Saturday September 6, 2014
Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in an air strike earlier this week.
UGANDA army said Friday it had helped the United States kill the leader of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab rebels by providing key intelligence on his whereabouts. The Ugandan government also said the country -- a major contributor to AMISOM, the African Union force fighting the Shebab -- was 'happy' after the United States confirmed the militant's leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in an air strike earlier this week.
"I hope the circumstances have been explained clearly, our forces gave the intelligence that enabled the decisive targeting of the Al Shabaab leader," Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda told AFP.
"I think Al Shabaab are on their way out, because Godane was the leader of their terror campaign. He was at the centre of the entire planning of Al Shabaab. But it's not over yet. Another radical leader can emerge, so we need to remain focused and weed out the others one by one," he added.
Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said his country would be celebrating. In July 2010, the militants bombed the Ugandan capital Kampala and killed 74 people.
"Uganda is happy. It is providing the bulk of the AMISON force and driving the effort to defeat Al-Shabaab and its terrorist network in the region," he told AFP.