US aids UPDF on Kony war
Oct 26, 2003
THE United States has begun providing military assistance to the Ugandan People Defence Forces (UPDF) in a bid to stamp out Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
By Maurice Okore and Grace Matsiko
THE United States has begun providing military assistance to the Ugandan People Defence Forces (UPDF) in a bid to stamp out Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
The international community designated the LRA a terrorist organisation earlier this year.
According to the Washington times, the assistance involves American satellite photography and other electronic surveillance methods to help Uganda cut off support the group apparently enjoys from neighbouring Sudan.
“There will be no U.S. soldiers on the ground, we are using American dollars and American technology,†the paper quoted an unidentified U.S. official as saying.
It said the assistance follows a trip by President Yoweri Museveni to Washington in June and a reciprocal visit by the US president George W. Bush in July.
“I think what I can tell you is that obviously we are faced with a problem of terrorism by the LRA of Joseph Kony and we are fighting it with members of the international coalition against terrorism,†Uganda’s defence minister, Amama Mbabazi said in comments on the report.
“As far as military assistance is concerned, we have had a relationship with the US,†Mbabazi said.
He said Uganda has been a “vigorous participant†in the international campaign against terror and hoped that it is among the countries to
benefit from the Bush administration’s announcement of the US$100m anti-terrorism package
The Bush administration approved a Ugandan request for logistical support and intelligence in August as part of a wider strategy to defeat terrorist groups operating in East Africa, and in gratitude for Ugandan support at the United Nations over Iraq policy, Washington reported. Gen. Charles Wald, deputy chief of the European Command, is reported to have cemented the plan in August while in Uganda.
Bush also announced last June that the United States would spend $100m on anti-terrorism aid to Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Djibouti
Sgt. John Tomassi, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s European Command, which covers sub-Saharan Africa, was reported to have declined to comment specifically on the support against LRA, but that the United States is “committed to the security and stability of the region
The UPDF has been fighting the LRA for the last 17 years.
Ends
THE United States has begun providing military assistance to the Ugandan People Defence Forces (UPDF) in a bid to stamp out Joseph Kony’s Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
The international community designated the LRA a terrorist organisation earlier this year.
According to the Washington times, the assistance involves American satellite photography and other electronic surveillance methods to help Uganda cut off support the group apparently enjoys from neighbouring Sudan.
“There will be no U.S. soldiers on the ground, we are using American dollars and American technology,†the paper quoted an unidentified U.S. official as saying.
It said the assistance follows a trip by President Yoweri Museveni to Washington in June and a reciprocal visit by the US president George W. Bush in July.
“I think what I can tell you is that obviously we are faced with a problem of terrorism by the LRA of Joseph Kony and we are fighting it with members of the international coalition against terrorism,†Uganda’s defence minister, Amama Mbabazi said in comments on the report.
“As far as military assistance is concerned, we have had a relationship with the US,†Mbabazi said.
He said Uganda has been a “vigorous participant†in the international campaign against terror and hoped that it is among the countries to
benefit from the Bush administration’s announcement of the US$100m anti-terrorism package
The Bush administration approved a Ugandan request for logistical support and intelligence in August as part of a wider strategy to defeat terrorist groups operating in East Africa, and in gratitude for Ugandan support at the United Nations over Iraq policy, Washington reported. Gen. Charles Wald, deputy chief of the European Command, is reported to have cemented the plan in August while in Uganda.
Bush also announced last June that the United States would spend $100m on anti-terrorism aid to Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Djibouti
Sgt. John Tomassi, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s European Command, which covers sub-Saharan Africa, was reported to have declined to comment specifically on the support against LRA, but that the United States is “committed to the security and stability of the region
The UPDF has been fighting the LRA for the last 17 years.
Ends