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Government Denies Somalia Deployment

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
November 17, 2006
Posted to the web November 20, 2006

By Anne Mugisa
Kampala
The Government has said it has never deployed UPDF troops in war-torn Somalia,
writes Anne Mugisa.
The Minister of Defence, Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, said Uganda has never sent
weapons to Somalia as claimed by the UN monitoring Group in Somalia.
He said the UPDF can only go to Somalia after Parliament approves it.
"The Somali-UPDF deployment awaits two critical clearances. The first is the
partial lifting of the arms embargo on Somalia by the UN. Because of that
embargo, we cannot take into or leave Somalia with arms," Dr. Kiyonga told
journalists yesterday.
"The second clearance is the resolution of the Parliament of Uganda. Both of
these haven't been obtained. So Uganda couldn't and hasn't deployed troops in
Somalia. The final word lies with parliament," he added.
The UN Monitoring Group in Somalia accused Uganda and several other countries
of fuelling the Somali conflict by providing weapons and personnel.
The group stated that it wrote to Uganda querying its involvement but Uganda
never responded.
However, Kiyonga said Uganda was preparing a protest to the UN.
Kiyonga said the group had never written to Uganda about the claims.
"We could never have responded to a communication we did not get from the UN
Monitoring group in Somalia," Kiyonga said.
He said the only step that Uganda had taken towards the Somalia deployment was
the cabinet resolution passing the IGAD decision for the deployment.
He said the issue is yet to be tabled before the Parliament and that is only
after the UN partial lifting of the sanctions on Somalia.
He said Uganda had been working with the US and the United Kingdom to sponsor
the resolution at the UN for the partial removal of the arms embargo.
Army spokesman Maj. Felix Kulayigye said the UPDF battalion to be deployed in
the Somalia is currently being trained by French soldiers in Singo Training
School in Uganda.


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