Security Minister Amama Mbabazi has confirmed that the UPDF has reached agreement wit the Hawiye clan and members of the ousted Islamic Courts Union.
MICHEAL WAKABI reports
The Uganda government is quietly expanding its contacts with various insurgent groups in Somalia in an all-out effort to prevent further attacks on its 1600-strong peace keeping contingent in Mogadishu.
Speaking candidly to The EastAfrican last week, Uganda’s Security Minister Amama Mbabazi said the government did not expect another attack on its men.
“We are reaching out to as many groups as possible, contact has been made and dialogue continues,” he said.
He said the initiative is being driven by the need to explain to the Somali public the reasoning behind the presence of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) in their country.
Mr Mbabazi confirmed reports that soon after deployment in Mogadishu, the troops were able to initiate contact and reach agreement with the Hawiye clan, which dominates the Somali capital and members of the ousted Islamic Courts Union about their neutrality in the conflict.
But this position is in marked variance with the one publicly stated by Somalia’s interim President Abdullahi Yusuf, who is totally opposed to any contact with the clans and in particular with the insurgents. Kampala says the strategy is working and it does not expect any further attacks on its peacekeeping force in Mogadishu.
Since the deployment of an advance contingent of peacekeepers under an African Union mandate in March, Uganda has lost five soldiers in two separate attacks. The first soldier died when insurgents fired mortars on the presidential palace in Mogadishu while the latest attack, in which four soldiers died, came early last month when troops on patrol were killed by a roadside bomb.
However, senior officials in Kampala say they don’t believe Ugandan troops were a target and while they are not ruling out further incidents, they don’t expect any premeditated attacks on the peacekeepers.
The popular view in Kampala is that the insurgents were waiting for any military target and the Ugandans just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“We don’t believe we were a target because that was the first time we were patrolling this area and nobody could have known about our plans,” said Mr Mbabazi of last month’s attack on the UPDF.
He added that widespread condemnation of that action by local clan elders on FM radio stations and mass protests were an encouraging and unique development.
“I don’t think we have seen that kind of support from the local population for a foreign force in Somalia in the past 16 years,” the minister said.
The view was echoed by Uganda Army Spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye.
“When you are operating in an environment like Mogadishu, you cannot rule out anything. There are many groups operating without any plans, so while we do not expect ourselves to be a target, we cannot completely rule out incidents of that nature in future,” he said
Following the incident in which a bomb placed on a garbage heap was triggered to hit the troops, the local population has responded by clearing garbage piles in the city in an effort to prevent a repeat attack.
Kampala sees this as a sign of endorsement by the local population.
Commenting on events in Somalia and the last fatal attack in his state of the nation address last week, President Yoweri Museveni said the situation was not that challenging and he blamed a lapse in diligence on the part of his troops for the deaths.
“The soldiers were riding in vehicles in an area that had never been under the control of friendly forces. This was a departure from our procedures,” he said.
He said the only potential problem he saw were delays in getting the Somali dialogue off the ground and the conflicting agendas in organising a national reconciliation conference.
“With the right kind of dialogue, Somalia is not as difficult as itinerant ‘problem solvers’ keep saying. However, dialogue in a situation where legitimacy is contested is crucial,” he added.
Mr Mbabazi was emphatic that while the UPDF would avoid combat to the extent possible and largely stick to its peace keeping role, it would also serve the full term of its call in Mogadishu even if the other countries that pledged troops to the mission failed to honour their pledges.
“Even though others are late in coming, we still hope they are coming but even if they do not, we are prepared for the long haul should the need arise,” he said.
Malawi, Burundi, Ghana and Nigeria had pledged additional troops to bring the AMISOM, contingent in Somalia to 8,000 men but so far, only Uganda has deployed soldiers.
Mbabazi also dismissed suggestions that actions by the American military against insurgent targets in Somalia added to the risk facing Ugandan troops since they may be perceived to be an extension of US policy in the region.
“There is no connection between our presence in Somalia and what America does because we went there under the African Union mandate and they are pursuing a different agenda against international terrorism.”
Responding to inquiries on the same subject, the US embassy in Kampala said the United States remained committed to reducing terrorist capabilities when and where they find them although it recognises the importance of working closely with allies in all its counter-terrorism efforts.
Following the attempted assassination of the Somali Prime Minister on June 3, State Department spokesman Sea McCormark said the attack highlighted the efforts of extremists and terrorists to disrupt the national reconciliation process.
“We will continue providing support to the TFG as it establishes a stable national government based on national reconciliation in Somalia. We intend to provide technical assistance for the Somali investigation.”
During a press conference in Kampala on May 8, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs James Swan said the US was pursuing a three track policy in Somalia.
These include the deployment of a peace keeping operation by the African Union to which the US has contributed nearly $20 million; support for the Transitional Federal Government and to help it broaden its base and increase its legitimacy in Somalia
That funds were used to pay a US contractor for airlift and transportation of UPDF equipment into Somalia.
“Our core goal there is a secure and stable Somalia that can respond to the needs of its people, can prepare for the transition in 2009 from a transitional government to a permanent government, and of course, can deny Somalia as a terrorist safe haven that would threaten not only global interests that are affected by terrorists but more specifically interests in the Horn of Africa and East Africa,” Mr Swan said.
Source: The East African, June 11, 2007