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Deployment in Gaza is in country’s interest
If the UPDF succeeds in helping bring lasting peace to Gaza, it will not only be a victory for the mission, but another chapter in the story of a Ugandan army whose founding ideals of sacrifice, Pan-Africanism and peace continue to be carried by a new generation.
Paul Wanyoto Mugoya. (Courtesy)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Paul Wanyoto Mugoya
If there has ever been any doubt about whether the children of the original National Resistance Army (NRA) will ever be able to keep the revolution candle burning, Parliament’s approval on Thursday of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces’ (UPDF’s) deployment in Gaza gave a firm answer that they will.
Parliament’s vote in support of the Executive’s decision to send our soldiers to Gaza was a key strategic decision in advancing the historic responsibility of the UPDF coined by the founders and now passed on to the younger generation of army leaders that have succeeded them.
The deployment to Gaza is not a quest for international flattery or a show of diplomatic goodwill, as it has been reduced by former foreign affairs minister, the Hon. Asuman Kiyingi, but a decision to contribute to lasting peace.
If one cared to trace the story of the UPDF from formation; the adventures of its early trainees in Monduli and Mozambique, its exploits in the five-year protracted guerrilla war in Uganda, and later its engagements in missions on the continent, from fighting Apartheid in South Africa to bringing lasting peace in Somalia and South Sudan, they would know that the foundation of the UPDF is anchored in Pan-Africanism and peace, wherever they are needed.
The UPDF has an obligation to promote peace wherever it could be needed and, especially, if asked to contribute to it. The UPDF also has an obligation to protect the country from any threats, both economic and security-related.
We have felt the economic tremors a destabilised Gaza can have on Uganda’s economy. If contributing forces to efforts that can bring lasting peace in that region is an option, then we should not reject it by hiding behind technicalities and other excuses.
Being a member of and chairing the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) as Uganda ably does, does not deprive it of its sovereign responsibility to protect its national interests. NAM is not some central world government. Uganda, like other members of NAM, cannot be faulted if they make a choice that prioritises their own economic interests or national security because being a member does not require a State to act against its own interests or become anti-state.
In the wider scheme of international gymnastics, Uganda, just like any sane state, is a rational player who uses information available to it to make decisions that benefit its interests, selfish or otherwise.
If one cared to trace the story of the UPDF from formation; the adventures of its early trainees in Monduli and Mozambique, its exploits in the five-year protracted guerrilla war in Uganda, and later its engagements in missions on the continent, from fighting Apartheid in South Africa to bringing lasting peace in Somalia and South Sudan, they would know that the foundation of the UPDF is anchored in Pan-Africanism and peace, wherever they are needed.
The UPDF has an obligation to promote peace wherever it could be needed and, especially, if asked to contribute to it. The UPDF also has an obligation to protect the country from any threats, both economic and security-related.
We have felt the economic tremors a destabilised Gaza can have on Uganda’s economy. If contributing forces to efforts that can bring lasting peace in that region is an option, then we should not reject it by hiding behind technicalities and other excuses.
Being a member of and chairing the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) as Uganda ably does, does not deprive it of its sovereign responsibility to protect its national interests. NAM is not some central world government. Uganda, like other members of NAM, cannot be faulted if they make a choice that prioritises their own economic interests or national security because being a member does not require a State to act against its own interests or become anti-state.
In the wider scheme of international gymnastics, Uganda, just like any sane state, is a rational player who uses information available to it to make decisions that benefit its interests, selfish or otherwise.
This is not the first time the UPDF has gone where angels fear to tread. When it deployed in Somalia on March 6, 2007, no army on the continent wanted to touch Somalia. The USA had unsuccessfully tried a few years earlier, and the naysayers argued that Somalia would rather burn than send ‘our children’ there. But a destabilised Somalia was causing chaos and insecurity across East Africa and, especially, in Uganda.
Save for Hon. Kiyingi, those speaking loudly against the Gaza deployment are not new to the shouting game. Otherwise, there’s no record of Hon. Kiyingi opposing the Somalia deployment in 2007, yet he was present in Parliament and would later be appointed minister. Couldn’t it be that at that time a morsel of beef was stuck in his mouth and would choke him were he to speak? Now that Hon. Kiyingi is not eating, he seems to believe that for the deployment to be legal, UPDF should first table details of its deployment plan, the contingent composition and the mission command structure before Parliament. In short, the former legislator is saying the UPDF should inform the anti-peace forces, most likely to receive them in Gaza, of its mission plans before they land. One is left to wonder whose interest such a demand would serve.
When the law requires UPDF to seek Parliament approval, it does not turn Parliament or its committee into a command point of UPDF for it to be briefed on which soldiers would be deployed, when they would be deployed and under whose command they would serve, and the type of gun and ammunition they would carry. That alone compromises the mission because, truth be told, not every MP in that Parliament wishes UPDF well. UPDF is not going to Gaza to serve or be served ice cream. Soldiers might or will die and others will be maimed as happens in most soldiering engagements. But ask me for an army built on resilience and a willingness to sacrifice for the wider good so that we simple civilians can have peace to argue and talk while comfortably sipping coffee and I will show you the UPDF.
With leaders like the Chief of Defense Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, able to make the hard decisions like the deployment to Gaza; decisions that, although hard, are not only in line with the foundational mission of our country’s army, but sit within the economic and security interests of the country, the NRA revolution candle will surely keep burning.
I look forward to a kumbaya moment in Gaza at the end of their mission.
The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda, Mbale City Land Board Chairperson and a Patriotic Ugandan, PO49
Save for Hon. Kiyingi, those speaking loudly against the Gaza deployment are not new to the shouting game. Otherwise, there’s no record of Hon. Kiyingi opposing the Somalia deployment in 2007, yet he was present in Parliament and would later be appointed minister. Couldn’t it be that at that time a morsel of beef was stuck in his mouth and would choke him were he to speak? Now that Hon. Kiyingi is not eating, he seems to believe that for the deployment to be legal, UPDF should first table details of its deployment plan, the contingent composition and the mission command structure before Parliament. In short, the former legislator is saying the UPDF should inform the anti-peace forces, most likely to receive them in Gaza, of its mission plans before they land. One is left to wonder whose interest such a demand would serve.
When the law requires UPDF to seek Parliament approval, it does not turn Parliament or its committee into a command point of UPDF for it to be briefed on which soldiers would be deployed, when they would be deployed and under whose command they would serve, and the type of gun and ammunition they would carry. That alone compromises the mission because, truth be told, not every MP in that Parliament wishes UPDF well. UPDF is not going to Gaza to serve or be served ice cream. Soldiers might or will die and others will be maimed as happens in most soldiering engagements. But ask me for an army built on resilience and a willingness to sacrifice for the wider good so that we simple civilians can have peace to argue and talk while comfortably sipping coffee and I will show you the UPDF.
With leaders like the Chief of Defense Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, able to make the hard decisions like the deployment to Gaza; decisions that, although hard, are not only in line with the foundational mission of our country’s army, but sit within the economic and security interests of the country, the NRA revolution candle will surely keep burning.
I look forward to a kumbaya moment in Gaza at the end of their mission.
The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda, Mbale City Land Board Chairperson and a Patriotic Ugandan, PO49