Friday in Uganda for a two-day visit to discuss building an oil refinery in the energy-rich African nation.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said during the weekend, however, that Ahmadinejad left without a deal, CNN International reports.
"We have not concluded anything on oil," he said during a news conference with Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad during Museveni's visit to Tehran in 2009 promised to build a refinery in the oil-rich African nation. Uganda has significant petroleum reserves in its Lake Albert region.
Museveni said, however, that he wanted more information regarding a push by Washington to sanction Iran for its controversial nuclear program. Uganda is a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Sam Kutesa, the Ugandan foreign minister, said following the Ahmadinejad visit that oil was not a tool for diplomacy, however.
"We are not the agents of Iran or anybody else ... Nobody can blackmail us about that oil -- including the Iranians," he said.
