Uganda says to pull out troops from Somalia over Congo charges
Fri Nov 2, 2012 5:12pm GMT
* Security minister says decision "irreversible"
* Ugandan troops form bulk of peacekeeping force in Somalia
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Uganda will tell the United Nations it is
withdrawing its forces from military operations in Somalia and other
regional hotspots after the world body accused it of supporting Congolese
rebels, the security minister said on Friday.
Minister Wilson Mukasa said the decision was irreversible and another
cabinet minister was travelling to New York to explain its position to the
United Nations.
Ugandan troops account for more than a third of the 17,600 U.N.-mandated
African peacekeepers battling al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in Somalia and
their withdrawal could hand an advantage to al Shabaab.
Its soldiers, backed by U.S. special forces, are also leading the hunt for
fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in Central African Republic, with some
stationed in South Sudan.
In a leaked report, a U.N. panel of experts last month accused Uganda and
Rwanda of supporting the so-called M23 rebel group commanded by Bosco
Ntaganda, a warlord indicted by the International Criminal Court nicknamed
"the Terminator".
Mukasa said Uganda would withdraw from Somalia, Central African Republic and
Democratic Republic of Congo to concentrate on domestic security.
"We are tired of being maligned even after sacrifices have been made to
ensure that our friends, our neighbours are okay. The 'thank you' we get is
that you are now aiding this, you are this and that, so we are tired," he
told reporters in Kampala.
A Ugandan army spokesman, Felix Kulayigye, said the military had received no
orders yet but was ready to act when it did.
"We'll not stay an extra day in Somalia when we get that order," he said.
The African force has been vital to propping up a string of interim
governments in Somalia and driving al Shabaab militants from all their urban
strongholds over the last 15 months, including the capital, Mogadishu, and
southern port of Kismayu.
A sudden reduction in its numbers, especially in Mogadishu, would risk
unravelling the security gains that allowed the first presidential elections
in more than four decades to be held in the capital in September.
Somalia's poorly equipped and ill-disciplined army is more a loose
affiliation of rival militias than a cohesive fighting force loyal to a
single president.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for al Shabaab's military
operation, said it was unaware of Uganda's intention to withdraw it would
keep fighting the African peacekeepers.
"After Ugandans leave, what else, it will be easier to fight the remaining
invaders. We shall finish them," he told Reuters.
PLAYING TO GALLERY
Uganda has earned significant Western support for deploying its soldiers to
a warzone few foreign powers outside the region have the stomach for.
It also benefits financially for its AMISOM contribution while at the same
time a troop presence in Somalia, Central African Republic and South Sudan
gives the Ugandan military a big footprint across the region.
"It's just politics and playing to the gallery. They won't pull out. Things
will be quietly settled behind closed doors with perhaps future reports not
being so critical," said London-based Somali-analyst Hamza Mohamed.
The confidential 44-page report by the U.N. Security Council's Group of
Experts, a body that monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions and arms
embargo in place for Congo, said M23 has expanded territory under its
control, stepped up recruitment of child soldiers and summarily executed
recruits and prisoners.
The report said Rwandan officials coordinated the setting up of the rebel
movement as well as its military operations. Uganda's more subtle support to
M23 allowed its political branch to operate from within Kampala.
Uganda and Rwanda have repeatedly denied the accusations.
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Fri Nov 02 2012 - 19:29:59 EDT
