The NRM National Treasurer Rose Namayanja Nsereko has been involved in an accident and fractured but her life is out of danger.

A team of medical doctors led by Dr Ben Mbonye, have confirmed that her life is out of danger despite the fracture on her upper thigh.

Dr Mbonye said Namayanja’s mother, the bodyguard and driver are also safe although they sustained several injuries.

The Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, NRM National Vice Chairman Moses Kigongo and NRM Deputy Treasurer  Kenneth Omona are among the many dignitaries that paid her a visit at Nakasero Hospital.

The Party Communications Officer, Rogers Mulindwa, has however requested the public not to visit her until tomorrow as the medical team continues to asses her condition.

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A journalist who fled Burundi after the attempted coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza on May 13 is being held by authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, without charges.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Egide Mwemero, who works for Radio Publique Africaine, was arrested in Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on October 13 after fleeing from Burundi following violence that erupted when President Nkuruunziza announced he would run for a third ‘unconstitutional’ term.

In a release earlier today the CPJ says Mwemero was arrested together with two Congolese reporters, Manzambi Mupenge and Lucien Kanana, who work with local community station Radio le Messager du Peuple, which had partnered with Mwemero’s station to broadcast the latter’s show, ‘Humura Burundi’ on its airwaves. Mupenge and Kanana were released two days later, but the Congolese station that was airing the show was ordered by the authorities to stop broadcasting it on October 9.
‘Unrest in Burundi earlier this year, in which several radio station were forced off air and had equipment damaged, forced Radio Publique Africaine to stop broadcasting from Burundi,’ the CPJ says in the release, and adds that Bob Rugurika, the managing director of Radio Publique Africaine had confirmed that Mwemero was still in custody.

“Radio is a vital information source for people in this region and journalists should be allowed to do their jobs,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Sue Valentine. She added: “We are extremely concerned that Egide Mwemero is being held without any public disclosure of charges against him and we urge Democratic Republic of Congo authorities to release him immediately.”

According to reports DRC President Joseph Kabila, who is himself trying to vouch for a third unconstitutional term and participate in the elections in November 2016, has maintained good relations with Burundi.

‘Journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo are often faced with a hostile environment, and the government has attacked press freedom in an effort to silence critics or dissenting opinions, the CPJ says. In January, authorities briefly blocked Internet and cellphone service throughout the country; in March during a pro-democracy rally, government forces arrested about 30 individuals, several of whom were journalists covering the protest and some of whom reported being assaulted’ the CPJ release adds.

The journalists’’ rights lobby group says efforts to get comments about the arrest of Mwemero from the DRC ministers for communications, human rights, and justice were futile.

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President Yoweri Museveni and the Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal have discussed military cooperation between their two countries, with Sellal promising that Algeria will help support the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) in counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations.

At a meeting held at the Zeralda State Residence, in the Capital Algiers Sellal hailed President Museveni’s efforts in finding solutions in South Sudan and Somalia and pledged additional support to stabilize the region and bring back security and development.

The two leaders also discussed military cooperation in Africa to ensure African unity, sovereignty and stability, with focus mainly on the security situation in the Sahel Region, Tunisia, Libya and the migration crisis, South Sudan and Somalia.

Meanwhile, President Museveni has called for the immediate resumption of the joint Ministerial Commission between Uganda and Algeria to push for the engagement of the business sector and table the trade proposal for tea, coffee, maize and maize products and milk to boost trade between the two countries.

While meeting the Algerian Prime Minister, the two leaders agreed on the proposal to bring the business communities of both countries together to exploit the economic potential of the two countries.

“I am happy to be here and I start with business. I want to sell a lot of agriculture products here especially, tea and coffee. We have a lot of tea. And for coffee, after a long time, we are starting to add value through processing. Nescafe have been buying our coffee at a dollar per kilo and selling at US$15 a kilo in London. We lose jobs and money. But when we process we sell directly,” he said.

Prime Minister Sellal noted that the visit by President Museveni is a great opportunity to make and update relations between the two countries in order to boost development cooperation.

“From the economic view, there are not great deals of trade exchanges. We look forward to building economic relations. We have some importers of coffee, tea and cocoa from Uganda but this is an opportunity to increase more trade,” he said.

Mr Sellal said his country has great opportunities in promoting cooperation in the Agriculture and fisheries sector and called for the biannual cooperation commission to meet and look at the possibilities of cooperation and exchange.

Uganda’s exports to Algeria are low with the major products being cocoa, coffee and tea. Uganda’s imports from Algeria are less than USD$ 1m per annum.

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A month after Somali insurgents attacked a UPDF base in Somalia, killing 19 soldiers, the commander Air Forces, Maj Gen Samuel Turyagyenda says Uganda is ready to deploy two helicopters for transport and four for combat to augment UPDF infantry. In this interview done by UPDF’s Magazine (Tarehe Sita) and sent to Eagle Online, Maj Gen Turyagyenda talks about the history of UPDAF, the Israel attack on Entebbe airbase in 1976 that left many air assets destroyed, and the crashing of the four helicopters in Kenya,  en-route to Somalia.  

Briefly tell us how UPDAF evolved to what it is today

Air Force was established in Jan 1964 with the enactment of 1964 Armed Forces Act. The first recruitment was done in 1964 by the Israeli’s. The emphasis was on recruits with aeronautical, mechanical, electrical engineers.

By 1975, Air Force had built capacity in terms of manpower, Equipment and infrastructure. It had operational Air bases in Gulu, Nakasongola and Entebbe and was capable of executing operational missions.

However, in 1976 most of the assets were destroyed on the ground by the Israeli raid during operation “Thunder Bolt”. The political turmoil during Amin’s reign saw many qualified pilots & Engineers either killed or fled the country.

The 1979 war saw the remaining aircraft either vandalized or taken away which made the Air Force to totally collapse.

But since 1986 UPDAF has been high on government policy agenda. We acquired some Bell and Agusta Utility helicopters from America and Italy respectively.  They were not combat. But with time, it became necessary to search for multirole helicopters that could do both Utility and combat.  The MI – 17 was the preferred choice. The UPDF fraternity referred to this ‘Skyhorse’ as “SURAMBAYA”

The white paper on Defence transformation in 2004 and later UPDF Act 2005 Created Air Force as a Service thus making the UPDF a bi-service. Since then, UPDAF (Air Force) has moved to acquire new and modern platforms.

Air Force has gone on to train its personnel (Pilots, Engineers and Technicians) from both inland and abroad in different capacities.

What are the major challenges the air force faces on this road to have a strong air force?

 Generally, the major bottlenecks in professionalisation are many but the following are some of them are; limited budget to undertake the required training both new airmen as well as progressive experience building for pilots, Engineers, technicians and other support departmental personnel.

We also need trainers and operational aircraft. We also need enough fuel for training and operations. We need ground handling equipment and other logistical equipment.

It would also be better to have a well-established Aviation Academy to conduct local training which is cheaper compared to sending people abroad.

There is also limited Land to conduct training. Most of the land has been encroached.

What has been the role of UPDAF in the fight against violent extremist in the region?

 First and foremost violent extremism is a global threat and in our region, the extremists have manifested themselves through Alshabab, ADF, and LRA and others. Whenever Air Force is called on, we have done Aerial Reconnaissance in Eastern, DRC, South Sudan and Northern Uganda to provide timely intelligence information to commanders.

We also air lift or deploy troops and resupply the required logistics. In Somalia, we do Aviation security, Meteorological, Fire and Rescue Services to AMISOM at Mogadishu airport.

These and many more, Air Force in support and collaboration with other Arms of UPDF, has played a significant role in combating extremism in the region.

What are the combat challenges you faced fighting extremism?

 Fighting extremist is or asymmetrical warfare where there is no frontline. The enemy will mix with the population and identification is a problem.

Another challenge is poor coordination affecting timely response. There is need to acquire modern equipment intelligence, surveillance, and target (ISTAR) assets to provide accurate information. Difference in doctrine of different countries is another challenge. We do not have the same doctrine and therefore have different training and operational methods. As I mentioned earlier, lack of helicopters, trained personnel and other logistical requirements pose a big challenge when fighting extremism in our region.

We are aware that UPDAF has been making some preparations for the deployment of Air craft in Somalia. How prepared in Air Force for the mission?

As you are aware, following the tragic accident of 2012 when we lost helicopters in Kenya en-route to Mogadishu, we went back to the drawing board; we have been preparing and now we are in advanced stages to deploy.

The helicopters to deploy are ready, personnel have been trained both in Nairobi and in Uganda, basically all preparations have been made and very soon we shall deploy.

Who is going to fund this operation? And how many aircraft are ready for the mission?

This is an African Union Mission in collaboration with the United Nations. The UN Security Council Sanctioned the deployment of air assets to Somalia as both force multipliers and force enablers. African Union will fund the mission.

As for the number of aircraft, we are looking at initially deploying Six–two for transport, and four for combat. However, in case of necessity we hope to increase the numbers later.

Is the deployment going to be done by UPDAF only?

Absolutely it will be done by Ugandans. Uganda is a troop contributing country and will undertake the mission.

Has UPDAF got involved in such a multinational operation anywhere in the world?

No! This is the first of its kind.

What do you see as the major Air Force achievements since 1986?

There are a lot of achievements which include   but are not limited to increase in asset base. There was no Air Force to talk about in 1986. But now it is a service Force with assets, and personnel. We have also expanded in area of operation. We now have four operational bases of Gulu, Soroti, Nakasongola and Entebbe. In addition we have an Academy in Nakasongola and an Air Force Garrison.

We have increased the level of training of our personnel both in professional/technical and military aspects.

Air Force has been instrumental in the defeat of all insurgents in Uganda, LRA, Lakwena, and ADF. In additional, Air Force was instrumental in battles against cattle rustling and disarmament operations in Karamoja.

Air Force has also been instrumental in operations other than war especially natural disasters. Examples floods in Teso, Kasese and Landslides in Bududa.

What change will the deployment of air assets cause in the operations against al shabaa?

The deployment of aircraft to Somalia will be a game changer. It will entirely change the course of operations. Troops will be airlifted and to and from the frontline quickly. They may also be deployed behind enemy lines positioned.    Logistical supplies will be easy and above, all the fire power delivered from the combat helicopter will substantially help to conclude the war more quickly.

Where do we see Air Force in the next twenty years?

In the next twenty years, Air Force will be modern with enough trained and qualified Pilots, engineers, Technicians and other support personnel. Air Force will have adequate modern platforms that can appropriately respond to internal, regional and continental threats. We will expand not only in size and numbers of the equipment and personnel, but also in coverage.

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About 108 Ugandan soldiers have joined their African colleagues in South Africa for readiness of African Standby Force that is supposed to be fully-fledged by December this year.

A statement issued by the Ugandan army spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda says the exercise is to evaluate the state of readiness of the ASF and its Rapid Deployment Capability.

Col Michael Kabango, the commanding the Ugandan Contingent said: “By the close of the exercise, our troops will be better skilled on crises response.

Participating countries include; Uganda, Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.

African Standby Force have five armies from the five African regional economic blocs that are supposed to respond to crises and conflicts in their respective regions.

They are; Eastern African Standby Force (EASF), North African Regional Capacity, Economic Community of West African States Standby Force of West African, Economic Community of Central African States Standby Force and SADC Standby Brigade.

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