Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni was shocked to learn from soldiers returning from Somalia peace operations that their commanders may have sold guns and bullets in Mogadishu.
Uganda has troops serving in the African Union peace mission in Somalia (Amisom).
The revelations were made during a meeting at an army training school in central Uganda last week.
A nervous Museveni chased away all the commanders from the meeting, except the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala, in order to allow the returning Amisom soldiers to speak out freely.
Some of the soldiers who were in the meeting revealed how they gave President Museveni harrowing testimonies after their bosses were out of earshot.
He asked the soldiers under Ugabag 10 (Uganda’s latest returning Amisom contingent) to freely tell him their experiences in the war-torn Somalia.
The troops were at first hesitant. Realising the soldiers’ discomfort stemmed from the presence of their commanders, the president ordered all the bosses out of the meeting hall.
Immediately the commanders left the hall, the soldiers opened up.
They told the President vivid details of how they often fought the Al-Shabaab on battle fronts without food and when it was provided, it would, on many occasions, be stale.
Some of the soldiers described their commanders as ‘opposition sympathisers hiding in the army’.
A soldier (names withheld) from air defence, reportedly told the President that about 60 troops in his unit were never paid their allowance for September last year and yet the money was released, but when they inquired why they had not been paid, their commanders threatened to send them back home.
Serving in Somalia is much coveted by soldiers because it offers much better remuneration.
Soldiers from the 45th Battalion told the President how they were given rotten or stale rations while their commanders sold the good food in the market, forcing them to rely on their counterparts from other countries for food.
More rot
Another soldier (names withheld) reportedly told the President Museveni how one of the commanders, now on suspension and under investigations by the military, used to force him to sign and acknowledge receipt of fuel even when the delivery trucks were empty. And that whenever he refused, he was threatened.
Our military sources said soldiers poured out their hearts to the President, saying often, armoured vehicles were not used in battle, except for public relations gimmicks in Mogadishu.
They said their commanders did not want to use battle tanks because they consume a lot of fuel and this would leave little or no fuel for sale to the market.
The commanders would requisition fuel for the tanks but sell it instead.
President Museveni, who had reportedly closed his eyes while listening to the nerve-wrecking testimonies of his foot soldiers, opened his eyes wide when he heard that some of the commanders traded in guns and bullets with the Somali civilians, who could even have included agents of Al-Shabaab militants, who the Amisom were battling in Somalia.
Some soldiers reportedly told the President that they were tempted not to raise any questions because they thought Museveni was aware of their suffering since the commanders were closer to him than the ordinary soldiers.
After listening to the distressing tales from his troops, the President reportedly apologised, saying “sorry for everything that happened to you there [Somalia]. I know it now and I promise I am going to handle those traitors who tarnished Uganda’s name.”
The President was also reportedly upset that despite the heavy funding the government gives to intelligence agencies, they had failed to give him such vital information.
President Museveni reportedly told his troops that he had been spending a lot of money on intelligence “who do nothing and yet there is that good free information” and that he was surprised some military officers could even sell guns and bullets.
When contacted for comment about the soldiers’ testimonies to the president, the Defence ministry spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, said “I never attended that meeting and I have not been privy to what was discussed.”
When informed about some of the allegations, Lt Col Ankunda said: “Those are serious allegations, I don’t have a first account of what was discussed.”
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