{UAH} UPDF: we have not lost any soldiers in South Sudan

The army has scoffed at claims by MPs that Ugandan soldiers have died in their thousands since UPDF deployed in South Sudan last December.

Opposition MPs Paul Mwiru (Jinja municipality East) and Hassan Kaps Fungaro (Obongi) told a press conference at Parliament on Tuesday that many Ugandan soldiers died on Sunday January 5. Rebels loyal to former Vice-President Riek Machar were reported to have ambushed government forces advancing on Bor, killing SPLA's Gen Abraham Jongroor.

The MPs criticized the deployment of Ugandan soldiers in Sudan without parliamentary approval.

"I'm reliably informed that we lost a number of soldiers in the attack on the Sudan government forces by the rebels and we are still losing many," said Mwiru.

Pinned on the numbers, Mwiru said "Actually our sources say the number of soldiers who have died so far in Sudan is
1,000."

Mwiru, who declined to reveal his sources, added: "It is up to government now to come out and challenge us by giving us the right figure they know."

Ironically, 1,000 is the official figure quoted internationally as the number of people who have died since fighting broke out in South Sudan. Mwiru said it was the responsibility of the minister of Defence Dr Crispus Kiyonga, to furnish Parliament with a statement regarding the status of the troops which were deployed in South Sudan.

He was flanked by Kaps, who said: "The practice is that they [government] don't tell you the exact number of people [soldiers] who died and if you have the capacity to count them, you will be shocked," Kaps said.

He added: "When we went to Congo, we lost 2,000 soldiers, but up to now, President Museveni has not accounted for their death. We have been losing soldiers in Somalia but they were deployed without Parliament's approval and I see it is becoming a tendency for President Museveni to undermine the constitutional requirement which we can't allow to go on like this," Mwiru said.

He said he had written to the director for Legal Affairs at Parliament, to notify him that he was collecting signatures for a recall of Parliament.

Evidence

Aruu County MP Samuel Odonga Otto used a press conference on Thursday at Parliament to read out names of some of the UPDF officers he claims to have died on the frontlines in South Sudan.

"We have started receiving dead bodies from South Sudan of fallen UPDF soldiers, on Tuesday January 7, we buried Sgt Santos Ocen at Onywana village in Omoro, Gulu district but the most interesting thing at that burial, the UPDF could not allow the family to view the body," Odonga said. At the burial, the army was represented by Brig Charles Otema Awany.

Another soldier, Pt Richard Oyaka, Otto says was buried on Wednesday at Ongako Gulu district while another soldier whom he did not identify was brought in today (Thursday).

"They [UPDF] have been deceiving us that these soldiers died in a motor accident in Masaka, but we have cross checked with the police and there is no record of such kind of a fatal accident," he said.

He says, apart from a bag of posho that the army brings with the bodies, there is nothing more. "Unlike those of Somalia where the salaries are enhanced and a package in case of death, for the case of South Sudan, they just drop the body and advise the family to follow up with Bombo [army headquarters]," he said.

However, earlier on Tuesday, army Spokesman Paddy Ankunda told The Observer in an interview:

"We have never lost any soldier, not even one soldier has been injured since we arrived in South Sudan and they are [soldiers] safe," Ankunda said by telephone. "We are at Juba airport to secure the lives of Ugandans and of course safeguard the airport such that there is safe flow and humanitarian help."

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