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KAMPALA
UGANDA has been named among countries fuelling the
Somali conflict and violating the 1992 arms embargo slapped on the horn of
Africa country.
The accusations are contained in an 80-page United Nations commissioned
report on violence in Somalia to be discussed in the UN Security Council
on Friday.
The report names Uganda among 10 other countries and armed
groups that have flouted the embargo by shipping weapons and military
equipment to Somalia, which has been embroiled in a 10 year conflict.
"Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen have all sent weapons and military
equipment to the interim government, holed up in its sole outpost in
Baidoa," said the report.
The report also says Uganda has deployed
troops in Baidoa, planting seed for an even bigger regional conflict.
Uganda, which also backs the transitional government, sent parts for
anti-aircraft guns, supplies for building a military camp, along with an
unspecified number of soldiers. Security experts have told Reuters the
soldiers are about 100.
"In terms of regional implications, the presence of Ethiopia and Uganda
on one side and Eritrea and Djibouti on the other greatly complicates any
political solution as all four are members of the east African peace body
Igad which led to the peace talks that produced the interim government,"
the report says.
According to the report, the weapons to both sides include "the usual
array of Cold War-era castoffs that typify the Somali arsenal, mostly from
the former Eastern Bloc...machine guns, assault rifles, rocket-propelled
grenades, mines and anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, guns that are
usually mounted on pick-up or flat-bed trucks -- which have also been sent
in."
The defence ministry however, denies the claims. Ms Ruth Nankabirwa,
the State Minister for Defence told Daily Monitor yesterday that Uganda
had neither supplied weapons to Somalia nor deployed forces to protect the
transitional government in Baidoa, south of the capital Mogadishu. "We are
falsely being accused of sending troops to Somalia and supplying arms.
there is no truth in that at all," Nankabirwa said.
"To send arms to Somalia we need the UN to temporarily lift the arms
embargo and we need approval from Parliament," she added.
However, her account sharply contrasts that of her colleague Amama
Mbabazi, the security minister.
Mbabazi told Inside Politics in an
interview recently that a UPDF contingent were in Somalia to train troops
and protect the transitional government in Baidoa.
Contradiction
"We are doing a job for Igad- we
face the same challenges. When Igad took a decision to act we were given
the job of protecting the transitional government and ensuring the
training of their security forces. Commonsense commanded that we
cooperate," he said.
The UN report, however, says the arms and equipment flow is dizzying,
even by the standards of a nation known as a byword for arms markets:
"Behind the scenes, large cargo aircraft and ocean-going dhows have been
clandestinely delivering arms and other forms of military support from
states, arms-trading networks and others, almost on a daily basis."
More sophisticated weapons, according to the report, are also coming
in, mostly towards the Islamist side. These include shoulder-fired
anti-aircraft missiles, multiple rocket launchers and second-generation
infrared-guided anti-tank weapons all designed to counter Ethiopia's
military, backing the government.
Two Ethiopian rebel groups are
backing the Islamists, and some Hezbollah personnel have also arrived in
Somalia.
The report warns that if war breaks out, rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea,
still bitter over a 1998-2000-border war could fight, and that "acts of
terrorism" could be carried out in vulnerable neighbouring states.
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