LONDON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Defense said Thursday its reservists were in Uganda training soldiers for future peacekeeping missions.
More than two dozen British military reservists were deployed to Uganda for a two-week training mission for an estimated 1,800 Ugandan troops. The British Department of Defense said training consisted of basic infantry and counter-insurgency tactics.
The Defense Department noted Ugandan forces were deployed alongside African Union and U.N. peacekeepers across much of African.
"Over the past three months they have received training from American, French and Dutch troops before the British deliver the final fortnight of training, which culminates in a two-day field exercise after which the soldiers are deployable on U.N. and African Union peacekeeping missions," the department said.
U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 deployed military advisers to the region to help Ugandan military forces take on the militant Lord's Resistance Army. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met in July with U.S. soldiers in Uganda helping with the fight.
Uganda last week hosted regional and international delegates to discuss ways to bring peace to war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. The U.N. peacekeeping mission there has a mandate to use force.
