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Out of Tribalism and Colonialism: The Evolution of Uganda's Army

The East African (Nairobi)
ANALYSIS
April 12, 2004
Posted to the web April 14, 2004

By Joachim Buwembo
Nairobi
Twenty-five years ago, on April 11, 1979, Tanzanian soldiers marched into
Kampala and kicked out Uganda's life president, Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada.
People poured out into the streets to welcome the liberators who had come all
the way from Tanzania on foot, routing the luxury-prone local army whose
officers had been fighting in air-conditioned limousines.
The Tanzanians chased the fleeing soldiers right up to the northern border,
where little towns became choked with luxury cars that the Sudanese authorities
had denied entry.
The Tanzania People's Defence Forces thus effectively took control of Uganda,
becoming the country's second army since independence in 1962. The first army
of course was the Uganda Army, which succeeded Her Majesty's African Rifles
when the Union Jack went down.
During that euphoric period when the public were busy embracing the TPDF boys,
Ugandans even stopped calling their vanquished army the Uganda Army. Rather,
they referred to it as Amin's Army, a misnomer that has persisted up to this
day.
Well, the TPDF gradually gave way to a newly created force commanded by Ugandan
officers called UNLA - the Uganda National Liberation Army. However, for a
couple of years, Lt Gen David Musuguli, Tanzanian's overall commander in
Uganda, remained the main military man in the country. His motorcade used to
cruise majestically around Kampala and Entebbe, leaving no doubt as to who was
in charge.
The UNLA, the third army since 1979, was a pathetic outfit. Enough uncharitable
comments have been made about it that there is no need for me to add my two
cents' worth . It was shot out of power in January 1986 by the National
Resistance Army, the NRA, which had waged a protracted war in the countryside
for five years. Enough stories of heroism have been told about NRA, the fourth
army to take charge of the country since 1979.
In 1990, a significant component of the NRA deserted. Officers and men of
Rwandan origin left Uganda en masse and invaded their home country. The
struggle took four years, with the tragic climax of the genocide whose 10th
anniversary is currently being commemorated.
When Uganda and Rwanda became hostile to each other on Congolese soil later,
Rwandan officers would joke that actually, their army was the original NRA,
which left and became RPA (Rwanda Patriotic Army), leaving behind a new force
that was ultimately renamed Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) in
recognition of this.
The historical record reads differently. Uganda's fifth army was created in the
Constituent Assembly by elected delegates. It is run according to the
constitution. Last week, the man who created its precursor, the NRA, Lt-Gen
Yoweri Museveni, officially retired. He can now only wear a UPDF uniform during
ceremonies, and not in combat.
And so, hopefully, ends the story of Uganda's changing armies. Five of them in
25 years is an average of an army every five years. The first one was created
along colonial lines. The second was alternately called an occupation army and
a liberation army. The third was a tribal army of the ruling faction. The
fourth was a liberation army dominated by people from the south and west.
The fifth is a constitutional army where every tribe is represented. Every
tribe, including the tribe of ghosts.
Right now, an exercise to exorcise the army is underway. Presided over by a
born-again Christian soldier, Lt-Gen Elly Tumwine, a general court martial is
trying senior officers who have been paying salaries to ghosts, thereby
diverting resources meant for soldiers from the other tribes.
After the UPDF has been purged of all its ghosts, it is our prayer that it will
remain the army for of country in a long time. Five armies in 25 years, even
for an unstable republic, is rather on the high side.
Joachim Buwembo is editor of the Sunday Vision of Kampala. E-mail:
JBuwembo@newvision.co.ug

   

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