Brig. Ondoga defends Col. Kimbowa before Court Martial

Jan 12, 2015

Brigadier Michael Ondoga, the ex-commander of Uganda military contingent in Somalia, has defended the former commander of the Uganda Battle (BG) Group 11+ against allegations that he issued fuel meant for peace keeping operations in Mogadishu without authorization from UN

By Pascal Kwesiga & Kasozi Balikuddembe     
             
Brigadier Michael Ondoga, the ex-commander of Uganda military contingent in Somalia, has defended the former commander of the Uganda Battle (BG) Group 11+ against allegations that he issued fuel meant for peace keeping operations in Mogadishu without authorization from UN.


Col. Hassan Kimbowa is accused of having issued 2,400 liters of diesel to third parties (Somalis) in 2013 when he commanded BG 11+ without permission from the UN mission coordinator.

Uganda troop contingent had three battle groups comprised of over 6,000 soldiers.

Testifying as a defense witness for Kimbowa in the General Court Martial, Ondoga, who is also facing service offences before the same court, said the accused was one of the commanders of the three battle groups he (Ondoga) commanded under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2013.

Ondoga told court chaired by Maj. Gen. Levy Karuhanga in Makindye, a Kampala suburb, Monday that the AMISOM standard operating procedures and fuel standard operating procedures (SOPs) required his field commanders to share logistics including fuel, food and medicine in combat, humanitarian, military transition assistance and civil military operations.

The SOPs, Ondoga, added only barred the commanders from selling and exchanging logistics with Somalis for other items.

Under examination by Kimbowa’s lawyer – Nsubuga Mubiru, the one-star General said he didn’t receive any complaints against Kimbowa relating to the sale of fuel.

“He was my field commander and I had a special investigations branch in my structure as the contingent commander but I received no complaint against him,” he said.

Ondoga explained that his field commanders worked with scores of language translators, informers and local leaders in administration and combat operations against al-shabab.

“Of course all these needed fuel and other logistics to do their work and the SOPs required the commanders to share these logistics with them (informers, translators and local leaders),” he said.

The mission, Ondoga explained, was not only about capturing and occupying territories recovered from the terrorists, adding that humanitarian operations Ugandan forces engage in Somalia involve working and sharing logistics with the local people to win their hearts and minds.

Kimbowa, he added, didn’t need to seek permission from the UN mission coordinator before sharing fuel with informers or translators because he (Kimbowa) didn’t know UN officials.

“I doubt if he (Kimbowa) knows the UN mission coordinator because I also rarely interacted with them. UN interacted with AU and we were below that level and Kimbowa was always in the field,” Ondoga said.

He also explained that the UN had a robust anti-fuel fraud unit and that supply of fuel would be terminated immediately to any GB that would be found to have misused it.

“Battle groups received fuel on a weekly basis and there is no time when his (Kimbowa) battle group lacked logistics,” he added.

Kimbowa, who wept in court last week, saying he had been denied chance to visit his ailing father in hospital, said Somalis are not third parties to the mission as described in the charge sheet.

Third parties, he explained, are defined by the SOPs as anyone who is not a citizen of a country in a conflict situation and those that are not part of the mission area.
 

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