IRAQ: Ugandan Guards in Iraq Face Abuse + Uganda Soldiers deserting for Manual jobs in Iraq

2 September 2008 in "WAR ON TERROR", AFRICA, HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, IMPERIALISM, NEO LIBERALISM, U.S. DOCTRINE, WAR LOVER
Tags: african troops, mercenaries, u.s. assault, Uganda, US

Sources said two Ugandans slipped into a coma due to brutal assaults at the hands of foreign officers at Alasad Airbase after they queried terms of the contract.

Amid allegations that Ugandans working with the United States forces in Iraq are sexually abused and their contracts changed arbitrarily by the recruiting agencies, a compassionate senior US officer has been working hard to restore the morale of 600 or so guards, most of them serving abroad for the first time.

Some of the Ugandan recruits at Alasad Airbase, North West of Iraq, one of the biggest US fortresses, were allegedly sodomised by foreign soldiers and admitted at the Gettysburg health facility inside the fortress, sources in Iraq and Uganda told Daily Monitor this week. It is said that some Ugandan women employed there were used as sex objects by members of one of the foreign armies in Iraq.

Sources said two Ugandans, Mr Enock Bashaija and Mr Geoffrey Kawuka slipped into a coma due to brutal assaults at the hands of foreign officers at Alasad Airbase after they queried terms of the contract.

Had it not been the intervention of Lt. Col (rtd), Fred Lynch, the Commanding Officer of the US army at the airbase and Mr. Paul Hegue, the executive officer of SOC-SMG, a private security management firm that manages the airbase, Ugandans would have gone on strike to protest the beatings of Bashaija and Kawuka, sources said.

But the Kampala embassy of the United States, the lead country of the foreign military intervention in Iraq, could not confirm or deny the allegations emerging out of Iraq involving Ugandans.

“We cannot comment; only the Defence Department (in Washington) can answer those questions,” Ms Alyson Grunder, the US embassy spokesperson said on Tuesday.

But documents obtained from sources in Iraq and Kampala said all is not rosy between Ugandans and the private firms contracted by the US government to recruit them. Ugandans are unhappy that after leaving Uganda they are forced to change from one contractor to another, some reported to be middlemen.

Ugandans guard US military bases, oil fields, airports, highways, towns, water and electricity installations among others under multinational forces to pacify the volatile Iraq. For this work, they earn US$1000 (about shs1.8m) with US$100 deducted at source as out of pocket allowance, leaving US$900 (about shs 1.6m) which is wired to their accounts back home. On the other side, the other nationals doing similar work get US$4000 (about shs7.2m) with allowances.

Col. Lynch after getting reports of sodomy at Alasad, directed one of the US forces medical doctor identified by sources as Dr. Eddie Claig to investigate the matter. But before he could eradicate the abuses, the sympathetic Col. Lynch was removed and posted to Faruja Airbase. Col. Paul Eggie, according to a source, replaced Lynch and is the new commanding officer at the Alasad Base.

As a result of grumbling and unrest in camp, authorities have so far deported 15 Ugandans from Camp Victory and Camp Gettysburg, all in Alasad Airbase, accusing them of being the ringleaders of the uneasiness at the base. The list of deportees include Grace Bukenya, Eddie Kapere, John Bosco Byamugsiha, Paul Mugisha Agaba, Derrick Muwonge, Alice Mugabekazi, Bashaija and Kawuka.

American guards have in the past engaged in sadistic abuses against Iraqi detainees but these only came to light after their upright compatriots exposed them. Iraqi detainees, coming from traditions of male dominance, would not admit or complain publicly that they were being subjected to massive physical and sexual abuses that sometimes ended in death.

But the discontent among Ugandans in Iraq is not only the alleged physical mistreatment but the employment contracts. Whereas in some of the contracts they signed with Dreshak International L. L. C, a United Arab Emirates based company as “Foreign Security Specialists” in subsequent contracts, they were addressed as “Third Country Nationals”.

Dreshak recruited the Ugandans from Uganda.

Mr Mumtaz Muslim, Dreshak International Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in undated letter addressed to Ugandans in Iraq directed them to hand over copies of the earlier contacts they signed with him to SOC-SMG for “destruction”.

“In order to be in compliance with the contract between the US Marine Corps and SOC-SMG, we hereby release you from the contract signed between you and Dreshak international” Mr Mumtaz wrote in the letter seen by Daily Monitor.

Ref: CorpWatch

Uganda Soldiers deserting for Manual jobs in Iraq

Top UPDF generals including Gen. David Tinyefuza, Gen Aronda Nyakairima, IGP Maj. Gen Kale Kayihura, and the CMIboss Col. Leo Kyanda are in a big meeting. Top on the agenda: the continuing flight of UPDF soldiers to Iraq.

The meeting of the top generals we talked about at the beginning of this piece has resolved that all security companies that have been recruiting for the Iraqi job market should halt the exercise until further notice.

The reason for the abrupt halt is that serving UPDF officers and men continue to defect or resign their commissions to go and serve in Iraq where the pay is many times better than what they currently earn in the Pearl of Africa.

On top of being paid handsomely, Ugandans guarding in Iraq are living in far better conditions than their peers in Uganda who still live in squalid conditions. Approximately, a guard in Iraq earns USD1000 Shs1,700,000 per month.

They are clothed, fed and provided with medical care. The big pay has lured many a UPDF officer to run there and the recruiting companies actually prefer UPDF soldiers because of their training.

A colonel in the UPDF gets Shs900,000 basic salary per month plus Shs150,000 (professional allowance). The Shs150,000 professional allowance goes to all senior officers (i.e. from the rank of major).

A major in our army gets Shs500,000 plus Shs150,000 (professional allowance). A captain gets Shs500,000, a lieutenant gets Shs320,000, a second lieutenant earns Shs300,000. A private is at Shs180,000.

SECURITY CHIEFS SLAP THE BAN Because of the big money, there has been a wave of desertions in all sectors of the UPDF. There has also been a wave of resignations with officers as high up as majors opting to leave the UPDF and go to Iraq.

Our investigations show that at least 60 UPDF officers – many at the rank of major, have gone to Iraq. The example they are setting is what is worrying security, thus the recommendation that recruitment for Iraq be halted.

The Serena Hotel meeting lasted over 12 hours agreed that the halt was in the best interest of the country. It was also established that the morale within the force was terribly going down as reports continued to come in of how their colleagues who have been retired or managed to beat the security system to go to Iraq were earning 100 times better than their counterparts who were still serving in the UPDF.

It was also established that irrespective of the tougher measures put at the airport and the UPDF screening points at the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and Security, the boys were smart enough to beat the system and go to Iraq.

Our Intelligence can also now reveal that a day after the Serena meeting on Wednesday May 28, the Army Council met at Bombo to study reports from the divisions and discuss salaries with a view of increasing them to stop desertions. The Army Council is a parliament of sorts and includes all officers from the rank of major.

BOYS SHUN UPDF RECENT RECRUITMENT Iraq has also affected recruitment for the army. Our Intelligence has learnt that the most recent recruitment into the UPDF advertised in the papers and radios for the various cadet posts in the army got a lukewarm response.

The turn up was so poor and matters were not helped when even western and northern Uganda which over the years have been over-shooting the allocated quota could not raise beyond 40% of the required recruits.

It was after this shocking revelation that the intelligence dug in and established that the reason the boys were reluctant to join the army despite the biting unemployment was because they were looking for the alternative lucrative Iraq jobs.

The Iraq jobs have become so juicy that most parents are parting with as much as Shs3m to have their sons and daughters recruited as Iraq guards.

UGANDAN GUARDS A HOT CAKE IN IRAQ

The demand for Ugandan guards has been surging over the years in Iraq. The Americans seem to be very comfortable with Ugandans, largely because they are very fluent in English and are very thorough at their jobs.

They also seem to understand better the ideological mission why the allied forces are in Iraq than any other country. As a result, the demand for Ugandan guards has been on the increase.

Prominent security companies that have been recruiting for Iraq are Askar Security owned by Gen. Salim Saleh’s sister in law, Kellen Kayonga, Drakesh, Connect Security and another one identified as Watertight Security.

Ref: Free Uganda

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Each Shoe Was Worth a Thousand Words
• U.S. Contractors in Iraq Rely on Third-World Labor
• Ex-Soldier Gets Life Sentence for Iraq Murders +Iraq Tribes Are Upset by S…
• Why 10,000 Ugandans are eagerly serving in Iraq