Saturday May 28, 2022
A UPDF solider on patrol on the streets of Mogadishu,
Somalia in December 2017 (PHOTO/IAN KATUSIIME). African Transition Mission in Somalia, where UPDF troops are
deployed, is largest multilateral peace operation
Kampala, Uganda | Ian Katusiime | With 6,162 troops, Uganda
is the second largest contributor to peacekeeping operations worldwide as of
December 31, 2021. This was contained in a new study done by SIPRI, a global
security think tank.
Ethiopia came first with 8,611 troops involved in peace
operations. The data was released ahead of the International Day of United
Nations Peacekeepers on May 29.
Uganda’s troops are in the African Transition Mission in
Somalia (ATMIS) where it is the leading nation in the mission. It was the first
country to deploy in the UN-backed operations in 2007 and for it, it has earned
recognition around the world.
In addition, ATMIS is the largest multilateral peace
operation in the world with 19,384 military personnel.
“At the end of 2021,
sub-Saharan Africa continued to host the highest number of multilateral peace
operations (22 of the 63). The region is likely to remain the main focus of
multilateral operations—both within and outside the scope of SIPRI’s definition
of multilateral peace operations,” wrote Dr. Claudia Pfeifer, the author of the
report titled ‘Multilateral peace operations in 2021: Developments and trends.’
Complex African
missions
“In 2021 a number of complex constellations of peace
operations continued to be concentrated in a handful of host countries,” the
report noted. It said that Multilateral peace operations were particularly
numerous in the Central African Republic (CAR), Kosovo and Mali. “Moreover, a
new constellation appears to be developing in Mozambique, where two of the four
multilateral peace operations that started in 2021 were established. These
joined the Rwandan Joint Force, a bilateral military operation (not considered
a multilateral peace operation).”
The study noted that CAR which has been wrecked by
instability hosted five operations as of December 2021 deploying approximately
15,000 personnel, while Mali hosted four operations, with a total of
approximately 16,000 personnel.
“Along with Somalia (hosting three operations), South Sudan
(hosting two operations) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (hosting one
operation), these were the countries or territories with the largest
deployments and hosting the largest operations in 2021. The personnel
deployments in the four operations in Kosovo were much lower, totaling
approximately 4,000.”
Meanwhile Somalia has just elected a new President and there
has been another significant development: redeployment of 450 U.S. troops to
bolster operations against the Al Shabaab terror group.