Spreading the British Army's influence in Africa

Spreading the British Army's influence in Africa

A Training and Adventure news article

17 Feb 11

A small unit in the Ugandan capital of Kampala is helping to spread the British Army's expertise across East Africa. Report by Sharon Kean.

Colour Sergeant Arthur Little, 3rd Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, mentors a Ugandan soldier who has found a simulated improvised explosive device
[Picture: Steve Dock, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

Most British soldiers bound for Africa find themselves exercising in the jungles around Mount Kenya or basking in the intense heat of Archer's Post.

However, increasing numbers of UK military personnel are joining short-term missions to neighbouring Uganda where they are helping to prepare the nation's army, the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), for a difficult deployment to nearby Somalia.

After nearly two decades without a functioning government, the troubled country has been plagued by clan warfare and, more recently, Islamist insurgents who are destabilising attempts to introduce law and order and are putting the region at risk of becoming the new front line in the global battle against terrorism.

With UPDF troops leading the charge against extremist fighters in Mogadishu, an operational theatre with direct relevance to wider world security, British personnel are making a key contribution to the fight for peace and stability.

Typically spending up to two weeks in-country, UK training teams use hard-earned experience from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to train the East African soldiers in areas as diverse as the English language, medical care, operational law, combat logistics and media operations...

Much more here.