Ugandan president calls for military training for citizens to fight terrorist group

By Onnaedo Okafor
Tuesday, April 28, 2015

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President Museveni said he had already given instructions to the relevant security agencies to launch the programme, focusing initially on the most vulnerable areas in the country.

Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni has called on military security agencies to re-introduce military training for Ugandan civilians in order to counter the threat from Islamist terrorist group, al-Shabab.

Museveni, who was writing in the state-owned New Vision newspaper, said that although al-Shabab was "defeated", Ugandans need to guard against attacks.

President Museveni said he had already given instructions to the relevant security agencies to launch the programme, focusing initially on the most vulnerable areas in the country.

BBC reports that Uganda, who lost at least 76 people in al-Shabab led attacks in 2010, has more than 6,000 troops in Somalia as part of an African Union force battling the Islamist militants.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Ugandan school leavers used to perform two years of national service before attending university and although he didn't give details of the scheme, Ugandan army spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said that there were no plans to arm the civilian population.

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