So where were the the so called Ugandan MP's when Museveni decided, albeit
arbitrary , to deproy heavily Ugandan Army troops in Somalia? .....and by so
doing invoking the wrath of the Arabs on Uganda and Ugandans? We can only
assume they were sleeping! right?
Matek
Uganda: MPs Did Not Endorse Somalia Deployment
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The Monitor (Kampala)
November 16, 2006
Posted to the web November 15, 2006
Emmanuel Gyezaho & Emma Mutaizibwa
Parliament
MUCH as Uganda has deployed a contingent of UPDF troops in the war-ravaged
Somalia, it has emerged that the government executed the deployment without
Parliament's approval.
Parliament Speaker Edward Ssekandi told Daily Monitor yesterday that the
House has not sanctioned any deployment to Somalia. "I am not aware of the
deployment. I don't know about those facts and I am not in position to comment
whether it is an anomaly or not," he said.
The Minister for Security, Amama Mbabazi, in an interview with Daily Monitor
last week, revealed that Uganda has deployed troops in Somalia under the
auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).
"We are doing a job for Igad, we face the same challenges," he said. "When
Igad took a decision to act, we were given the job of protecting the
transitional government and ensuring the training of their security forces.
Commonsense commanded that we cooperate."
It is still not clear how many UPDF soldiers have been sent to Somalia but
about two months ago, President Yoweri Museveni at a joint press briefing with
the visiting Ethiopian Premier Meles Zenawi, said he would seek Parliament's
consent in the event of a deployment to Somalia.
According to the UPDF Act (2005) section 39 (2), any deployments of Ugandan
troops to a foreign country must be done with the approval of Parliament. But
in case the House is on recess like it is currently, according to section 39
(3), the Speaker is supposed to call an emergency session immediately after the
troops have been sent to ratify the position. But no emergency session has yet
been called.
"It is the height of impunity and a one-man government which this government
is experiencing," Okulo Epak (Oyam South) said. "The President has made himself
the Constitution, Parliament and the Judiciary."
Uganda and Ethiopia are backing Somali interim President Abdullahi Yusuf, a
secular warlord who is clinging onto power by a thread.
His government is holed up in Baidoa town, 60km south of Mogadishu whereas
Muslim fundamentalists have taken control of most of Somalia.
Recently, the political leader of the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Courts
in Mogadishu Sheikh Hassan Dahir, who is listed by the US as a member of the
deadly Al-Quaeda terror group warned Uganda against intervening in an intricate
war where Islamic radicals are fighting control of the government against
secular warlords.
Somalia warning
"We don't want a Somali bullet to hit a Ugandan or a Ugandan bullet to hit a
Somali. There should be no reason for that," he said.
The chairperson of the House committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, Rose
Namayanja yesterday said it would be very unfortunate for the country if the
government sent troops without Parliament's approval.
Relevant Links East Africa
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Civil War and Communal Conflict
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Uganda
Arms and Military Affairs
"It will be disheartening to know that it is the government that has broken
this new law even before it has been tested."
Former army commander, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu (East African MP) scoffed at
the deployment and said, "The government's approach to issues is arrogant. You
do not expend people's lives just like that. You don't send our troops to die
for a cause that people back home don't understand."
Oddly, the only extent to which Parliament's involvement in the deployment
was exhibited was at a closed NRM party caucus meeting in September. The
caucus, however, did not pronounce itself on the matter.
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