{"id":47552,"date":"2023-04-11T18:47:45","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000"},"modified":"2023-04-11T19:20:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T19:20:13","slug":"updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000","title":{"rendered":"UPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, has said the country has enough security personnel to secure it despite the deployments.<\/p>\n

He made the remarks on Monday following concerns over surging numbers of Ugandan troops being deployed outside Uganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anybody expect us to leave the country empty [without soldiers]? It bothers me when non-military experts pretend to be experts on the subject they don\u2019t know,\u201d Brig Gen Kulayigye said.<\/p>\n

Records indicate that the number of Uganda security personnel on foreign missions has surged to 12,000 after the deployment of 5,000 soldiers in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in areas occupied by M23 rebels, raising questions of whether the country can sustain it.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces (UPDF) took over Kiwanja in Rutshuru Region in Eastern DRC, miles away from Ugandan border after M23 rebels withdrew under the East African Community Regional Forces arrangement. Ugandan soldiers are expected to take over more territories in Eastern DRC in coming days.<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 UPDF soldiers are in Somalia, 9,000 in the Eastern DRC, and hundreds others are deployed in South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n

This means nearly a quarter of Uganda\u2019s soldiers are abroad.<\/p>\n

The Shadow Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Mr Jonathan Odur, said sending tens of thousands of Ugandan troops constrains Uganda\u2019s defence since even before the DRC deployment, the army was short of 14,000 soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the figure of 12,000 [troops sent out of the country], this already puts a burden on the country to recruit the same number. For example, UPDF had to recruit 14,000 soldiers this financial year to fill the gap,\u201d Mr Odur said yesterday.<\/p>\n

HERE:<\/b> 5,000 UPDF soldiers flagged off for peace mission in DRC<\/p>\n

Last year, President Museveni said they had deployed 4,000 soldiers to hunt down Allied Democratic Forces (ADF rebels) under Operations Shujaa, which started in November 2021. The government has spent more than Shs150b on the operation.<\/p>\n

Last week, UPDF commanders said they deployed 5,000 soldiers to occupy areas that M23 rebels are withdrawing from. The UPDF soldiers deployed in Somalia are facilitated by the African Union or the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Mr Odur said operations of UPDF abroad are shrouded in secrecy yet Parliament should have been informed.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament doesn\u2019t have any official report about the latest deployment in DRC. If the press reports are to be believed, the deployment is for the purpose of peacekeeping, which requires approval by Parliament. Clearly, there is a breach of the UPDF Act, and [it is] an act of impunity by the President as the Commander-in-Chief since this isn\u2019t an emergency deployment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the country needs to know the legal mandate for deployment, the terms and conditions of the operation and funding modalities to avoid Uganda tax payers bearing the unnecessary burden.<\/p>\n

But Brig Gen Kulayigye said the Defence Ministry doesn\u2019t need to seek approval of Parliament because DRC is part of the EAC and the deployments have been discussed for a very long time.<\/p>\n

Mr Gilbert Olanya, the Kilak South legislator and Shadow minister for East African Community Affairs, said maintaining such a big army abroad, especially in DRC, isn\u2019t sustainable for a country like Uganda whose economy is still struggling to recover after the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do we waste resources when the economy isn\u2019t doing well? It isn\u2019t sustainable. We have children without jobs and university graduates who are riding boda bodas who need financial support,\u201d Mr Olanya said.<\/p>\n

Brig Gen Kulayigye said the new deployments under the East African Community Regional Forces wouldn\u2019t financially burden Uganda but the regional secretariat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe East African Community (EAC) is responsible for the troops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Olanya insisted that he intends to raise the same issue on the floor of Parliament.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, has said the country has enough security personnel to secure it despite the deployments. He made the remarks on Monday following concerns over surging numbers of Ugandan troops being deployed outside Uganda. \u201cDoes anybody expect us to leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":47551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-47552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nUPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000 - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, has said the country has eno ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, has said the country has eno ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-11T18:47:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-11T19:20:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222685.78.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-11T18:47:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-11T19:20:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\"},\"wordCount\":659,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222685.78.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/updf-soldiers-abroad-surge-beyond-12000\",\"name\":\"UPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000 - 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