Henry Mukasa
6 January 2009
Kampala — ONE UPDF soldier in the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was killed yesterday when militants attacked their convoy.
According to a statement issued by AMISOM spokesperson Maj. Ba-Hoku Barigye, another soldier was injured in the attack.
"This morning at about 7:45am, an AMISOM convoy was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device adjacent to the offices of immigration on K4-Airport road. The convoy was on routine duties of mine-sweeping the street.
"As a result of the explosion, one soldier was killed, while another was injured. Both are from the Ugandan contingent," Barigye said.
"AMISOM condemns these cowardly, barbaric and unwarranted attacks on its troops who are genuinely carrying out an international peacekeeping mission. Such attacks, perpetrated by the enemies of peace, are intended to undermine the peace process which is gaining momentum," he said.
AMISOM, Barigye added, calls on all peace-loving Somalis to join in condemning and isolating elements opposed to peace, security and stability in Somalia.
"These acts will neither deter nor intimidate AMISOM from continuing to help in the reconciliation and dialogue process in order to attain everlasting peace in Somalia."
However, international relations minister Henry Okello Oryem on Monday said Uganda was reviewing AMISOM's role.
He said consultations were ongoing to assess the magnitude of the risk facing the UPDF soldiers following the pull-out of Ethiopian forces from the volatile country.
Defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga and the chief of defence forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, met their counterparts in Burundi over the weekend.
Only Uganda and Burundi have sent forces to Somalia, accounting for the 3,000 forces serving on the mission there. Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa had pledged to contribute forces towards that mission but have not met their pledges.
In May 2006, four UPDF soldiers were killed and five were injured when they were hit by a roadside bomb. This brings to seven the number of Ugandan soldiers killed in the war-torn country since 2006.
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Uganda needs to get out of Somalia since even Ethiopia who were really the guarantor of any semblance peace in Mogadishu have left. And AMISOM is a AU mission not a Ugandan mission. Ugandans are needlessly paying dearly for the pechant by NRM for military adventurism probably learnt (by Museveni) in the jungles of Mazambique.
Just as, for two decades now, the internationalisation of the LRA war, which is really Ugandan civil war that has its roots in the national political problems, will never resolve those political problems that have always been at the core of the conflict.
LRA conflict will only be solved within the borders of Uganda.