By Mulengera Reporters
With the acquiescence of the UN Security Council, as Russia and China abstained, President Donald Trump late last year proclaimed his “Gaza Board for Peace” under which the US Administration intends to coordinate the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.
The Palestinian territory has endured years of relentless bombing and humanitarian crisis as Israel Prime Minister Bibi Benjamin Netanyahu carried out a ruthless and bloody pacification campaign aimed at the decapitation of all the military capabilities the Hamas militant group ever possessed.
Bibi’s anger and IDF sustained military operations were in response to the Hamas-instigated terrorism attacks of 7th October 2023, which saw large numbers of Israelis killed and others taken as hostages.
Today, two years later, much of Gaza is a rubble and in ruins, hence the need for reconstruction but that must be preceded with stabilization of the territory which continues to be the subject of fragile cease fire arrangements.
Under the Trump’s Board of Peace broader framework, whose governance & administrative structures-establishing charter was proclaimed last January on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum, Washington intends to put in place the pilot humanitarian zones in Gaza.
Those zones will have to be enforced and secured by an International Stabilization Force (ISF), which will also be obliged with enforcing and maintaining law & order in Gaza. The same ISF will also be charged with securing the logistics hub which is being established at Kerem Shalom on the Israeli side of the border, to support the Gaza reconstruction project.
Initially, roughly 500 troops will be deployed in Gaza under the ISF arrangement. The ISF will be commanded by the US Army General Jasper Jeffers, who says that the deputy commander will come from Indonesia, which is one of the four countries which are so far contributing troops for the Gaza ISF.
The other troop-contributing countries are so far Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Uganda. The Ugandan involvement was confirmed after a direct phone call President Donald Trump placed to his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni begging for UPDF involvement. This has been corroborated by the state-owned New Vision newspaper in their Monday reporting.
Gen Museveni, who has always been an ally for the US when it comes to pacifying difficult situations that require military intervention, instantly said yes to the American request. And this is something on which Parliament will be expecting a formal briefing so that the necessary approval and authorization is obtained.
The Marco Rubio-headed State Department is said to have insisted that Trump personally makes the direct phone call for the Ugandan big man to get involved largely because of UPDF’s long proven track record and experience when it comes to peace keeping, counter-terrorism and stabilization operations over the years.
The most notorious illustration is Somalia where, since the late 2007, Uganda has been the biggest troops-contributing country under the African Union Support & Stabilization Mission (AUSSOM).
Sudan (under operation Mlinzi wa Kimya), Central African Republic (through capacity building interventions) and DR Congo are some of the other areas where Uganda/UPDF has been an effective participant in such counter-terrorism and stabilization operations under the auspices of international law.
Col Chris Magezi, who serves as the Ag Director of Defense Public Information, says that UPDF will be prepared to do as required once Gen YK Museveni, who is their CiC, signals them to.
The Trump phone call will be perceived as proof that the efforts of NUP’s Bobi Wine, who has been hiding in the US for months while claiming to be mobilizing against the regime, haven’t yielded much.
The US government clearly still believes that Gen Museveni is a more productive ally for them than any of his opponents. Bobi Wine’s intention has been to have Museveni isolated on grounds of poor human rights record but a direct phone call from Trump himself isn’t indicative a ‘dictator or junta leader’ who is being (or is about to be) alienated by Washington.
It’s also true that Uganda’s profile-raising involvement into the IFS operations will bring in some good cash to the Ugandan military while causing its profile to grow.
But the same could also attract discomforting scrutiny from the US media and the House of Representatives members-both in the House and Senate. It’s also predictable that the same will be attracting antagonistic public commentary from within Uganda as opposition and civil society groups will most likely be out to offer some words of caution. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
