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Somalia: U.S. Trains UPDF Marines in Country
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The Monitor (Kampala)
7 January 2008
Posted to the web 7 January 2008
Grace Matsiko
Kampala
US Forces have been training UPDF marine corps deployed in the war-torn Somalia to enhance their peace-keeping capacity, the army has said.
The forces, from the US Central Command's Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa based in Djibouti, have in addition to the Uganda peace keepers in Somalia, trained UPDF troops at Kasenyi near Entebbe.
The former Army and Defence spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye, said last week that the training puts emphasis on civil-military relations.
"The US Joint Task Force Command carried out training of our Marine component in Somalia, it is basically civil affairs," Maj. Kulayigye said.
He said the US forces have also sunk boreholes and protected wells in northern Uganda as part of their contribution to Uganda.
The Bush administration and Algerian government, according to the UPDF, have been facilitating the airlifting of Ugandan troops into Somalia. The two governments have reportedly provided planes and covered the cost of the air travel for the peace keepers.
Uganda has contributed 1,700 troops to train the Somali army and help in stabilisation of the country. Burundi last week sent 100 troops as an advance team to Mogadishu to beef up the UPDF.
Some 8,000 AU peacekeepers are to be sent to Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops, who ousted Islamists last year. But some of the countries that pledgued to send forces have not met their promises largely due to fear of being embroiled in a cycle of violence in Somalia or out of logistical problems.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command's Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Commander, Gen. Richard Hunt, was last week in Uganda for a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni.
Maj. Kulayigye said Gen. Hunt was in Kampala to bid farewell to President Museveni after completing his duty in the Horn of Africa where he has been commander in the last two years.
Neither Maj. Kulayigye nor State house could give details of the meeting. But sources privy to the meeting said President Museveni and Gen. Hunt discussed the insurgency in Somalia where the US has interests in fighting the Islamic extremists.
The duo also discussed continued cooperation between the US and Africa.
Last year alone, the US conducted a military exercise to help Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda improve crisis response ability.
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The US troops partnered with their East African allies to deliver medical assistance and humanitarian aid as part of "Natural Fire 2006," a 10-day multilateral military exercise.
The mid-August exercise, the first to be conducted between the United States and EAC since 2000, focused on military-to-military coordination, crisis response training and humanitarian aid delivery.
Kenyan army Brigadier General Leonard Ngondi commanded the forces participating in the exercise, supported by a joint military staff comprised of Kenyan, Tanzanian, Ugandan and US officers.
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