Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF could soon decide to reduce the troops in the Central African Republic–CAR due to limited resources, General Edward Katumba Wamala, the Chief of Defense Forces has revealed. In 2009, UPDF sent 2000 troops CAR as part of an African Union Regional Task Force to capture the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) War Lord Joseph Kony.
However, Katumba says the operation in CAR is straining their budget adding that, it is increasingly becoming expensive to maintain troops there. The UN had expected that the UPDF would increase troops in CAR this year but General Wamala says this will not happen.
//Cue in: “The troops we…
Cue out:…is not cheap.”//
In a United Nations report presented before the UN Security Council this week Abou Moussa the outgoing head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa stated that participating countries renewed their commitment to the Regional Task Force operations. South Sudan and Uganda pledged to return the troops they had withdrawn from the Regional Task Force once the political situation in South Sudan permits.
This was in March 25th 2014 in Addis Ababa during the fourth ministerial meeting of the Joint Coordinating Mechanism of the Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the LRA. Gen. Wamala says that since the LRA effects are now a regional problem and International bodies like the UN are concerned the UPDF would have no problem continuing with the operation as long as someone helps them foot the Bill.
//Cue in: “If nobody is…
Cue out:…the logistics support.”//
The European Union and the US continue to provide critical support to the functioning of the Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the LRA. In March, the European Union released 1.9 million Euros to support the Regional Task Force and the Office of the African Union Special Envoy for the LRA.
The US also deployed about 100 US Special Forces as field advisors to the AU regional force and has presence in Obbo in CAR, Ddungu in the DRC and Nzara in South Sudan. The LRA is currently believed to have split into several highly mobile groups operating with a significant degree of autonomy in CAR and the DRC.
They are involved primarily in survival mode activities that entail attacking civilians, killing, looting and kidnapping. The UN report states that the redeployment of Ugandan and South Sudanese Regional Task Force contingents away from LRA operations has created potential security vulnerabilities in Western Equatoria State that could be exploited by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
General Wamala says the instability may not be imminent, but they cannot rule it out.
//Cue in: “As of now…
Cue out:..by the LRA.”//
The UN notes that the Sudan government indicates that there are no LRA elements in the disputed Kafia Kingi enclave, on the border between the CAR, South Sudan and the Sudan. However, credible sources suggest that LRA leader Kony and his senior commanders have recently sought safe haven in Sudanese-controlled areas of the enclave.
General Wamala says since Kony is taking advantage of the lack of authority in the enclave, they can only get there after getting clearance from the government of Sudan.
Halima Athumani
Freelancer