Today, the Deputy Chief of Defence Forces Lieutenant General Sam Okiding met with a delegation representing the leadership of the military of the United Nations Missions in Africa, who paid him a courtesy call at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs Headquarters, Mbuya.
The delegation is in Uganda for the inaugural Force Commanders Conference of United Nations Missions in Africa.
Lt Gen Okiding requested that in the future, the African Union Force Commanders should be involved in such meetings and highlighted the similar challenges faced by the different missions across Africa.
He commended the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic for their support during the return of the ex-Lord’s Resistance Army combatants to Uganda.
The Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, Lt Gen Mohan Subramanian, who led the delegation, underscored Uganda’s role in supporting UN missions. “Uganda has an important role to play in all our missions. We derive a lot of logistics and training support from the RSC (United Nations Regional Service Centre), located here on the land provided by the Ugandan government. The functioning of the RSC is greatly facilitated by the government of Uganda and particularly the armed forces,” said Lt Gen Subramanian.
Lt Gen Subramanian commended the professionalism of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces field staff officers, whose performance he described as exemplary, and the civilian staff, whom he said are contributing heavily to the success of the mission in South Sudan.
Present at the meeting were: the Commander Land Force Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga, Commander UPDF – Air Force Lt Gen Charles Okidi, Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security Maj Gen James Birungi and the Chief of Staff UPDF – Air Force Brig Gen David Gonyi.
The delegation included: the Force Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Lt Gen Humphrey Nyone the Acting Force Commander and head of mission of the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) Maj Gen Benjamin Olufemi Sawyerr, among others.
