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Uganda: Country Asks Peace Troops to Retire
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The Nation (Nairobi)
1 May 2008
Posted to the web 30 April 2008
Risdel Kasasira
Kampala
A battalion of UPDF peace-keepers who were deployed in the volatile Somali capital, Mogadishu, in March 2007, and who returned in January this year, were urged to retire at a belated welcome ceremony.
Addressing the 1,600 soldiers of the Uganda Battle Group (UGABAG) who worked under the auspices of the African Union, the Minister for Defence, Crispus Kiyonga, said, "Uganda is relatively peaceful, so you can now apply to retire."
Dr Kiyonga added that there are no wars to fight in the country.
"We would have deployed you immediately to the war zone when you came back from Somalia, but now you can go on leave or retire if you want."
Another battalion was deployed in Somalia to replace the returnees.
UPDF troops, together with their counterparts from Burundi, have been keeping peace in the volatile Mogadishu as insurgents from a local clan and a militant Islamist movement fight the Somali government and its Ethiopian military backers.
UPDF has lost five soldiers since last year.
The UPDF has for the past one year pushed a massive campaign to retire soldiers; in the last one month, over 3,000 soldiers have been retired.
"We are going to teach you how to integrate in civil society. The focus will be on how you can best use your little savings after retirement," Kiyonga said.
The Commander of the Land Forces, Lt Gen Katumba Wamala, praised UGABAG for accomplishing the peace mission despite five deaths and six injuries.
He recalled that Wilber Rwegira, the first Ugandan soldier to be killed by the Islamic Courts militia seeking to topple the Somali government, was shot from the top of a building while on surveillance duty.
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"We lost five soldiers and six were injured. But in the military, one life lost is a very big loss," he said.
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