Uganda is planning to send attack and transport helicopters to strengthen
its forces fighting the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgency in Somalia.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said the helicopters would help
evacuate the wounded, improve communications and utilised in operations against
militants.
The first attempt to deploy helicopters ended tragically in August
2012 when three of the aircraft crashed in neighboring Kenya on the way to
Somalia killing seven crew members.
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| Ugandan troops (seen above) at the crash scene of three UPDF helicopters in Kenya in 2012 |
Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sierra Leone have deployed
troops to Somalia as part of an African Union force bolstering the country's
weak government against the al-Shabab's insurgency.
African Union troops pushed al-Shabab out of the capital, Mogadishu,
in 2011.