The crowd was in celebratory mood from start to finish, dressed in yellow, some painted in the NRM party colours. “We didn’t have money 30 years ago however we now have 16,000 billion for the next financial budget. I don’t need orders from foreigners on how to rule our country,” …
Read More »President Yoweri Museveni commissions 860 officers at the Oliver Tambo School of Leadership
President Yoweri Museveni on Friday commissioned 860 officers at the Oliver Tambo School of Leadership in Kaweweta and urged Uganda People’s Defence Forces soldiers to always seek added training, as it helps instills discipline in the army. Museveni, who is also the Commander-In-Chief, emphasized training goes a long way in …
Read More »Relief, fear as UPDF quits South Sudan
By Haggai Matsiko Regional peace rests on untested 1,200-strong UN force The announcement that Ugandan troops are exiting South Sudan has sparked both relief and fear. There is relief because since the Jan. 23 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by South Sudan President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar …
Read More »UPDF Begins To Pull Out of South Sudan
Uganda People’s Defence Forces on 13th of October began its phased withdrawal from South Sudan. 2,500 Ugandan soldiers had been deployed in South Sudan following the conflict in the new African nation between the President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar. The first phase of the withdrawal will be complete by …
Read More »Nyakairima and UPDF’s soul
By Andrew M. Mwenda How Nyakairima took UPDF out of headlines and has left a professional respected military Sometime in 2003, President Yoweri Museveni chaired a meeting of the army high command to discuss highly sensitive matters. The proceedings leaked to me. I was happy to publish a story about …
Read More »UPDF under attack
By Independent Reporter AMISOM responds late to al Shabaab re-organisation and tactics On July 23, Stratfor – the American-based intelligence firm- issued an optimistic analysis of the African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, effort against the militant group, al Shabaab. The analysis was titled, `In somalia, African forces make gains …
Read More »UPDF perfect for agriculture
By Patrick Nakabale With soldiers talking seeds and plants instead of guns and bombs, the prosperity gospel is made easier Recently, I was privileged to participate in activities of wealth-creation and prosperity through agriculture in Kakiri town council and surrounding areas. We have been involved in activities of agricultural expansion …
Read More »Giving NAADS to army
In Sri Lanka, soldiers are fixing roads and bridges, remodelling cities, and selling vegetables President Museveni’s decision to give the controversial National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to his former bush war veterans who, he claims, are living under abject poverty reminds me of an article I wrote in June last …
Read More »Inside UPDF’s Juba Mission
By Haggai Matsiko Army that beat Machar’s fighters faces an unceremonious exit A potholed runway ushers you into Juba International Airport—the most critical South Sudan government installation. A small old stuffy building with dusty window panes and a dusty cracked cement floor, the terminal is manned by policemen who don …
Read More »UPDF shines in South Sudan
By Andrew M. Mwenda The changing face of the Ugandan army and what it says about Museveni’s plans for the future Imade my career in the late 1990s and early 2000s in large part by investigating and reporting on corruption and incompetence in the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF). The …
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