The Somalian president, Hassan Sheikh Muhamud, has praised President Yoweri Museveni for his assistance in army training to fight terrorism. President Mohamud praised Museveni during his visit to Uganda for the graduation of Somali cadets in Uganda.
President Mohamud made the remarks on Sunday evening at the graduation of 2,900 trainees for the Somali National Army who had completed their four-month special Basic Military Training at the Special Mission Centre in Butiaba, Bilsa District.
Somali president Mohamud said that it was not the first time Uganda had helped the Somali Republic come into existence peacefully. He stated that Somalia is grateful and would always appreciate the efforts that the government and people of Uganda, under the leadership of President Museveni, have made to Somalia during their hard times.
Mr. Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, the Federal Republic of Somalia’s Minister of Defense, and his daughter Ms. Janah Hassan Sheik accompanied him on the trip to Uganda.
The two chiefs of state also observed military training operations carried out by Somali graduates at the ranger grounds, which comprised range fire, patrols, checkpoint hose clearance, and VIP protection-suicide attacks, among other highly remarkable and stunning feats of shooting.
The oath of Loyalty to the graduates was administered earlier by President Mohamud, who also hailed the graduation ceremony as the beginning of a long-standing alliance between Somalia and Uganda in the fight against terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa.
President Mohamud mentioned that it had been 15 years since the first Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) unit entered Somalia.
There was a lot of uncertainty at that time. People publicly predicted that the Ugandans would fail in Somalia. When things were exceedingly difficult and unpredictable in the past, the Ugandan forces that arrived in Somalia served as the model for many other African nations that later followed in Uganda’s footsteps.
During the graduation ceremony of almost 3000 cadets, President Mohamud expressed his confidence that the deployment of trained troops from Uganda will undoubtedly alter the environment in Somalia and the operational theaters where the fight against terrorism is being conducted.
According to President Mohamud, nearly 3000 graduates of highly successful and efficient training mark another significant milestone in the nation. He added that this will unquestionably alter the situation in Somalia and the current operational theaters of the conflict there.
President Mohamud said that Somalians are the ones that oppose terrorism and they are the one who is fighting the battle.
President Mohamud noted that the terrorists are currently on the run because there is nowhere for them to hide except some natural defense zones, such as forests and some hilly locations.
The Somali government is now providing people in liberated areas with services they had been denied for the last one and half decades, such as the absence of schools, medical facilities, and other basic necessities. President Mohamud revealed that in six months, large areas of land have been resurrected from the terrorists.
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President Museveni thanked President Mohamud for his good words and appreciation for Uganda’s support of the Somali resistance. According to President Museveni, the strategy implementation of training the Somali cadets received was the remedy to fighting terrorists.
Museveni added that he felt relieved to hear President Mohamud saying that the conflict is now between the administration and the people. That is the way that they have won until now, he said.
He also thanked the government of Somalia for giving them the responsibility of training its army cadets. The commander of the Defense Force, Gen. Wilson Mbadi, and the Director of the Training Center, Brig. Gen. Fred Twinamatsiko also spoke at the event.
Mr. Oboth-Oboth, the Minister of State for Defense, as well as other top government and security officials, were also present at the graduation ceremony.
President Mohamud and his companions arrived at Kampala on Sunday to attend the graduation ceremony of 2900 Somali cadets who had been training in Uganda for the last three years. The cadets who graduated are well-trained in fighting terrorists. They expected to join the battle against the Al-Shabaab activists in the country.
Uganda has contributed more than 4,000 soldiers to the peacekeeping mission (ATMIS) in Somalia. These soldiers have been working hard to eradicate Al-Shabaab activists by assisting the Horn of African nation through training of the military and equipping them.
ATMIS troops are expected to hand over security to the Somali National Army by December of next year.
The current training was a strategy to help revamp the army of the country which has been struggling with instability for the last three decades.
For the last few months, Somalia has been fighting the Al-Shabaab activists leaving over 700 dead and a hundred arrested. In December 2022, Somalia sent its cadets to Eritrea for training.
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