Yoweri Museveni has faulted Ugandan soldiers for their panic when they were attacked by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab.
At 5 a.m., 800 fighters allied to an Al-Qaeda-linked group evaded and overran the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) in Buulo Mareer, which was manned by Ugandan troops.
A number of soldiers were killed before the fighters took away their weapons and left.
“The panic, was totally unnecessary because both the anti-tank ditch and our soldiers had destroyed the three vehicles of explosives outside the FOB. The suicide bombers were forced to blow themselves up before they gained entry to the base,” he said
Museveni blames the military’s preparedness, deployment and response. He claims that they missed an opportunity to deal with the group causing terror to the country and other regions. This attack comes after the troop managed to destroy three vehicles of explosives outside the Forward Operating Base (FOB). The President says that they were over 200 soldiers manning the place that was attacked but they could not fight back adequately.
Al-Shabab is a rag-tag militia that seeks to impose its version of Sharia law on other countries. Several troop-contributing countries have lost soldiers, weapons and equipment to the group amid the attacks. On April 1, Ugandan soldiers lost their weapons and some were killed in an attack. On May 4, 2022, 30 Burundian soldiers were killed and 20 injured after the group attacked El-Baraf Au Base, 150km from Mogadishu. January 15, 2016, over 140 Kenyan soldiers were killed and dozens taken hostage by the group.
Ugandan Soldiers Outnumbered by Attackers
According to the data provided by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones, the attackers were about 800. This directly means that the Ugandan troops were outmanned and outgunned and mostly wouldn’t have stood a chance against the attackers.
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The President, however, blames the troops and says that they panicked. In their state of panic, the attackers took advantage and managed to beat them and take their weapons. The president went ahead to challenge the qualifications and abilities of the soldiers on the frontline. Went ahead to suggest that most of them were enlisted to earn ‘UN allowances’ and were not actually qualified enough.
In addition to that, the President blames the technology and the intelligence. Said the two groups should have managed to detect the attackers coming and alert the troops. So the intelligence failed to prepare the troops and upon attack, the troops panicked and the al-Shabaab took advantage of that and overpowered them.
Museveni did not disclose how many soldiers were killed or how many were taken hostage but acknowledged that many lives were lost from the attack.
