General Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, the Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, has called for a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UPDF and the Togolese Armed Forces as a basis of cooperation.
The CDF said this as he hosted a delegation of the Togolese Armed Forces who were concluding their visit to Uganda at a meeting held at the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs Headquarters, Mbuya.
Gen Mbadi, while addressing the meeting, said that it was in the spirit of Pan-Africanism that the President of Togo saw it necessary to visit Uganda and consult with the President of Uganda on finding African solutions to African problems that they may face.
“We thank you for selecting Uganda as your benchmarking destination, and we hope that the information we provide will help you strengthen the Peoples’ Army of Togo and a better understanding of the ideas of counter-terrorism, foundation security, counter-insurgency, and counter-IEDs,” said Gen Mbadi.
The CDF noted that it is the Pan-African ideology foundation of the UPDF that informed the choice of concepts and areas that were delivered to the Togolese delegation.
“In that spirit, we thought that we should take you through the areas which we have used to strengthen our force that has provided the stability so that we can play its part in the historical mission of transforming Uganda into a middle-class society and first-world country,” said the Chief of Defence Forces.
Gen Mbadi further said that the UPDF is strengthened by its ideological orientation because it understands its historical mission within the leadership’s overarching vision, which is the socio-economic transformation from a peasantry into a middle-class and first-world country. He said these call for peace, security, and stability, which can only be delivered by a strong force, and which was given priority by the Commander-in-Chief by sparingly utilising the limited resources at hand.
Col Manzama-Esso Kilimou, the Land Forces Commander of the Togolese Armed Forces who led the delegation, said they were satisfied by the different concepts they were taken through and the demonstrations they saw at the different facilities that they visited.
They were equally impressed by the fact that everything is being done by Ugandans serving in the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces and urged the UPDF to continue with this path of professionalism and being exemplary to other countries.
The meeting was attended by the Deputy Commander of Air Force, Brig Gen Stephen Kiggundu, the Deputy Chief of Military Intelligence Brig Gen Abdul Rugumayo, the Chief of Staff-Air Force Brig Gen David Gonyi, Military Assistant to CDF Brig Gen Irumba Omero Tingira, senior and junior UPDF officers.
