UPDF soldiers abroad surge beyond 12,000

Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, has said the country has enough security personnel to secure it despite the deployments.
He made the remarks on Monday following concerns over surging numbers of Ugandan troops being deployed outside Uganda. 
“Does anybody expect us to leave the country empty [without soldiers]? It bothers me when non-military experts pretend to be experts on the subject they don’t know,” Brig Gen Kulayigye said.

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Records indicate that the number of Uganda security personnel on foreign missions has surged to 12,000 after the deployment of 5,000 soldiers in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in areas occupied by M23 rebels, raising questions of whether the country can sustain it.
On Sunday, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) took over Kiwanja in Rutshuru Region in Eastern DRC, miles away from Ugandan border after M23 rebels withdrew under the East African Community Regional Forces arrangement. Ugandan soldiers are expected to take over more territories in Eastern DRC in coming days.
More than 3,000 UPDF soldiers are in Somalia, 9,000 in the Eastern DRC, and hundreds others are deployed in South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.
This means nearly a quarter of Uganda’s soldiers are abroad.
The Shadow Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Mr Jonathan Odur, said sending tens of thousands of Ugandan troops constrains Uganda’s defence since even before the DRC deployment, the army was short of 14,000 soldiers.
“On the figure of 12,000 [troops sent out of the country], this already puts a burden on the country to recruit the same number. For example, UPDF had to recruit 14,000 soldiers this financial year to fill the gap,” Mr Odur said yesterday.

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Last year, President Museveni said they had deployed 4,000 soldiers to hunt down Allied Democratic Forces (ADF rebels) under Operations Shujaa, which started in November 2021. The government has spent more than Shs150b on the operation.
Last week, UPDF commanders said they deployed 5,000  soldiers to occupy areas that M23 rebels are withdrawing from. The UPDF soldiers deployed in Somalia are facilitated by the African Union or the United Nations.
Mr Odur said operations of UPDF abroad are shrouded in secrecy yet Parliament should have been informed.
“Parliament doesn’t have any official report about the latest deployment in DRC. If the press reports are to be believed, the deployment is for the purpose of peacekeeping, which requires approval by Parliament. Clearly, there is a breach of the UPDF Act, and [it is] an act of impunity by the President as the Commander-in-Chief since this isn’t an emergency deployment,” he said.
He added that the country needs to know the legal mandate for deployment, the terms and conditions of the operation and funding modalities to avoid Uganda tax payers bearing the unnecessary burden.
But Brig Gen Kulayigye said the Defence Ministry doesn’t need to seek approval of Parliament because DRC is part of the EAC and the deployments have been discussed for a very long time. 
Mr Gilbert Olanya, the Kilak South legislator and Shadow minister for East African Community Affairs, said maintaining such a big army abroad, especially in DRC, isn’t sustainable for a country like Uganda whose economy is still struggling to recover after the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
“Why do we waste resources when the economy isn’t doing well? It isn’t sustainable. We have children without jobs and university graduates who are riding boda bodas who need financial support,” Mr Olanya said.
Brig Gen Kulayigye said the new deployments under the East African Community Regional Forces wouldn’t financially burden Uganda but the regional secretariat. 
“The East African Community (EAC) is responsible for the troops,” he said.
Mr Olanya insisted that he intends to raise the same issue on the floor of Parliament.
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