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Africa Horn

Uganda says will rescue Soldier from Shaboobs

2016-09-05

Thursday marked one year since al-Shabaab insurgents launched a deadly attack on the Ugandan military base in Somalia, killing 19 soldiers. One soldier was captured and later paraded in a video released by the insurgents as a prisoner of war two months later. Speaking in Swahili and handcuffed, the soldier said in the video that al-Shabaab was “treating him well”. It’s not clear whether the soldier is still alive but the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, said they were hopeful one day he will be rescued. Three days after the attack, President Museveni told the Japanese media that six soldiers were missing in action but Lt Col Ankunda on Thursday said five had been accounted for. In an interview last week, the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala, said the attackers took advantage of a mistake made by the commanders. “The commanders made a mistake to deploy a small force to guard a base that had been occupied by a bigger force,” said Gen Wamala. He said it has become a pattern for al-shabaab to attack UPDF positions occupied by forces that have just been deployed or those that are about to return home. A committee of inquiry chaired Brig Jack Bakasumba found out that the commanders didn’t handle the operational requirements well. The inquiry also found that the Janaale UPDF defensive position manned by 200 troops was overwhelmed by the al-Shabaab attackers who were estimated to be between 350 and 500. The committee of inquiry, which travelled to Somalia and Kenya, interviewed commanders and soldiers and inspected defence sites in Somalia. The report says the attack could have been avoided if commanders at all levels had read the “clear warning signals and made the necessary tactical adjustments”. After the attack, President Museveni ordered the suspension and arrest of Col Bosco Mutambi and three others who are now on trial over the attack. Lt Col Mutambi was the Commander of Battle Group 16 that occupied Janaale. He was demoted to lieutenant colonel.

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Africa Subsaharan

Thirty Held in Uganda over 'Coup Plot'

2016-06-11

[An Nahar] At least 30 people, including serving soldiers and an opposition MP, have been detained on suspicion of plotting to overthrow Uganda's government, the army front man said on Friday. "We and the police are investigating the matter," Colonel Paddy Ankunda told AFP, saying the group was suspected of planning an armed uprising against President Yoweri Museveni, himself a former rebel who seized power 30 years ago. Ankunda said the detainees were "linked to a rebel group" that he declined to name. He said most of those locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! were soldiers, adding that at least one politician and another opposition politician had been arrested. The only detainee named by the army front man was Michael Kabaziguruka, an MP from the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party whose leader Kizza Besigye is in jug facing treason charges. Besigye, who claimed fraud after coming second to Museveni in February's presidential election, was arrested last month for holding a mock swearing-in ceremony. Besigye was previously charged with treason in 2005 but the case was eventually abandoned. At the time prosecutors accused him of leading a shadowy rebel group named the People's Redemption Army, a charge Besigye always denied.

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Africa Horn

Somali Islamists Claim to be Holding Uganda Soldiers Hostage

2015-09-10

[AnNahar] Somalia's Islamist Shabaab bandidos krazed killers claimed Wednesday to be holding Ugandan troops hostage after an attack last week, although Kampala has said all its troops are accounted for. "The soldiers are in the mujahedeen jail," Shabaab front man Abdiaziz Abu Musab said in a statement broadcast on the Al-Qaeda-linked group's Radio Andalus, but gave no further details on the alleged hostages. "They are healthy, we will provide their names, ranks and other details very soon," he added. Uganda has said 12 troops with the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) died in the attack, with no prisoners taken, after Shabaab bully boyz overran a military camp in southern Somalia on September 1. However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... Western military sources said at least 50 AU soldiers from Uganda were believed to have been killed and another 50 were missing. Ugandan army front man Paddy Ankunda responded that "Western sources on fatalities in Somalia are wrong." AMISOM has in the past denied and downplayed soldier casualties. Somalia's Al-Qaeda affiliate, which has recently lost a string of key bases in the face of an AMISOM offensive, said the attack was Dire Revenge for the killing of seven civilians by Ugandan troops at a wedding in the town of Merka in July. Witnesses said the Shabaab took over the camp, looting weapons stores and loading corpses onto trucks. The group has previously gathered the bodies of dead soldiers for use in propaganda videos. Still photographs from a Shabaab propaganda video of the attack show fighters looting weapons and raising the Islamist black flag over the base. Several dead bodies are shown, but there is no evidence of the 50 men the Shabaab boasted of killing. The Shabaab have captured foreign armed forces before, including Kenyans and a French security agent, Denis Allex. Some have been killed, others released unharmed.

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Africa Horn

Uganda announces air force deployment in Somalia

2015-07-19

The Ugandan air force says it is going to deploy fighter jets in Somalia to help the war-torn country battle al-Shabab militants. The Ugandan military is no great shakes, and its air force is shabby. A few MiG-21s, Su-30s, and training aircraft, a few helicopters, and some serious problems staying consistently in the air. A spokesperson for Uganda’s air force said Friday that the deployment comes as part of the African Union (AU) mission’s operations in Somalia to retake more areas from the militants. “The AU has been negotiating with us on the deployment of our military aircrafts and assets in Somalia. We have agreed on the modalities and we shall deploy them soon,” Maj. Kiconco Tabaro told Chinese news agency Xinhua, adding that the mission would also ease troops mobility and help the evacuation of medical staff and casualties. “As you know our troops are too far from each other in Somalia. Our line of communication and movement has been difficult. These assets are necessary and will ease our personnel mobility, logistics, medical and causality evacuation,” Tabaro said. Another military spokesman said a heightened wave of attacks by al-Shabab militants against the military forces and civilian population in Somalia has made Uganda’s help urgently needed. “We have reached a point of no return. We have been lacking the needed air support in the fight against the al-Shabab militants in Somalia,” Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said, adding, “We are committed to liberating our Somali people.” In a recent meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, AU officials announced that they were negotiating with Uganda to have its few shabby helicopters deployed in Somalia. Uganda had prior plans to deploy military assets in Somalia, although they faced a setback in 2012 when a convoy of helicopters that had been sent to Somalia crashed in Kenya, killing seven crew members. Kampala also received two Cessna 208B aircraft from the United States in March, allegedly as an appreciation for its counterterrorism and security efforts in Somalia. Uganda is also the biggest contributor of ground forces to the AU mission in Somalia, and troops of the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) have been stationed there since 2007.

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Africa Subsaharan

Uganda Confirms Shebab Threat, U.S. Issues Attack Warning

2015-03-27

[AnNahar] Uganda said Thursday it was boosting security over threats by Somalia's Shabaab Death Eaters, hours after the U.S. embassy in Kampala warned its citizens of a possible imminent terror attack. In an emergency warning issued late Wednesday, the U.S. mission in Kampala said it had "received information of possible terrorist threats to locations where Westerners, including U.S. citizens, congregate in Kampala, and that an attack may take place soon". "Out of an abundance of caution, the U.S. mission has cancelled some non-essential events scheduled at local hotels in the coming days," the embassy warning said, telling U.S. citizens they "should expect increased security sweeps and delays when entering or exiting hotel areas". - 'Vulnerable points' - Ugandan defense front man Paddy Ankunda said the warning was "absolutely" linked to the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, who have carried out major attacks in Kampala in the past. "We've always known there's a threat and we've warned the public," he said, adding the murderous Moslems appeared to have "have identified vulnerable points" as possible targets and that security had been stepped up in response to the threat. Uganda is a key contributor to the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... 's AMISOM force battling the Shabaab inside Somalia. Ankunda insisted the threat was "low level", while government front man Ofwono Opondo said "Uganda is safe" in spite of the alert. "Effective measures are in place to deter any possible attacks. We ask every Ugandan to be vigilant," he said. A Western diplomatic source described the threat as "serious" and "based on concrete information" -- although details on the precise nature of the threat have not been given. The U.S. embassy in Kampala last issued an emergency warning in September 2014. Ugandan and Western security sources later revealed they had intercepted a transfer of explosive boom jackets by suspected Shabaab members. U.S. officials said at the time that the murderous Moslems were determined to avenge the killing of their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in a U.S. air strike carried out earlier that month. In 2010, the Shabaab carried out twin bombings in Kampala targeting a restaurant and a club where football fans were watching the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain, killing 76 people in the region's worst attacks in more than a decade. The Islamists were also behind the September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in neighboring Kenya's capital Nairobi which left at least 67 dead, and recently issued a call for fresh attacks against such locations. The United States has continued to strike the murderous Moslems from the air, and last week announced it had also killed a senior Shabaab figure, Adan Garar, who was linked to the planning of the Westgate attack.

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Africa Horn

Attack on AU Somalia Base,  4  14 Injured

2014-12-26

[AnNahar] Three African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... soldiers and a civilian were maimed Thursday after the Shabaab staged a brazen attack on the heavily-fortified headquarters of the force in Somalia. Times of India sets the corpse count at 14. The headquarters, located within the high-security compound of Mogadishu airport which also houses several embassies, was successfully repulsed, the AU force known as AMISOM said. At least one Shabaab fighter, and possibly several others, was said to have been killed after penetrating the compound, the force said. The African Union (AU) force said on its Twitter feed Thursday afternoon that "the situation is completely under control." Paddy Ankunda, the Ugandan front man for AMISOM, whose contingent is in charge of the attacked base, confirmed to AFP that there is "no more fighting." Ankunda said the assailants "sneaked into the base camp near the airport... but our troops foiled the attack." He later added on Twitter that the "attackers sneaked in incognito." Somali police official Abdi Ahmed said strong kabooms resonated at the rear entrance to the Halam base, where exchanges of gunfire were also heard. Shabaab quickly grabbed credit. "Our fighters are inside the headquarters of the foreign troops in Somalia," Shabaab front man Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP, adding several AU soldiers had been killed. Ankunda denied the claim, saying the intruders had suffered losses. "The Shabaab attacked us today but we managed to repulse the attackers. One of them was killed inside the base camp," Ankunda said. An AFP photographer initially heard gunfire coming from the inside the base, and later reported firing in the area had halted. A Western security source said between 15 and 20 attackers were involved. By mid-afternoon, officials said the Shabaab attackers had stormed the base and maimed three AU soldiers, while suffering at least one casualty in their ranks. But their evident success in managing to penetrate the highly-guarded compound was in itself a troubling achievement. The AU force headquarters is a fortified structure located on the grounds of the Mogadishu airport, which has also been placed under high security. There are currently some 22,000 African Union troops as part of the AMISOM force, deployed since 2007. They have managed to push Shabaab hard boyz out of the capital, but the Islamists still hold large swathes of territory. Recent Shabaab attacks in Somalia have targeted key government and security sites in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities and African Union troops that they are winning the war. Thursday's attack came a day after Somalia's parliament endorsed a new prime minister, appointed last week after the war-torn country's president fell out with the previous premier amid bitter infighting. The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... , United States and European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... -- all key backers of Somalia's fragile government -- have all warned that power struggles in Mogadishu were a damaging distraction for the country as it tries to battle Shabaab rebels.

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Africa Subsaharan

Congolese Rebels Escape From Camp in Uganda

2014-12-17

The Ugandan army said Tuesday that nearly 1,000 former M23 rebels had escaped from a camp just before their scheduled repatriation to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The army's chief spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, said the fighters cited security fears as their reason for not returning to the DRC. Ankunda, communicating via Twitter, said the Ugandan government was looking for the escaped fighters. Earlier in the day, Bertrand Bisimwa, civilian head of M23, said the fighters had fled as trucks arrived at the Bihanga military camp to take them to an airbase, where they would be airlifted to the DRC. He said some of the fighters had been shot and wounded during their escape. A number of M23 fighters ended up in Uganda last year after the Congolese army drove the rebels from their strongholds in Congo's North Kivu province.

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Africa Horn

Uganda officers suspended over sex crimes in Somalia

2014-11-08

Uganda has suspended 15 of its senior military commanders over their conduct in Somalia, including allegations of sexual exploitation, the army said. I'm guessing they also had white Toyota Land Cruisers and sumptuous guest houses... The suspension on Thursday comes in the wake of a damning report by Human Rights Watch which has accused troops with the internationally funded African Union force in Somalia, AMISOM, of preying on vulnerable women and girls. "We are doing a general appraisal on performance of the force," Uganda's defence and army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told the AFP news agency. "It's not sexual harassment alone," he said, but added the concerns were "one aspect we are looking at". "Those are allegations. We are investigating. Until the investigations are completed that's when we will know their involvement [in sexual abuse], but for now they are suspended," he said. The 22,000-strong AMISOM force comprises soldiers drawn from six nations, and has been fighting alongside Somali government troops against al-Shabab fighters since 2007. AMISOM donors include the United Nations, European Union, Britain and the United States. The Human Rights Watch report quoted several women as saying they had gone to the AMISOM camp seeking medicine for their sick babies, but were then forced to have sex. The vulnerable women largely came from camps in the capital Mogadishu, having fled rural Somalia during a devastating famine in 2011. African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has already ordered an investigation into the allegations, and the probe is due to be completed by November 30. The pan-African bloc, however, has also accused Human Rights Watch of being unfair and inaccurate, and of undermining peace efforts in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.

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Africa Subsaharan

Uganda forces kill 41 gunmen near DR Congo border

2014-07-07

[Iran Press TV] Uganda's army soldiers have killed 41 gunnies in a battle with tribal gunnies near the country's border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... (DRC). Army front man Paddy Ankunda said on Sunday that the battle erupted in the western district of Bundibuguyo a day earlier after tribal gunnies attacked army barracks. "We repulsed them, killing so far 41 of the attackers. The operation is ongoing," Ankunda said, adding, "We lost nine rifles to the attackers." He did not disclose whether there were any army casualties from the battle. Local media, however, reported that a soldier and his three children were killed in the attack. The country's police front man, Fred Enanga, said that unknown gunnies attacked a police checkpoint in the neighboring district of Kasese earlier on Saturday, killing one officer. The attacks came hours after the Ugandan army said it had killed a person for being involved in an attack at a church in the border region last week that left one woman dead.

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Africa Horn

Embassy in Uganda Warns of 'Specific Threat' to Airport

2014-07-04

THE UNITED STATES Embassy in Uganda said it had been warned of a “specific threat” of attack to the country’s main airport on Thursday and that travelers therefore “may want to review their plans.”. The warning was one of several recent alarms in restive East Africa, where governments have sought to counter threats, particularly those by Al Shabab militant movement based in SOMALIA. The embassy did not specify WHAT THE threat entailed, but said it had “received information from the Uganda Police Force that, according to intelligence sources, “there is a specific threat to Entebbe International Airport,” which serves the capital, Kampala. The warning, in a statement on the embassy’s website, said the attack could take place between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursday. “U.S. Embassy Kampala wishes to remind U.S. citizens of the continued threat of potential terrorist attacks in the country,” the statement said. “The targets for these attacks could include HOTELS, restaurants, nightclubs, shopping malls, diplomatic missions, transportation hubs, religious institutions, government offices, or public transportation.” The embassy’s warning followed a separate alert on Wednesday by Uganda’s Civil Aviation Authority, Reuters reported. The alert also coincided with alarms about flights from Europe and the Middle East to THE UNITED STATES because of concerns that militants may have developed explosives undetectable by conventional airport security devices. According to Agence France-Presse, a Ugandan Army spokesman, Paddy Ankunda, said on Thursday that troops had been deployed at THE AIRPORT and in the capital. “People must be vigilant IN THE FACE of this threat, report any suspicious individuals seen in their areas,” he said, calling on people to “stay calm and alert.”

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Africa Horn

Uganda clashes with CAR's Seleka rebels

2014-07-03

[ARABNEWS] Uganda said on Tuesday its forces in Central African Republic (CAR) had clashed for the first time with fighters from Seleka ...a 'mainly' Moslem rebel force in the Central African Republic that overthrew the govt, imposed a regime of rapine and looting on the country's non-Moslem population, and was then tossed by France. They still exist, getting funding and weapons from somewhere or other, licking their wounds, complaining about the oppression of Moslems, and occasionally raping and looting someone... , a mainly Mohammedan rebel force, killing 12, and would pursue them as part of a campaign against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). "Seleka had never tasted our fire, I think it was important that they taste our fire so that they are careful they are in bed with LRA and we shall treat them as such," Paddy Ankunda, front man for Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) said.

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Africa Subsaharan

Ugandan forces capture fugitive LRA officer

2014-04-23

[Iran Press TV] Ugandan soldiers have captured a runaway member of African myrmidon group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a perennial thorn in Africa's side and freed 10 hostages, the army says. Ugandan army front man Paddy Ankunda said on Tuesday that LRA officer Charles Okello was taken into custody in the southeast of the Central African Republic (CAR). Ankunda described Okello as a field commander of the "notorious" LRA, saying, "Most importantly we released 10 people, seven children and three women, who had been held hostage for six months." The Ugandan army has been leading an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force tasked with capturing the LRA's members, some of whom are wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) in The Hague. The LRA is said to have split up into small groups and its runaway leader, Joseph Kony ... The Lords Resistance Army is a religious and military group formed in 1987. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, and who is periodically possessed by demons, Beelzebub and Legion prominent among them. Kony advises his soldiers to draw crosses on their chests as a protection against bullets. This does't work, but nobody outside the LRA minds. The group is based on a hodge podge of apocalyptic Christianity, mysticism, and traditional Acholi religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on an odd interpretation of the Ten Commandments. The LRA is famous for systematic criminal conduct, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and occasional cannibalism. The LRA operates mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo... , is thought to be hiding in a place where the borders of the CAR, South Sudan, and Sudan meet.

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