The minister of state for defence, Steven Kavuma, has circulated in parliament a seven-page bill on deploying Ugandan troops outside the country, the ‘New Vision’ daily reported on Tuesday. According to the bill, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) will be deployed for purposes of “peacekeeping, peace enforcement or any other purpose” at the request of the UN, the OAU, as a regional initiative or pursuant of a bilateral arrangement with any other country. The bill states that troops will also be deployed on “rescue missions, disaster management at the invitation of the host country, military exercises on bilateral or multilateral arrangements and such other purposes as the president may, with the approval of parliament, determine.” However, the president would not be required to seek parliament’s approval if the security of Uganda or the host country was imperilled in any way.
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