Another 120 Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers arrived aboard an Antonov 3C-AAL at the Gulu military airport on Friday, the Ugandan government-owned newspaper ‘The New Vision’ reported on Saturday. “We are very happy to be home from the hectic work in the DRC, where we have been for over two years. We are also happy to see our motherland today. We did not know we could stay alive and meet again with our brothers in the forces we had left here in Uganda, and Gulu in particular,” one soldier told The New Vision.
UPDF soldiers have been returning from the DRC as stipulated by the Lusaka peace accord. Uganda has said there is no longer a compelling need for the UPDF to remain in DRC since the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, who had been using the eastern part of the DRC to launch attacks into western Uganda, had been greatly weakened if not defeated.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article