Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi has clarified that comments made by the Chief of Defence Force (CDF) Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba are not the official positions of the government.
This follows demands for an apology from the government of Sudan on what they termed offensive and dangerous comments made by Gen. Muhoozi, who threatened to invade Khartoum.
Gen. Muhoozi posted two comments on the X platform on December 17, 2024, in which he threatened to capture Khartoum with the support of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump after he takes office.
According to the Sudan Tribune of December 18, 2024, the posts were later deleted.The government of Sudan demands an official apology from the Ugandan government for the offensive and dangerous comments of the army commander, the Sudan Foreign Affairs ministry said in a statement dated December 18, 2024.
The ministry called on the African Union and regional and international organizations to condemn Kainerugaba’s statements.Gen. Muhoozi, on December 16, 2024, on his X platform, threatened to launch attacks on European mercenaries operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The mercenaries, according to the IGIHE online platform, are part of the Agemira group from Bulgaria and RALF from Romania, who have been collaborating with DRC forces since 2022 to fight the M23 armed group in the volatile North Kivu province.
“I’m going to give only one warning to all white mercenaries operating in Eastern DRC. From 2nd January 2025, we will attack all mercenaries in our area of operations where UPDF is conducting operations against ADF rebels,” he is quoted to have posted, adding that in the name of Jesus Christ, the God of the Bachwezi, there shall not be left one white mercenary in DRC this time next year.
However, the IGIHE platform reported that the DRC insisted that the fighters are not mercenaries but instructors training its army in various skills.While appearing on the Ugandan national television interview on December 20, 2024, Minister Baryomunsi said that regarding the comments attributed to Gen Muhoozi, the comments circulating on social media are casual and private and not the official positions of UPDF, the Ministry of Defense, or the government of Uganda.
They should be treated as casual comments, if he at all made them; therefore, there should not be anxiety at all about those comments, of course, within the country and with our friends outside Uganda, he said, adding that they should not be treated as the official position of the government of Uganda.
