January 10, 2008:
The army captured eleven armed men belonging to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel militia across the border in Congo. The eleven were disarmed and turned over to Congolese border guards. FDLR militiamen have frequently crossed the border to attack and loot Ugandan villages for food and other goods.
January 9, 2008: Uganda and the Congo
are coordinating plans to expel the LRA's Joseph Kony from his base camp in the
eastern Congo. Kony is in the Garamba National Park. To put the Uganda-Congo
decision in a political context, the "coordinated expulsion" is designed to
pressure Kony into returning to the Juba peace talks.
January 4, 2008: Ugandan business
leaders and security personnel have begun complaining about Uganda's "over
reliance" on Kenya as a transportation hub and route for supplies. Uganda is
landlocked and Kenya's port of Mombasa is economically vital to Uganda. When
post-election trouble erupted in Kenya, shipments to Uganda through Kenya were
drastically curtailed. Several Ugandan government sources and news media
outlets reported that gas stations ran out of gas and air flights (ie, domestic
flights in Uganda) were grounded due to lack of aviation fuel. For several
years Uganda has contemplated improving its railroads and adding rail
connections throughout eastern Africa. A long-term disruption of traffic to
Mombasa would damage severely Uganda's economy. Uganda will be looking for
other alternatives ? including possible connections through Rwanda to Tanzania.
One Ugandan newspaper said that when Kenya sneezes, Uganda catches a
cold." Kenya and Uganda have a close
relationship, but the violence in Kenya has told Ugandan planners that they
cannot take Kenyan stability for granted.
December 31, 2007: The Army announced
that it plans to recruit 4,000 new officer cadets and soldiers. In the last 18
months the military has retired 1,600 soldiers. Some of this is normal attrition,
but a number of the retirements were part of a program to improve the
military's professionalism.
December 28, 2007: The military
reported that on November 13 its troops had intercepted a weapons shipment made
by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) guerrilla group. Ugandan security
personnel captured a motorboat.
December 27, 2007: A group of LRA
rebels attacked the town of Duru in the Congo (near the Congo-Sudan border).
The LRA rebels looted the several buildings in the town then fled.