Cabinet Debates UPDF Congo Pull-Out Today

By Emmy Allio The Cabinet will today debate the Army High Command and the Army Council's resolution to immediately pull out the UPDF from 10 towns in the DR Congo. Army Commander Maj. Gen. Jeje Odongo was quoted by the AFP as saying the Army High Command had simply recommended the pullout. He said the recommendation would be debated by the Cabinet, probably today. "This is the recommendation not the decision. We are recommending this to the Government and the Cabinet and the Cabinet will discuss with Parliament and then we will wait for what we are told to do," Jeje was quoted as saying. The Minister for Presidency, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, yesterday confirmed that the Cabinet meets today to "debate the pullout of the troops." The Army Council on Saturday endorsed the resolutions passed by the Army High Command the previous day. The council, sitting under the chairmanship of state minister for defence Steven Kavuma at the army headquarters in Bombo, said Uganda should remain in the Lusaka peace process. In response to the UN panel report which implicated Ugandan military officers in looting and plunder of Congo, President Museveni a week ago called for a complete UPDF pull-out from Congo and from the Lusaka process. The top military commanders recommended complete withdrawal for troops in Basankusu, Dongo, Gemena, Gbadolite, Lisala, Bafwasende, Isiro, Butembo, Beni, and Kanyabayongo. It also recommended that troops remain in Buta, Bunia and on the western slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains. "We agreed that we will pull out of Congo but we will not pull out completely. There are certain areas where we think we should still stay on," Jeje told AFP in an interview late on Saturday. "I think we will pull out from everywhere apart from around the Ruwenzori Mountains," he added. Uganda deployed troops in eastern Congo in 1998, along with Rwanda, to back rebels against the Kinshasa regime, which received military support in turn from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Odongo said, "We also think that it is wrong to pull out completely as we are part of the Lusaka peace process which puts certain demands on us." Uganda has in the past said rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces had bases in the Rwenzori Mountains. Ends