UGANDAN MILTARY VOLUNTEERED TO CLEAN JUBA

 

UPDF soldiers holding brooms as they march through Juba town 

during Tarehe Sita celebrations, Tuesday. PHOTO: Kennedy Oryema

When they were done, they left the places much better and cleaner than they found them, winning praise of the local people.

Given the recent conflict, heavily armed soldiers, some with guns strung to their backs others with rifles dangling off their shoulders attacked piles of rubbish and garbage with various implements such as spades and cleaned them out. In some places they just swept. The rubbish was loaded on to waiting trucks to be dumped away.

The exercise part of the numerous activities to mark the annual Tarehe sita (February 6)  army day which will be commemorated tomorrow a. In Uganda, national events take place in  Busheyi under the theme: National Consciousness and Pan Africanism the corner stone for African peace, stability and transformation.

Several other activities to mark the day have been held  thee Ugandan troops in Bor, the capital of the troubled Jonglei state which the UPDF help recaptured from the rebels on January 17, six days after leaving Juba.

The exercise in Juba began with a march by the UPDF tfrom the air-force base with a motorcade comprising many vehicles, momentarily paralyzing activities in the town. Upbeat and armed with spades, brooms, rakes and hoes they marched as they sang martial songs.

Residents abandoned whatever they were doing and lined the roads, flashing the thumbs up sign for the soldiers who marched on before splitting into at the hospital, with one proceeding to the market.

It is at the hospital that they met with the SPLA with whom they embraced and launched into the exercise that was launched by Col. Muhanga Kayanja, the commander of the UPDF Joint Task Force (JTF) in South Sudan.

 Also in the procession was the JTF second in command Col. Ham Kaija, Lt. Col. Bob Ogik and Maj. Asaf Mueteise, the Special Forces Command (SFC) commander in South Sudan.

The Director General of the hospital Dr. Wani Lolik Lado yesterday hailed the UPDF for the gesture, emphasizing the historical cordial relations that the two armies have enjoyed. “I am very grateful to the UPDF for their contribution in cleaning the hospital as part of the Tarehe Sita celebrations,” Lado said. Major Anei Awan, the SPLA commander of the First Battalion who led his team in the exercise remarked , “I am very happy with the UPDF with their decision to clean the hospital. This has never happened” .

At the market the excitement was palpable as civilians also joined the UPDF in the cleaning up exercise. “What the Uganda army has done is very good and is what every army should do. Garbage has always been a problem here,” Samson Wani, a vendor said yesterday.“However, the challenge is going to be how to maintain this. The public needs to be sensitized on health matters and cleanliness,” he added.

J B Kayongo, a vendor at the market said the cleaning exercise reflects positively about the UPDF. “This is very good and gives a positive picture about our army,” he said while Brain Kefa said the joint exercise will reinforce the bondage between the SPLA and the UPDF.

Tarehe Sita is the day when the National Resistance Army (NRA), now UPDF launched an armed offensive, culminating in the ouster of UPC regime led by the late President Apollo Milton Obote and the eventual capture of power on January 26, 1986. It is celebrated annually and preceded by an army week in which the UPDF carries out activities in communities.