By Our Reporter
The Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Lt Gen Wilson Mbadi, on Wednesday, flagged off 200 UPDF and police officers to Tanzania for counter-terrorism training, piracy and disaster management.
The group, which also included some civilians, will train alongside their counterparts from Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda Tanzania, and South Sudan.
Gen Mbadi, who represented Chief of Defence Forces Gen. David Muhoozi, said the two-week training is aimed at equipping the officers from the East African countries with skills to respond to matters of insecurity in the region.
“This is to strengthen the working relationship in police, army, civilians, and prisons to improve on responding to quick security problems arising in the region, counterterrorism, piracy, and disaster management,” he said during a function at Gadaffi Barracks in Jinja District.
The Chief of Training and Recruitment in the UPDF, Brig Jimmy Wilis Byarugaba, cautioned the officers to avoid careless drinking.
Government has also been tasked to urgently formulate the action plan on countering violent extremism as recommended by the UN secretary general’s Preventing Violent Extremism Plan of Action.
The US Department of State in the 2017 country report on terrorism indicated that while Uganda’s Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Act requires financial institutions to conduct comprehensive customer due diligence, it does not put the same requirements on mobile money transfers.
The Department of State also revealed that the Ugandan government had made important contributions toward countering terrorism in East Africa and the Horn of Africa last year, and had demonstrated strong and sustained political will to apprehend suspected terrorists and disrupt terrorist activity in its territory.
