The Chief of Legal Service (CLF) in the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), Brig. Gen. Gordon Busingye, has urged the Operational Expert Legal Advisors (LEGADs) and Commanders across Africa to understand the challenges and opportunities involved in an operational setting.
He said this while officiating at the closure of the Three-day (July 4-6, 2023) LEGAD and Commanders workshop aimed at understanding issues related to their employment that took place at the Imperial Golf View Hotel in Entebbe on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
The Brig. Gen. said that understanding the operations of several missions would help to enhance the operational effectiveness of LEGADs, reaffirming the importance of such workshops in finding sustainable solutions to common security challenges affecting the sustainability of regional peace and stability.
“The UPDF leadership has no doubt whatsoever that the three-day meeting has achieved its objective of putting together generated approaches and strategies to deal with common security threats in the region and the role of Operational legal advisors in providing a shared view of how best to prepare commanders in an operation setting,” Brig. Gen. Busingye said.
He further appealed to the participants to follow and implement the recommendations therein, calling for continuity of such engagements that require concerted regional and global efforts to achieve cooperation in sharing intelligence when conducting coordinated operations.
Mr. Martin Agure Oguya, Head of Operations and Regional Delegation to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, thanked participants for the fruitful discussions that will guide them to a better Eastern Africa and Africa at large.
“I attribute the success of this workshop to the efforts and enthusiasm you exhibited while actively contributing to the discussions, not forgetting our very able facilitators who diligently provided guidance throughout the workshop,” Oguya said.
The participants were taken through issues related to the employment of LEGADs and commanders across Africa, including National Legislation governing their employment, selection, and training (both legal and military) of Legal advisors, and identifying mechanisms that enhance the operational effectiveness of LEGADs.
The Operational Legal Advisors and Commander’s Forum had participants drawn from ten member countries, including, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Sudan, Switzerland, and Uganda as hosts.
Present at the workshop were Brig Gen Hirpo Mesheda Areda (Ethiopia), Division Operations Training Officer Col. Armstrong Ndugga, Col. Carl Marchand from Switzerland, Commandant Legal Training Centre Lt. Col. Suzan Mwanga, Lt. Col. Arthur Te Lintelo (Netherlands), Lt. Col. Felx Kiok (Kenya), Regional facilitators, ICRC staff, and course participants, among others.
This was the first meeting held to discuss issues concerning Operational Legal Advisors (LEGADs) and commanders. The next meeting is expected to be hosted in Belgium.
