Four senior commanders of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) fighting in Somalia are facing arrest and a military court martial for their role in the September 1, 2015 attack that claimed 19 UPDF soldiers.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni gave the order in a radio message to the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) commanding immediate suspension of the four.
Museveni ordered for the arrest of the battalion commander of the UPDF sector in Janaale, as well as the company commanders and intelligence officers.
The commanders could possibly face trial for negligence of military duty that prompted the massive deaths.
Museveni said that the soldiers were asleep when they were supposed to be alert and this caught them off-guard, resulting in the massive deaths.
The militants attacked the AU base in Janaale, by first destroying a bridge to the base and in the event cutting the soldiers from any means to escape. They must have taken their time and strategized to catch the troops off-guard.
All AMISOM troops fighting in Somalia are expected to adhere to their SOPs (standard operational procedures), so as to prevent attacks on their bases by the militants.
Investigations into the conduct of the soldiers will possibly reveal how a vehicle full of explosives could not have driven past UPDF defences that are hundreds of metres away and reached the military base.
Clean job!
Accountability for command failure? Dereliction of duty? Lessons to be learned by the GOK…
They thought they were going to fight Bisigye, be strategic like KDF