UPDF warns AMISOM veterans

The Army says claims of nonpayment by veteran soldiers who served with the AU mission in Somalia are wild allegations intended to attract public sympathy.

In a statement, UPDF spokesman Lt. Col Paddy Ankunda has warned the soldiers making such claims that they risk arrest and prosecution.

The army has also provided a list of 38 claimants it says failed to meet requirements of the standing operating procedures of AMISOM leading to their repatriation.

The 38 are said to have served in Somalia between 2012 and May 2013 but did not complete their mission time.

The army says they cannot claim payment for the time they did not work.

According to Ankunda, persons repatriated or unofficially out of the mission area for 21 days, or who quit the mission, are not payable from the time they leave the mission area.  Ankunda says  the claims are maliciously designed to taint the Force’s image.

He cites as an example recent claims by one Sergeant Swale Baluku that he was forcefully repatriated on health reasons despite being in good health. Baluku also alleged that his commanders were involved in arms sales, favouritism, and that attempts were made to kill him.

“In reality, despite attempts to advise him to reconsider his decision, Swale Baluku himself applied to quit the mission, five months to the end of his official time in Somalia, due to domestic problems back home. He should have officially rotated out of the mission in May 2013,” Ankunda says in the statement.

Ankunda adds that in the eight months Baluku worked in Somalia, he was given leave thrice which is more than any other soldier had.

Below is the list provided by the army.