By Godfrey Olukya 22-2-2017
Uganda’s minister minister of state for defense Charles Okello Engola has said today says that the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) are in Equatorial Guinea, upon a request of that country’s president to train its national army.
He said during parliament session in Kampala, ”Ugandan troops have gone to train the army of Equatorial Guinea on the request of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.”
Okello was responding to the concern raised by Lwemiyaga county member of parliament Theodore Ssekikubo over the deployment of the UPDF to Equatorial Guinea without parliamentary approval.
The Minister says that the UPDF had not deployed a fighting force as it was done in Somalia, where the UPDF is part of the African Union Mission, which also includes Kenya and Burundi, trying to pacify Somalia.
Ssekikubo reported that Uganda had deployed a batch of 250 armed officers and men of the UPDF under the command of Lt. Col. Wycliffe Keita, to support the President of Equatorial Guinea.
Minister Charles Okello says that there was no need for Parliament permission considering that the troops had only gone for training purposes.
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