The Ugandan army, officially known as the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), is the military organization responsible for the defence of Uganda. It was formed in 1962, shortly after Ugandan independence from the United Kingdom, and has played a key role in the country’s political and security landscape.
The Ugandan army is made up of several branches, including the Land Forces, Air Force, and Special Forces Command. It is also responsible for the protection of Uganda’s borders and the maintenance of internal security. The UPDF is said to have around 47,000 active military personnel with an additional 10,000 reservists.
Throughout its history, the UPDF has been involved in several conflicts and peacekeeping missions, both within Uganda and in other countries in the region. In the 1980s and 1990s, the UPDF played a major role in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that terrorized northern Uganda and parts of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan.
In recent years, the UPDF has been deployed as part of peacekeeping missions in Somalia and South Sudan under the African Union’s AMISOM mandate. In November 2022, Uganda sent 1,000 troops to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to join the regional force mandated to help end decades of instability in a fight to join militia groups including M23 rebels. In 2022, M23 rebels staged a major offensive seizing large amounts of territory, forcing thousands of people from their homes and sparking a diplomatic row between Congo and Rwanda.
The UPDF is also actively participating in anti-poaching efforts to protect Ugandan wildlife, particularly its mountain gorillas. This is essential for Uganda’s tourism industry which is a major source of revenue for the country. The UPDF has also implemented various social-economic programs such as building health centres, constructing schools, and providing clean water to improve the welfare of the population, particularly in remote rural areas.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis
