Uganda seeks closer ties with Egypt to fight terror
L-R: Col Ahmed Fahmy, the Egyptian Defence Attache, Egyptian ambassador to Uganda Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Uganda’s Chief of Military Intelligence Charles Bakahumura and another Egyptian official salute during the hoisting of a flag at the official opening of the Egyptian defence office in Kampala on Wednesday. Photo by Nelson Wesonga
What you need to know:
Security. Uganda plans to work with Egypt to improve coordination of exchange of information to combat terrorism.
Kampala.
The Chief of Military Intelligence, Brig Charles Bakahumura, has called for closer ties between Uganda and Egypt to combat terrorism.
Speaking on Wednesday at the official opening of Egypt’s defence office in Kampala, Brig Bakahumura said Uganda looks forward to cooperation with Egypt in areas of defence.
“We also hope to enhance cooperation and coordination in the exchange of information, especially in the area of combating terrorism in the East African region,” he said.
His request comes a week after Mr Ahmed Abdel Aziz, the Egyptian ambassador to Uganda, said his country was ready to work with Uganda to fight against terrorism.
Mr Aziz said then that many powers, including the United States – “come to Egypt to learn from our experience, to be trained in Egypt”.
“Egypt is open to collaborate with Uganda, Nigeria, with anybody in order to face these sects inside our communities,” Mr Aziz told journalists in Kampala.
In the region, Kenya has seen an unprecedented wave of terror attacks in two of its main cities, Nairobi and Mombasa.
The authorities there blame the al-Shabaab militants, a group that the US lists as a terrorist outfit because it is believed to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda, an international terrorist network.
Like Kenya, Uganda maintains a military presence in Somalia – under the sponsorship of the African Union.
It is this continued stay of Ugandan soldiers in Somalia that political analysts here say exposes the country to al-Shabaab terrorist attacks, as happened in July 2010 in Kampala when more than 80 people were killed.
