The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Wafula Oguttu, yesterday told the government to withdraw the country’s army from Somalia and South Sudan. Ugandan troops deployed in South Sudan after fighting erupted in December 15, 2013 between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy, Riek Machar. [Courtesy photo]
Kampala, 20 June 2014 (Daily Monitor)- Making his maiden reaction as to President Museveni’s State-of-the-Nation address delivered last week, Mr Oguttu observed that Uganda’s Army cannot be “a permanent substitute for a Somali national army” even though the work it has done in the troubled Horn of Africa country is commendable. He also said Uganda’s soldiers are dying in “a senseless war in South Sudan”. Demanding that government provides a timeline for troop pull-out, Mr Oguttu said UPDF soldiers are engaged in a power struggle between the leaders of South Sudan. “We want to know whether President Museveni would welcome a similar open intervention by another country giving material support to the side against him in the ongoing internal NRM power struggle. That is exactly what his intervention in South Sudan amounts to,” Mr Oguttu said. “Why should Uganda take sides with one protagonist in what is essentially an intra SPLM struggle, an intervention that is proving to be a stumbling block in the peace negotiations between the belligerent sides,” he added. He said the continued stay of UPDF in the two countries is “detrimental” to the security of Uganda. Besides, he added, “after all these years, the UPDF troops in Somalia should have trained the Somalis to protect themselves”. The UPDF also in December last year sent troops to South Sudan to prop-up President Salva Kiir’s government in the wake of an onslaught from his former vice-president-turned rebel leader Riek Machar. No updates have since been provided about the time-line for withdrawal or financial implications of the war, as demanded by the Opposition and promised by the government. However, in a telephone interview yesterday, Col Paddy Ankunda, the UPDF spokesman, accused the Opposition of “politicking”. Col. Ankunda said withdrawing soldiers from the ongoing missions in Somalia and South Sudan was not ‘urgent’. Source: Daily Monitor |
