UPDF loses key Somalia AU jobs to Kenyan officers

Uganda AU soldiers in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, on Monday. PHOTO BY AFP

What you need to know:

Kenya has reportedly been able to dominate the AU mission because of influence by its highly placed diplomats at the AU secretariat.

Kampala.

With the new African Union structure in Somalia to integrate Kenya, Djibouti and Sierra Leon, Ugandan soldiers have lost juicy jobs to the Kenyans at the mission headquarter.
Sources say Kenya has been able to dominate the mission because of influence by its highly placed diplomats at the AU secretariat in Addis Ababa.

Djibouti are doing civil-military relations, Burundians are in charge of communication and planning while Sierra Leone will be in charge of training. Uganda will remain with only two dockets of military operations and engineering.

The army spokesperson, Col. Felix Kulayigye, confirmed that most of the force headquarter jobs have been taken by Kenyans. “Fighting remains a preserve of Ugandans and Burundians as Kenyans takeover top jobs at the headquarters,” he said.

Although Lt. Gen. Andrew Guti, a Ugandan, remains the overall commander of the mission and he is deputised by Maj. Gen. Julius Karanja from Kenya and Brig. Gen. Audace Ndiwumunsi from Burundi, military sources say Uganda has been unfairly edged out. The last batch of UPDF officers, who were overseeing offices that are now in the hands of new member states, arrived in the country three weeks ago.

Affected officers
Some of the Ugandan officers replaced are: Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, who has been the mission spokesperson, now replaced by Col. Ali Aden Hamud from Djibouti while Col. Henry Isoke, who has been AU intelligence officer, has been replaced by a Kenyan and Lt. Col. Kamurari Katwekire, who has been heading civil-military relations, is also back in Kampala.

It has also emerged that Kenyans are requesting Uganda and Burundi to help them in the planned operation to attack Kisimayo, the headquarters of al-Shabaab, under the Kenya’s sector. Somalia has been divided into three sectors with Uganda controlling sector one, Kenya operates within sector two while Burundi was given sector three.

Uganda and Burundi have been attacking al- Shabaab positions and have moved 40km out of Mogadishu but Kenya is yet to begin its operations.