Uganda beefs up security ahead of festive season

KAMPALA, Uganda | Xinhua | Uganda is strengthening security ahead of the festive season, a police spokesperson has said.

Joint security personnel, both armed and unarmed, have been deployed to patrol mapped-out areas in the capital city Kampala and major towns to ensure peace, safety, and security ahead of Christmas Day and New Year activities, Uganda Police Force spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said in a statement late Tuesday.

“Uganda is one of the countries at the front of fighting global terrorism. Our country faces threats from terrorist organizations,” he said.

“We have put our personnel on a high level of alert to detect crime and avert potential threats,” Rusoke said. “We equally urge the population to team up with security forces in ensuring safe neighborhoods.”

Uganda continues to face threats from the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group holed up in the neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and al-Shabab, a Somali militant group.

The ADF, also a branch of the Islamic State in Central Africa, has been causing havoc and mounting attacks in North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the eastern DRC.

Al-Shabab has on several occasions threatened to attack Uganda if it does not withdraw its peacekeeping troops in Somalia serving under the African Union Transition Mission. The group launched twin bomb attacks in Kampala in 2010, killing about 80 people and injuring many others. ■