President Yoweri Museveni has confided to international media that Somali based Muslim extremists Al Shabaab could have taken some of the UPDF troops in Somalia as prisoners, and blamed his own commanders for being “asleep” in allowing a recent attack on an African Union base.
Museveni is being quoted as saying that 19 soldiers were killed and six were missing following the Sept. 1 attack. The president’s figure departs significantly from the number of bodies [12] that were confirmed by the army.
The militant group Al-Shabab has said it killed 50 Ugandan soldiers at the base in Janale, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Tasked to elucidate on the deadly attack, the army spokesperson Col Paddy Ankunda dismissed claims by the Al shabaab that a number of UPDF soldier had been taken as hostages .
Ankunda said the rebels could have grabbed a few UPDF uniforms and that they could dress up some of their men to show off.
But Museveni strongly castigated the reluctance of the army commanders and said some of them would face the Court Martial.
“It was the mistake of our own soldiers,” Museveni reportedly told a small group of reporters in Tokyo, where he was wrapping up a visit to discuss Uganda-Japan ties. “Our commanders were asleep, not alert. And we have suspended those commanders. They will face a court marital.”
Ugandan troops are part of an African Union Mission in Somalia to help the government fight al-Shabab, which is allied to the al-Qaida network.
The militants have been driven from Mogadishu and other strongholds, but still operate in some rural parts of the country and carry out deadly attacks.
Museveni dismissed suggestions that they remain a potent force, attributing the success of the recent attack to Ugandan military weaknesses.
“They are not strong, the al-Shabab are bankrupt,” he said. “We shall defeat them. We have already defeated them.”
Chimpreports
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