President Yoweri Museveni addressing army chiefs at Bombo Military barracks. PPU PHOTO.

President Yoweri Museveni addressing army chiefs at Bombo Military barracks. PPU PHOTO.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that the UPDF task force in South Sudan was doing well and moving ahead. 

He made the disclosure on Friday in Bombo barracks, Kampala while addressing the army Council which held elections to fill a Parliament seat which fell vacant after the former MP. Gen. David Tinyefuza lost it.

He said “I sent troops to South Sudan which is affected by a conflict. We did not want them to collapse.”

He added that the two main groups in the neighbouring country being led by President Salva Kiir and Mrs. Garang were with the Uganda Government before saying that the UPDF was moving on well.

Meanwhile, the UPDF has tightened security at Apiriti border market in Madi Opei Sub County, Lamwo district. Apiriti market is located in Madi Opei sub county 13 kilometers away from the South Sudan border.

It was opened in December by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Charles Obong Okwera, the Madi Opei Sub County Security Chairperson says the deployment of more 400 UPDF personnel follows a special request from the sub county leadership and those in charge of the cross border market to bolster security, conduct surveillance, seal the border and weed out criminals from taking advantage of the conflict in South Sudan to cause mayhem at the border market.

Okwera says the UPDF began increasing its presence at the border on Thursday ahead of two days monthly schedule of the border market beginning January 17th. He says a combined force of Anti Stock Theft Unit (ASTU), UPDF and the Uganda Police conduct routine patrol at the border point.

The Apiriti border market was strategically set up at the edge of Uganda South Sudan border to totally eliminate harassment of Ugandan traders inside South Sudan, according to Okwera