AU gives UPDF mandate to attack Somali militants

Gerald Bareebe
Entebbe
The African Union (AU) has reviewed the mandate of UPDF in Somalia and allowed the Ugandan forces to attack the Al-shabab militants, the Defence minister announced yesterday.
Dr Crispus Kiyonga told Journalists after flagging- off three UPDF battalions to Somalia at Entebbe military airbase yesterday that the earlier mandate constrained the UPDF and was deadly as it demanded the peacekeepers to fight back only if they were attacked first.
The new mandate now means that the UPDF can carry out pre-emptive attacks on the insurgents in the war tone Horn of Africa country.
While three battalions left Entebbe yesterday, three others returned from Somalia in a rotational arrangement.
Mr Kiyonga told journalists yesterday that the UPDF mandate was reviewed last week at the AU emergency summit in Libya.Kiyonga represented President Yoweri Museveni at the summit.
“Our view as Uganda and Burundi has been that the mandate under which we are operating was very constraining,” Mr Kiyonga said. “We would have made much more progress if the mandate was more facilitating. Currently, the army just seats where they are in their detachments even when they have information that insurgents are just two kilometres away,” he said, “They [UPDF] can not attack them. We wait for insurgents to shoot first and we respond.”
Mr Kiyonga also said the Tripoli meeting gave UPDF flexibility meaning that if the army got information that the insurgents were to attack, the peacekeepers would pre-empt them.
“The peace and Security Council of AU in Addisa Ababa is going to talk to us -the troops contributing countries and our commanders - and we shall make prescriptions which we think are more helpful,” he said.
The UPDF presence in the war- torn Horn of Africa is part of African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) an active regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations. AMISOM is mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The new contingent of UPDF whose deployment started yesterday is under the command of Col. Kasigazi Tumusiime who has replaced Col. Jack Bakasumba.
Uganda and Burundi have more than 4,000 troops deployed in Somalia. The heavily undermanned and underfunded peacekeeping force is meant to secure the Presidential Palace, air and sea ports and the city's main roads but has come under increasing attacks from Islamic extremists.
The government has defended its deployment in Somalia saying instability in that country, which has not had a functioning government in almost two decades, undermines security in the whole region.
At the Entebbe military air base, there was excitement and cheers as the returning soldiers stepped at the home soil .The soldiers, who have spend nine month in Somalia, arrived yesterday at 11;00 am aboard an Algerian-Russian modle-Illusyian 76.
They looked tired but were well-equipped. They were addressed by Mr Kiyonga and the command of land forces, Gen. Katumba Wamale.
Mr Kiyonga told Journalists that Kenya and Tanzania had agreed to provide military training to1,000 Somalis each, while Algeria, Italy, USA, and Russia are providing logistical support to the mission.
Gen. Wamala said UPDF has managed to secure Mogadishu from the Al-shabab and also provide military training to Somalis so as to be able to defend their country from military fanaticism.

AU gives UPDF mandate to attack Somali militants

Gerald Bareebe
Entebbe
The African Union (AU) has reviewed the mandate of UPDF in Somalia and allowed the Ugandan forces to attack the Al-shabab militants, the Defence minister announced yesterday.
Dr Crispus Kiyonga told Journalists after flagging- off three UPDF battalions to Somalia at Entebbe military airbase yesterday that the earlier mandate constrained the UPDF and was deadly as it demanded the peacekeepers to fight back only if they were attacked first.
The new mandate now means that the UPDF can carry out pre-emptive attacks on the insurgents in the war tone Horn of Africa country.
While three battalions left Entebbe yesterday, three others returned from Somalia in a rotational arrangement.
Mr Kiyonga told journalists yesterday that the UPDF mandate was reviewed last week at the AU emergency summit in Libya.
r Kiyonga represented President Yoweri Museveni at the summit.
“Our view as Uganda and Burundi has been that the mandate under which we are operating was very constraining,” Mr Kiyonga said. “We would have made much more progress if the mandate was more facilitating. Currently, the army just seats where they are in their detachments even when they have information that insurgents are just two kilometres away,” he said, “They [UPDF] can not attack them. We wait for insurgents to shoot first and we respond.”
Mr Kiyonga also said the Tripoli meeting gave UPDF flexibility meaning that if the army got information that the insurgents were to attack, the peacekeepers would pre-empt them.
“The peace and Security Council of AU in Addisa Ababa is going to talk to us -the troops contributing countries and our commanders - and we shall make prescriptions which we think are more helpful,” he said.
The UPDF presence in the war- torn Horn of Africa is part of African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) an active regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations. AMISOM is mandated to support transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The new contingent of UPDF whose deployment started yesterday is under the command of Col. Kasigazi Tumusiime who has replaced Col. Jack Bakasumba.
Uganda and Burundi have more than 4,000 troops deployed in Somalia. The heavily undermanned and underfunded peacekeeping force is meant to secure the Presidential Palace, air and sea ports and the city's main roads but has come under increasing attacks from Islamic extremists.
The government has defended its deployment in Somalia saying instability in that country, which has not had a functioning government in almost two decades, undermines security in the whole region.
At the Entebbe military air base, there was excitement and cheers as the returning soldiers stepped at the home soil .The soldiers, who have spend nine month in Somalia, arrived yesterday at 11;00 am aboard an Algerian-Russian modle-Illusyian 76.
They looked tired but were well-equipped. They were addressed by Mr Kiyonga and the command of land forces, Gen. Katumba Wamale.
Mr Kiyonga told Journalists that Kenya and Tanzania had agreed to provide military training to1,000 Somalis each, while Algeria, Italy, USA, and Russia are providing logistical support to the mission.
Gen. Wamala said UPDF has managed to secure Mogadishu from the Al-shabab and also provide military training to Somalis so as to be able to defend their country from military fanaticism.