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UPDF Leave for Somalia Today

The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
February 28, 2007
Posted to the web February 27, 2007

By Rodney Muhumuza & Grace Matsiko
Kampala
The deployment of Ugandan troops to Somalia is expected to start today, a
highly placed source in Cabinet revealed yesterday. The source confirmed that
Ugandan soldiers would be the first to land in Baidoa as part of an African
Union peacekeeping mission.
"They are leaving tomorrow [today] in the early hours of the morning," the
source said, preferring anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deployment.
"What we do not want is the press to cover their departure."
Sources said President Yoweri Museveni yesterday held two separate State House
meetings with Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga and Chief of Defence Forces
Aronda Nyakairima to finalise details of the deployment.
It emerged that military hardware was being secretly transported from Jinja,
where the Somalia-destined troops are currently residing, to the airbase in
Entebbe. A source said construction materials, water tanks and heavy armament
were already at the airport, as "the final word" is awaited.
Although Parliament unanimously approved Uganda's deployment to Somalia weeks
ago, the government has been reluctant to make public the date on which the
first contingent of Ugandan soldiers would leave for Somalia, citing security
precautions.
If Ugandan troops arrive in Somalia today, it would confirm an earlier
statement by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed that the deployment of
Ugandan troops to Somalia should begin before the end of this week.
"The AU is coming, the Ugandans are coming. My estimation is that they should
be in Somalia in the first week of next month (which begins on Thursday)," Mr
Yusuf reportedly said at the fifth Sanaa Forum for co-operation, a gathering of
leaders from Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia.
Reuters reported that participants at the Sanaa Forum, created in October 2002
to reinforce peace in the Horn of Africa and develop business between member
states, urged for a rapid deployment of the whole AU force.
In recent weeks, the Somali capital Mogadishu has suffered the worst unrest
since the interim government, backed by Ethiopian forces, drove out an Islamist
movement late last year. The government blames remnants of the Union of Islamic
Courts for the violence.
In a closing statement, the forum called upon all Somalis "to rise up to
challenges and use the new opportunity to reconcile their differences". The AU
has so far only raised half of the proposed 8,000 peacekeepers. Under the AU
mission to Somalia (AMISOM), Uganda has offered to deploy 1,500 soldiers, who
have been undergoing intensive training, including classroom lectures, in
Jinja.
Preparations
"They are now packing their bags, cleaning their equipment and generally
preparing to go," UPDF spokesman Felix Kulayigye said yesterday. "It is not
advisable to tell you when we arrive in Somalia... all I can say is that we are
going soon."
Sources said Gen. Nyakairima had instructed the spokesman for the Uganda
contingent to Somalia Paddy Ankunda not to make public statements about the
deployment.
The identification of the UPDF soldiers to deployed in Somalia started in 2005,
after the Intergovernmental Authority on Development nominated Uganda as one of
the potential countries that would contribute to a peace keeping force to
Somalia.
UPDF's Maj. Gen. Levi Karuhanga has been appointed to head the force that will
include troops from Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi. Algeria and Egypt have
reportedly offered to provide transport to countries sending troops to Somalia,
which has lacked an effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.


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