Uganda People’s Defense Forces has deployed in the West African small country of Equatorial Guinea to “help build of an army of a brotherly country.”
UPDF spokesperson Brig. Richard Karemire revealed the development Tuesday, describing the deployment as “another show of confidence in UPDF professionalism.”
Karemire says the army deployed a team of trainers to the western country under the Command of Lt Col W Keita.
“The team dubbed Uganda Military Training and Mentoring Team (UMTMT) is deployed under section 40 of the UPDF Act,” he told ChimpReports.
“A status of Forces Agreement has been concluded to cover the legal requirement for such deployment.”
The development comes 15 months after UPDF returned hundreds of its troops from neighboring South Sudan where they spent nearly two years trying to pacify the new country grappling with a destructive civil war.
The national army also has forces in Somalia in the Horn of Africa and in the Central African Republic where they are hunting for Lord’s Resistance Army Commander Joseph Kony.
Uganda’s deployment in the West African country to train the country’s army, comes only weeks after Zimbabwe’s contingent left the country after a few months on the same mission.
Karemire said the UPDF troupes in Equatoria Guinea are expected to “hold the Uganda flag very high as UPDF has always done in other missions abroad.”