Gen Muhoozi says UPDF able to neutralize Guinea Special Forces

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have the capability to neutralize the Special Forces of Guinea that on September 5 overthrew President Alpha Conde.

The Commander UPDF land forces Lt. Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has described the Guinea coup leaders as indisciplined, and said they can be kicked out if the Commander in Chief President Yoweri Museveni gave them instructions.

“If our Commander in Chief gave us instructions it wouldn’t take UPDF a day to discipline mutinous troops like the ones in Guinea-Conakry,” said Muhoozi in a tweet that’s trending in Uganda.

Muhoozi has led the Special Forces of Uganda twice before being named the Commander land forces of the UPDF this year.

Uganda has intervened in previously in several hot spots in the continent, with their biggest presence in Somalia with the AMISOM troops.

Lt Colonel Mamady Doumbouya who led the coup was a corporal in the Foreign Legion in France before Alpha Conde appointed him battalion commander when he returned to his native country in 2018.

If our Commander in Chief gave us instructions it wouldn’t take UPDF a day to discipline mutinous troops like the ones in Guinea-Conakry. pic.twitter.com/63sBXdv18L

— Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) September 14, 2021

A year later, in 2019, Doumbouya was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and then promoted to colonel in 2020.

After the military high command gave Conde lukewarm support in his bid for a third term, he purged the presidential guard and create a group of special forces that Doumbouya was posted to, who were loyal and well-equipped to him.

Museveni condemns coup

Lt Gen Muhoozi’s comment on twitter echo those of President Museveni.

In an exclusive interview with France 24,  Museveni condemned the coup d’état in Guinea, describing it as a “step backwards”. He said the coup leaders should be sanctioned and “get out”.

“It is a step backwards. Those military coups are of low value. We had them in the 60s and they were part of Africa’s problems… so I condemn it,” Museveni said.

Asked by France 24’s Marc Perelman if there should be sanctions on the coup leaders, he said, “they should get out, they should be told to go away. Those coups are not a solution. . because they are not a solution to the problems of the country.”

International organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as well as some governments condemned the military coup in Guinea and called for release of the country’s president.