Do not touch Somali women, Museveni tells UPDF soldiers
President Museveni addresses soldiers during the passout of 1,700 soldiers recently. PPU PHOTO
What you need to know:
Gen. Museveni said sexual relationships between UPDF soldiers and Somali women could jeopardise the peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
KAMPALA
President Museveni has cautioned UPDF soldiers waiting to be deployed to Somalia this week against involvement in sexual relationships with Somali women.
Engaging in extra-marital affairs, Gen. Museveni said, is indiscipline and would “jeopardise” the peacekeeping mission.
Gen. Museveni was on Friday officiating at the passout of 1,700 reservists at Singo Training Centre in Nakaseke District.
They will reinforce the two Uganda battle groups in Somalia as they prepare for offensives against al-Shabaab militants.
“General Museveni strongly cautioned the soldiers to be vigilant and desist from extra-marital affairs while on their assignment in Somalia. He commended the UPDF leadership for their role in the training of the soldiers,” a State House statement said.
President Museveni attributed the “impressive success” registered by the UPDF in Somalia to its discipline, thorough training and solidarity.
Only one case of sexual misconduct has been reported since Ugandan troops were deployed in Somalia in 2007. It involved a UPDF peacekeeper who had a child with a Somali woman in Mogadishu.
DR Congo case
When UPDF soldiers were deployed to DR Congo between 1998 and 2001 they fathered several children with Congolese women, many of whom returned with them to Uganda.
Somalis have started the rebuilding process after 20 years of insurgency, following flashing of al-Shabaab insurgents out of Somalia capital Mogadishu by Ugandan and Burundian forces.
The Commander of Land Forces, Lt. General Katumba Wamala, under whose docket the Somalia misson falls, said the beginning of the reconstruction of the war-ravaged city is irreversible.
