Analysis. Today marks 10 years since the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) troops first landed in Mogadishu for peace operations under the African Union Mission for Somalia. Although the UPDF landed in Mogadishu on March 6, 2007, their operation was formally launched the following day. Daily Monitor’s Risdel Kasasira has dug up the accounts and brings you the highlights of the military mission.
On this day, 10 years ago, the first batch of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) landed in the war-torn Mogadishu where they have been fighting the Al-Shabaab Islamic militants in one of the most daring peace support operations in the world today.
By mid-2007, the UPDF, which was the first and only force at that time to deploy there under the African Union Mission for Somalia (Amisom), was controlling less than 10 per cent of the battered capital Mogadishu. However, subsequently other countries joined the AU peace operations and deployed troops to reinforce the UPDF in Somalia with each force or group of forces allocated designated areas for own command and control. Today, the UPDF has pushed the Al-Shabaab to the farthest point—about 200km away from Mogadishu.
In the west of Mogadishu, UPDF has bases in Lego, Afgooye and in southwest, they have forward bases in Baraawe, about 190km from Mogadishu.
Ugandan troops are deployed in Sector One in Benadir region and Banadir, and Lower Shabelle regions while Kenyan troops are responsible for Sector Two comprising Lower and Middle Jubba regions.