NAIROBI: Uganda’s military has severed all military cooperation with Germany after it accused Berlin’s ambassador to Kampala of involvement in “subversive activities” in the East African country, its spokesperson said.
“The Uganda People’s Defense Forces has with immediate effect suspended all ongoing defense and military cooperation activities with the Federal Republic of Germany,” UPDF spokesperson Chris Magezi said in a statement posted on X platform on Sunday.
The decision was “in response to credible intelligence reports that the current German Ambassador to Uganda His Excellency Mathias Schauer is actively engaged in subversive activities in the country,” Magezi said.
He did not give details of those activities or details of any existing military cooperation between Uganda and Germany.
Germany’s embassy in Kampala did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Uganda has its troops in the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, AUSSOM, which is partly funded by the European Union, of which Germany is a member.
In a post on the X platform on Sunday, Uganda’s military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba said the military was having problems with Schauer as a person.
“It has to do with him as a person. He is wholly unqualified to be in Uganda. It has nothing to do with the great German people,” said Kainerugaba.
The spokesperson for Uganda’s ministry of foreign affairs could not be reached for comment as her phone was switched off.
Kainerugaba, the son of President Yoweri Museveni and widely seen as heir apparent, is widely known for his inflammatory posts on social media which have included threats to Western diplomats in Kampala.
This month he warned the EU was “playing with fire” after a group of EU ambassadors met officials from Uganda’s largest opposition party including its leader, pop star-turned-politician, Bobi Wine.
Uganda’s military says it has severed ties with Germany over ‘subversive activities’ by ambassador
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Uganda’s military says it has severed ties with Germany over ‘subversive activities’ by ambassador
- The Ugandan People’s Defence Forces suspended all its ongoing military and defence activities with Germany
- The move comes after the current German Ambassador to Uganda, Mathias Schauer, is accused of engaging in “subversive activities” in the country
Seven elephants killed by train accident in India
NEW DELHI: A passenger train smashed into a herd of elephants in India’s northeast, killing seven animals on the spot, officials said Saturday.
No travelers were injured in the accident in Assam state, home to more than 4,000 of the roughly 22,000 wild elephants in India.
Senior Assam police official V.V. Rakesh Reddy told AFP that seven jumbos were killed, and one elephant sustained an injury.
Five coaches of the train, which was headed to New Delhi from remote Mizoram state, were derailed.
Authorities have introduced speed restrictions along routes designated elephant corridors, but the latest accident occurred outside of these zones, Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, an Indian Railways spokesman said.
“The loco pilot, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, elephants dashed with the train,” he said.
Deforestation and construction activity near their habitats force elephants to stray further afield for food, often bringing them into conflict with humans.
According to parliamentary figures, 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024.
