Prime
UPDF should withdraw from EAC contingent in DRC
Author: Asuman Bisiika. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Because intelligence informs policy, the Head of State is therefore the principal consumer of intelligence. Fake intelligence is therefore very bad because it puts the Head of State in an awkward situation.
- We recommend that our UPDF should be withdrawn from the EACRF. The good thing is that DR Congo government has issued a deadline for under which EACRF should leave DRC soil.
On Monday ,December 19, 2022, a former senior executive of Nation Media called me. He said he wanted to pick my insights on matters ADF.
‘What is UPDF doing in the DR Congo’, he asked? He then sent me a posse of questions whose answers he said would give him some insights into the UPDF-FARDC Operation Shujaa. When I returned to Kampala, we held a very lengthy phone conversation. Poor soul, he seemed to have exclusively relied on media reports (most of which carried inaccuracies and lacked context).
Then he later sent me a statement signed by the spokespersons of the UPDF and FARDC. I had seen the statement and hadn’t given it a second look. I had been scandalised that the statement referred to Beni as a province.
I told the former Nation Media boss that the statement was probably a fake. Otherwise how can a statement with the signature of the FARDC spokesperson refer to Beni as a province? For the gods, the FARDC spokesperson is expected to know that Beni is name of a city (and a territory) in Nord Kivu Province.
When my man insisted the statement was not fake, I concluded the UPDF spokesperson may have written it without the input of the FARDC spokesperson. I called some people in the FARDC and UPDF establishments protesting these unnecessary inaccuracies.
As usual, the UPDF was lacking in the management of public information. I was not surprised when I learnt that the UPDF spokesperson was removed from office and sent for a course in Jinja.
If I had a problem with the poor management of information on Operation Shujaa, things have now escalated to poor management of intelligence information.
The difference between public information and intelligence is that whereas public information may be used for public relations, intelligence is supposed to inform policy.
Because intelligence informs policy, the Head of State is therefore the principal consumer of intelligence. Fake intelligence is therefore very bad because it puts the Head of State in an awkward situation.
And so, we have been reading some statements issued by the Head of State on UPDF operations in the DR Congo. These statements lack ‘good sourcing’; to put it politely.
The UPDF is operating on two fronts in the DR Congo. In partnership with FARDC (the Congolese army), the UPDF are conducting Operation Shuja in parts of Ituri and North Kivu provinces.
There is also a UPDF contingent with East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) operating forward bases in Rutshuru area. This area is of strategic importance to the M23 rebels.
The funny thing is that while Kinshasa accuses Uganda of having a soft spot for M23, there are incidents that point to the contrary.
The M23 has fired at the Ugandan contingent in a provocative manner. They have also opened detachments in areas exclusive to the UPDF contingent of EACRF. In fact there is an M23 detachment that is dangerously near the UPDF. This is referred to as co-location and is likely to breed trouble.
This puts the UPDF at some kind of disadvantage. And yet the information we have is that the principal consumer of intelligence has been told there are no UPDF troops encamped near M23.
With co-location, a small thing could spark a fight between the two forces. Plus: the provocation of the M23 has visited on the EACRF is a pointer to what more could come.
That’s why we recommend that our UPDF should be withdrawn from the EACRF. The good thing is that DR Congo government has issued a deadline for under which EACRF should leave DRC soil.
Mr Asuman Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]
