African Intelligence chiefs and security officers from East Africa met in Kampala to discuss and find ways of ending armed struggles and ills fronted by terrorist groups.
The two-day meeting was opened by Major General Wilson Mbadi, Deputy Commander of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) on Monday 19th March 2018.
Major General Wilson Mbadi while speaking to the media after the opening said that the officials were trying to find a way of decisively combating and eliminating terrorist activities through sharing information/intelligence, as well as finding links between established terrorists like Al-Shabaab and rebel groups operating from the region.
The meeting brought together intelligence chiefs and security officers from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia, Mauritius, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Comoros and Madagascar.
According to Joseph Ocwet, Uganda’s director general of External Security Organization, there is need to find out where the funding for terrorists and rebels in the region comes from.
He also touched on other challenges facing the region; new and emerging challenges such as cyber-crime, money laundering and human trafficking, which highlighted the need to share intelligence information.