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GOOD JOB! President Museveni greets the UPDF parade commander as Busoga Kyabazinga, Henry Wako Muloki (left), looks on
By Jonathan Angura
In Jinja
A decade after Uganda drastically cut the size of its army to less than half, the UPDF is set to be expanded once again in order to meet the country’s security requirements.
President Yoweri Museveni announced the move on Friday while commissioning 1,692 UPDF cadet officers at Gaddafi Military Academy, Jinja, where they have completed a one-year training course.
President Museveni said the UPDF is being rebuilt to accelerate its journey to achieve a strategic core to enable it deal with any security threat.
Lt. Gen. Yoweri Museveni, who is also the army commander-in-chief, said that since 1991, Uganda had been relying on a small army but the size now needed to grow. He did not disclose the new figure he is targeting.
“This large intake is part of our strategic core that will make Uganda deal with any security threat, big or small, so that we can respond flexibly according to the problem,” Museveni said during the commissioning.
The Reduction-in-Force exercise that started in 1991 cut the size of the army from 100,000 to 40,000 troops.
He said the need was evident in northern Uganda to fight Joseph Kony’s rebels, which was why the Fifth Division had been created.
Museveni said the army was determined to bring about peace in northern Uganda, the Great lakes region, and Africa as a whole.
“We have wasted a lot of time by responding below the challenges, but now that we have mobilised, we are going to finish the problem in the north,” Museveni said.
He described the Kony rebels as a bunch of idiots and hooligans disturbing people with the support of regional countries that arm them. He said he would therefore spend most of his time in Gulu to end the war.
Ends
Published on: Sunday, 10th November, 2002 |
