It was not possible to get a comment from Ondoga.
Ugandan Brig. Dick Olum, one of the senior commanders still deployed to Somalia, said he was shocked by some of the allegations, noting that "there is no way you can work without armored vehicles" while keeping peace in Somalia. He said an upcoming investigators' report would clarify the scope of the allegations.
Official corruption is rampant in Uganda, where long-serving President Yoweri Museveni is himself accused of encouraging or ignoring graft in order to keep power. Human Rights Watch says in a new report that "corruption in Uganda is severe, well-known, cuts across many sectors," often with "disastrous consequences" for human rights and justice for ordinary people. Despite multiple investigations into official corruption, according to the watchdog group, no high-ranking government official, minister, or presidential appointee has ever served a prison sentence in the 27 years since Museveni took power by force. Uganda's military, which is run with limited parliamentary oversight, has faced multiple scandals over the years, including the case in the 1990s of so-called "ghost soldiers" who did not exist but were on the public payroll.
Under AMISOM the Ugandans work alongside troops from African countries including Burundi and Djibouti. Despite the dangers of keeping peace in Somalia, where al-Shabab rebels routinely try to kill foreign troops, the mission is highly desirable to Ugandan soldiers attracted by better pay and the prestige of serving in an international mission. But some Ugandan soldiers who served in Mogadishu have said some of their commanders disappointed them, with some complaining they were sometimes offered stale rations.
In a recent meeting with Museveni, some soldiers accused their commanders of selling guns and ammunition and even of wanting to keep armored personnel carriers parked, because taking the gas guzzlers on regular patrols reduced the amount of fuel commanders could sell on the black market, according to an account last week in the Daily Monitor, a semi-independent Ugandan newspaper.
Ankunda, the Ugandan army spokesman, confirmed that soldiers returning from Somalia launched several complaints against their commanders in that meeting with Museveni. He said at least 40 Ugandan soldiers up and down "the logistics chain" had been implicated in alleged wrongdoing.
As the backbone of AMISOM, Ugandan troops are credited with helping to rout al-Shabab from Somalia's seaside capital, Mogadishu, more than two years ago. Today, backed by a sweeping multinational effort worth millions of dollars in equipment, wages and training, AMISOM can claim a degree of success that had initially seemed highly unlikely. Although al-Shabab still mounts occasional attacks such as one earlier this year on a United Nations compound, Mogadishu is relatively peaceful these days.
But the security gains made since 2011 may have encouraged some Ugandan peacekeepers to find opportunities for stealing logistics, said Angelo Izama, a Ugandan analyst who runs a security think tank called Fanaka Kwawote. Ugandan troops in Somalia have created "a progressively complex and corrupt ecosystem" in which many look for opportunities to make money, according to Izama.
"For some Ugandans the Somalia mission was seen as an income-generating expedition," he said.
