Tuesday July 31, 2018
Brigadier Richard Karemire, the UPDF spokesperson. Courtesy Photo.
KAMPALA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan
military on Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's extension of the
mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), noting that
the move will help it achieve some strategic objectives.
Brig.
Richard Karemire, military spokesperson, told Xinhua in an interview
that the Resolution 2431 will enable the military achieve its key
strategies for provision of security for the political process, help to
defeat al-Shabab militants and building the capacity of the Somali
military to take over the security responsibilities of the country.
The
15 members of the Security Council on Monday unanimously approval the
extension of AMISOM mandate until May 31, 2019, deciding to reduce the
level of uniformed personnel to 20,626 by end of February 2019 and to
include a minimum of 1,040 police personnel. "UN
resolutions are binding to member states. Therefore, as Uganda Peoples
Defense Force under AMISOM, we shall continue to operate within the
resolution's parameters to pursue our key strategic objectives in
support of the people of Somali," said Karemire.
The
resolution emphasizes that the long-term objective is that Somali
security institutions and forces assume full responsibility for
Somalia's security, and recognizes that AMISOM remains critical to
security during this transition.
Uganda
provides the bulk of the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. The
other troops are from Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
The troops have been in the horn of African country since 2007.