President Museveni Meets Top UPDF Generals

President Yoweri Museveni who is also the Commander in Chief of the Uganda armed forces yesterday met with the top UPDF leadership in Ntungamo district.

The meeting was held after the President's return from neighbouring Kigali, Rwanda where he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The meeting also follows an order for UPDF soldiers in the DRC to hold their positions.

"President Museveni has instructed me and all UPDF forces to hold all our positions in the DRC! We shall do exactly that! Absolutely no movements of any troops throughout Operation Shujaa until further notice! Furthermore, we await the final declaration by Chairman (of the East African Community) Uhuru (Kenyatta)," Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who is the overall Commander of the operation tweeted June 15.

The top UPDF leaders who met the president on Sunday included the Chief of Defense Forces Gen Wilson Mbadi, the Deputy CDF Lt Gen Peter Elwelu and the Commander Land Forces Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

The meeting is said to have discussed among other things the security situation in the country and ongoing operations such as Operation Shujaa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Usalama kwa Wote in Karamoja among others.

"I met with the UPDF Service Chiefs at 401 Brigade Headquarters in Irenga, Ntungamo District," president Museveni tweeted last evening.

The meeting was also attended by the UPDF joint chief of staff Maj Gen Leopold Kyanda, the Chief of Military Intelligence Maj Gen James Birungi and the Commander SFC Brig Gen Felix Busizoori and Commander UPDF Air force Lt Gen Charles Lutaaya among others. 

Meanwhile in a meeting held in Nairobi a fortnight ago, East African Community heads of state on directed that a regional force be immediately deployed to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The deployed EAC regional force should, in cooperation with the military and administrative forces of the DRC, seek to stabilise and secure the peace in the DRC,” reads part of the communique released a meeting attended by all EAC presidents apart from Samia Suluhu of Tanzania who sent an envoy.

The meeting held in Ntungamo could have therefore been, among others, aimed at setting the stage for the imminent deployment in the DRC.