The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Wilson Mbadi has said regional integration is very important in securing the region because it comes with a lot of advantages.
“Regional integration is the only way of creating strategic security to secure our countries and communities because it is only by integrating, that we will be able to have a strong voice, larger market, strong security frameworks, firmer security foundation and thus stability,” the CDF said Monday while speaking to a delegation of student officers and directing staff from the Tanzanian Command and Staff College at Defence headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala.
The officers are in Uganda for a one-week study tour under the theme 'Capabilities of Regional Blocs in Combating Emerging Security Threats.'
Gen Mbadi encouraged the students to be courageous and ride on the spirit of Pan- Africanism to avoid falling into the temptation of thinking that there are people who know our countries more than us.
“That is when we lose the chance of creating our own strategic security to secure our countries but if we continue to generate strategic thinkers like you, then achieving African solutions for African problems will be achievable,” he underscored.
During the discussions, one of the visiting students Maj. John Joseph Nzalla asked about “how regional blocs can be strengthened” and the CDF said that “the answer lies in understanding our problems and acknowledging that we cannot fight these emerging threats alone. We either integrate or we are swallowed up by the enemies of peace.”
“As we face various challenges especially those of a transnational nature, the need to understand regional challenges and work out cooperative countermeasures has become more necessary than ever before,” he added.
The Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI) Maj Gen James Birungi noted Uganda is peaceful and stable, however, threats to national security continue to manifest in form of terrorism, cyber threats, general and transitional crimes as well as challenges associated with the influx of refugees into the country.
At the regional level, he went on, activities of negative armed groups continue to create pockets of insecurity in some countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
Gen Birungi observed that terrorism continues to be a major security threat to Uganda and the region mainly orchestrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Al-Sunnah Wal Jama (ASWJ), Islamic State (IS), Al-Shabaab, and Islamic State Central African Province (ISCAP) among others.
“Although terror cells in the country have been largely neutralized, ADF/ISCAP maintains capacity to plan and execute attacks across the region. Concerted efforts from all stakeholders are therefore necessary to address all these challenges,” he said.
On his part, the Commandant of the Tanzanian Command and Staff College and Head of the delegation Brig Gen SD Ghuliku said: “We are going to step out of this hall by knowing that unity and cooperation among our countries is the only solution to our problems. We are one people. Let these imaginary lines that were drawn by the colonial masters not divide us. Rather we should forget about those lines and integrate for our own benefits because without cooperation and unity, we are not going to survive these emerging forces and security threats which are coming upon us all.”
The study tour is aimed at enhancing the understanding of students in the areas of geopolitics, the social and economic dynamics of the region and how they affect our countries if we continue acting as individual countries or if we act together towards social economic and security issues facing the region.
