By Spy Uganda
Senior South African Defence Intelligence officers were given an insight into east African intelligence actions and operations that stressed the importance of regional co-operation.
Attending a defence intelligence exchange meeting hosted by the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) military intelligence, the South African delegation from the SA National Defence Force’s (SANDF’s) Defence Intelligence heard “concerted bilateral regional efforts” were necessary if mutual security issues were to be overcome. This was the gist of an address by Ugandan Military Intelligence Chief, Major General James Birungi, delivered on his behalf by Brigadier General Dominic Twesigomwe, Commandant National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Birungi’s address named mutual security issues as terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and money laundering, stressing the SA/Uganda meeting was “an effort” at “sharing and exchanging intelligence and proposing ways of jointly dealing with these threats”.
The Ugandan two-star elaborated on his country’s contribution to east African stabilisation. These include the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
The South African point of view was voiced by Colonel Otsile Segami, who according to a UPDF statement led the SANDF Defence Intelligence delegation. He said the meeting took place against the backdrop of “positive global developments” in the form of the BRICS (Brazil/Russia/India/China/South Africa) summit in Johannesburg’s Sandton last month (August) as well as the recent Uganda/South Africa trade and investment summit in Kampala.
“This is a good stepping stone not only for the business domain but also boils down to us as a security cluster fostering relations between the two governments,” Segami is reported as saying.
The meeting, according to him, was important as an opportunity to “deliberate on shared interests in enhancing regional and continental defence and security”.
“We must,” he added, “continue to engage one another so that we find amicable solutions to problems affecting not only our countries but also the security of the continent”.
