WRITTEN BY RICHARD MUGISHA

Four months into his new job, the UPDF Commander Land Forces (CLF) Maj Gen David Muhoozi visited Ugandan troops under AMISOM in Somalia for the first time last week.

In an interview with Richard Mugisha, the general gives his candid assessment of the mission in Mogadishu. Below are the excerpts:

General, this is your maiden visit to Somalia since you became CLF, what is your assessment?

This is a very broad question; my assessment is that we have made strides. To start with, I think we have achieved a lot as far as pacifying Somalia is concerned. We started with a few areas in Mogadishu; we are now as far as Baidoa 250km, Marka 104km and Jowher, more than 100km north of Mogadishu.

Secondly, we are honoured to have been a stepping stone for others to join the mission; we acted as a launching pad for this noble assignment that many people thought was impossible. There is no question the mission is now possible and many countries have come on board. Kenya, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and this is an achievement.

The African Union Peace and Security Council and the Kampala TCC conference raised the issues of troop numbers on the ground in Mogadishu as your biggest challenge. Do you agree?

As it is now, the troop ceiling set by the UN Security Council is still one of the biggest constraints that affect the efficiency of different contingents in as far as dominating the grounds in their sectors is concerned. However, the debate on how to get more troops on the ground is ongoing so that this business of covering gaps is tackled.

Even in our (UPDF) sector, as we expand, the more vulnerable we become, along the supply lines with al-Shabab adopting asymmetrical tactics; they attack our convoy to deny us supplies. So, we believe that additional troops on the ground will help not only to dominate more grounds that we haven’t covered but [also] to secure our supply lines. At the moment, I can’t say we have given up, we will keep talking with all the concerned parties and hopefully, they will agree to an increment on troop levels.

What other challenges do you see in this mission?

The other aspect is certain equipment [usually used as] force multiplication tools which would also compensate for the lack of enough manpower. Things like helicopters for airlifting purposes, force protection and for effective power, we also need armoured vehicles especially now that the threat is more about IEDs [improvised explosive devices] along our supply routes, those two, I think would make our work better.

With a clear need for more boots on the ground, is Uganda willing to contribute more troops?

Uganda is more than willing to contribute more troops if called upon but within a framework of all other troop-contributing countries. Of course we don’t act alone; we work in partnership with others.

Amisom and the Somali government now control most major urban areas, while the al-Shabab remains in control of vast rural areas. How do you intend to reverse this?

Fortunately, the biggest threat of terrorism is more in urban centres, that is where our main efforts are. However, we are mindful of the fact that even if we got more troops, we may never have enough to cover every inch of this country.

We try as much as possible to involve the Somali government troops to plug these gaps on top of mentoring them, bearing in mind that at the end of the day, this country belongs to them and they will take responsibility of the whole country.

So, what will it take to pacify the whole of Somalia?

Even if the guns fell silent today, a lot would be needed. For a country that has been stateless and in turmoil for more than two decades, many things need to be done. You need to undertake post-conflict reconstruction not just after the war but alongside operations; so, we have to prepare ourselves for the long haul.

It will take patience, hard work and attitude change. There have been debates that we need to [revise the mission] from peace enforcement to peace keeping but all [this] depends on whether we have ensured that there is peace to keep.

I think we need to pacify the whole country before we think about other considerations. The task now at hand is to establish peace in all parts of the country which definitely is not a one day’s work but something that will take some time; so, we should be prepared for the long haul.

Six years down the road, has Uganda come close to achieving her strategic objectives?

Uganda’s strategic objective was to help our African brothers to come out of turmoil in a spirit of Pan Africanism. It was never  about projecting our interests beyond our borders. We heeded a call from our African friends; we spearheaded the mission and became a stepping stone for others to come in the mission and as far as we are concerned I think we have achieved our objectives.

Source: The Observer (Uganda)