Soldiers in DRC due home this week

A contingent of about 4,000 soldiers from five battalions of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), who were assembled in the eastern DRC town of Buta, are to be flown home this week, the semi-official ‘New Vision’ newspaper reported on Saturday. Quoting army sources, the paper said that some private air operators had been contacted to airlift the troops. However, army spokesman Phineas Katirima would not say when the airlift would begin. “The movement of troops is a security secret,” he said. “We have told the troops in Buta to be on full alert.” The paper also quoted other sources as saying that many units in Buta had been paid their salary arrears and that the last instalments were to be paid over the weekend. The soldiers had reportedly not been paid for nearly six months. The chief army paymaster, Captain Dan Byakutaga, has since 15 May gone missing with an equivalent of US $1.05 million meant for the soldiers’ pay. An investigation team was recently set up to probe his disappearance. Sources said the delay in flying out the soldiers was due to shortage of money for the arrears.