UPDF Amisom |Uganda Peoples Defense Force
An African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) guard of honour awaits the arrival of Uganda’s Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Okello Oryem at the mission’s headquarters in the Somali capital Mogadishu 13 February. Oryem was in Somalia on a two-day visit where he met with the commandship of AMISOM and the political leadership of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Uganda currently has over 5,000 soldiers and officers from the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) serving with 10,000-strong AMISOM mission, along with troops from Burundi and Djibouti. AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.
The East African country was the first to deploy troops under AMISOM into Somalia in March 2007. So far, Uganda has provided all four AMISOM Force Commanders with the recent outgoing being w Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti was replaced by Lt. Gen. Silas Ntigurirwa from Burundi.
The Ugandan contingent remains the largest contingent in AMISOM with 6,223 troops based in Sector 1 which comprises of Banadir (Mogadishu), Middle and Lower Shabelle regions. They are led by Sector Commander, Brig. Dick Olum, who replaced Brig. Michael Ondoga. The current Deputy Force Commander Operations and Planning Major General Geoffrey Baraba Muheesi hails from Uganda.
Until now, Uganda has deployed 12 battle groups into the Mission area. The recently deployed Battle Group 12 joined their Burundian counterparts in Baidoa.
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