Questions raised on Uganda army’s mission in South Sudan
Saturday January 18 2014
Displaced: Children walk through a camp at the United Nations Mission to South Sudan base in Juba on January 9, 2014. With reports that the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and displaced half a million, has taken on an ethnic tone, there are fears that Uganda may face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Photo/AFP
Last week, Uganda’s ruling NRM party secured parliamentary approval for the army’s humanitarian mission to troubled South Sudan.
But now President Yoweri Museveni’s revelation that the UPDF is involved in combat has complicated the matter with the government fielding criticism for withholding information on the forces’ exact mandate and status of the operation.
READ: Museveni reveals Uganda combat role in South Sudan
The situation has not been helped by the Status of Forces Agreement, on which the government has based its insistence that it was invited to South Sudan on December 16, 2013 by its embattled President Salva Kiir.
The agreement is supposed to clarify the terms under which the Ugandan army is in South Sudan. Dated January 10, 2014, some 22 days after the UPDF were deployed in Juba, the agreement bears the witness of only its signatories — Dr Crispus Kiyonga, Uganda’s Minister of Defence, and his South Sudan counterpart Kuol Manyang Juuk.
For the type of mission the agreement is supposed to guarantee, opposition legislators say it should have been discussed and witnessed by more people.
The agreement is silent on issues such as the aim of the intervention, key result areas and performance indicators, how success of the objectives will be measured, the length of stay and the exit strategy. Instead it places the burden of all financial responsibility on Uganda, including compensating soldiers who die in battle.
“How can you be invited by a country and you send your people and assets and the host country bears no responsibility for anything whatsoever?” Wafula Oguttu, the MP for Bukhooli Central, who represented the Leader of Opposition during the debate, asked.
“We, as a country, have been drawn into a silly fight and we have been turned into enemies of South Sudan and its people. He [President Museveni] wants to be the mercenary of the West because he knows it is what keeps him in power,” Mr Oguttu told The EastAfrican.
The mission has drawn parallels with Uganda’s previous military forays into Somalia, DR Congo, and Rwanda.
READ: Uganda soldiers fighting other countries’ wars
The situation is unlikely to lead to rescinding the approval or demanding withdrawal of the troops since the opposition lacks the numbers to reverse the ruling.
Constant scrutiny of the mission is likely to lead to the government suppressing any public discussion about it, further shrouding the mission’s full cost, especially in the number of those killed.
Already, the Uganda Communications Commission has informed all broadcasters to “take extra care” in their coverage of events in South Sudan.
In an undated letter to all radio and television stations, the commission said it has “established that broadcasts by some broadcasting stations/media houses on the recent events in South Sudan may be prejudicial to some sections of the public.”
It further states: “While the media houses are not prohibited from broadcasting on issues that touch on national security and human rights, due to the sensitivity of the matter, it is necessary to take extra care to be impartial and factual in their reporting.”
The commission cautions against any “imbalances and sensational broadcasts” that might interfere with ongoing processes to resolve the matter, and says it will “discipline” any media house whose reports it deems errant.
On January 15, President Museveni contradicted his Chief of Defence Forces Gen Katumba Wamala, when he told the meeting of Heads of State from the Great Lakes Region in Luanda, Angola that the Ugandan army was fighting alongside its South Sudan counterpart.
“Only the other day, January 13, the SPLA and elements of our army had a big battle with these rebel troops at a point about 90km from Juba where we inflicted a big defeat on them. Unfortunately, many lives were lost on the side of the rebels. We also took casualties and also had some dead,” President Museveni said.
The day before, Gen Wamala, one of 10 army representatives in parliament, had stated during the debate to approve the army’s mission, that Uganda was “not fighting and we are not mercenaries of government, but we want to stop the killing of innocent people.”
With reports that the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and displaced half a million, has taken on an ethnic tone, there are fears that Uganda may face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.