The Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Vincent Ssempijja has boasted of the “success” of Uganda’s army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) revealing that in 2022 alone, 424 terrorists of the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) were killed.
He made the remarks while appearing before Parliament’s Defence and Internal Affairs Committee, where the Ministry had appeared to respond to queries raised about the sector during the consideration of the 2023/2024 National Budget Framework Paper.
According to the Ministry of Defence, following the escalation of ADF attacks both in DRC and Uganda, the two countries agreed to conduct joint operations against ADF leading to the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in defence that culminated in the joint operation in November 2021.
The Mukono North MP, Abdallah Kiwanuka wondered why the Minister’s update didn’t include the number of casualties from the Ugandan side. He also asked the Ministry of Defence to provide a breakdown of the Shs21 billion that the army is seeking for Operation Shujja in the 2023/2024 financial year.
