More UPDF soldiers deployed to Somalia - Mbadi

The newly deployed peacekeepers are called Uganda Battle Group 35 and were sent off by UPDF Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Wilson Mbadi, at a function held at the Peace Support Operations Training Centre (PSO-TC) in Singo, Nakaseke District.

The peacekeepers have just completed pre-mission training as a precondition to the deployment.

The UPDF peacekeepers are deployed under African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), a peace keeping mission operated by the African Union (AU) in Somalia with approval by the United Nations (UN).

Gen Mbadi informed the peacekeepers that AMISOM is directed at nipping terrorism in the bud, in view of Somalia being a primary source of terrorists, to ensure that it doesn’t spillover to other countries in the region and thereby spread like a brush-fire.

“This army is built on a bedrock of ideological orientation to produce cadres who will remain cautious while doing their work,” he said.

The send-off was colourful Pulse Live Uganda

He reminded the peacekeepers that they must exhibit the highest sense of professionalism and discipline at all levels as they fulfill their deployment to its hilt.

Mbadi also told the troop contingent that patriotism and Pan-Africanism were the centerpieces of their mission. These values, he noted, inform the competencies of effective soldering.

He encouraged Battle Group 35 to apply what they have learnt so as to serve as goodwill ambassadors of Uganda while in Somalia.

Mbadi also told the soldiers to observe safety precautions to guard against diseases such as Covid-19 and HIV/AIDS, which he said were still prevalent.

On the socioeconomic front, he told them that this deployment would earn them some money and so, he advised, they should invest this money in income-generating activities like poultry and fish farming that will improve their quality of life.

“Careless soldiers who spend extravagantly should be advised by their commanders to save and invest in income generating activities,” he said.

Additionally, Mbadi took the occasion to inform the peacekeepers, as well as the army at large, that new residences will be constructed for all UPDF soldiers. The first houses will go up in the next financial year 2022/23.

These fresh deployments precede 420 UPDF soldiers being deployed in Operation Shuja, the joint operation of UPDF and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are ready to do battle.

The UDPF troopers have just completed a four months mountain warfare technical course at the Mountain Warfare Training School (MWTS)- Karugutu, in Ntoroko district.

These soldiers, belonging to UPDF’s Mountain Division and the Special Forces Command (SFC), were re-tooled, as it were, in a variety of drills and technical training in mountain warfare which simulated the battleground in the DRC.

The training was to get the soldiers acclimated to harsh terrain, thick forests, gorges, valleys, escapements and river crossings while advancing to enemy positions.

Col John Winston Mugarura, the senior officer who presided over the pass-out ceremony, is the second in command at the Mountain Division. He told the soldiers that although they were already equipped with several military skills, this course was to add to these skills and build upon their existing abilities towards battle readiness.