Ethiopia, Uganda sign agreement to strengthen bilateral military coop.
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This move is an effort to ensure the two countries' mutual benefits in information exchange, military capacity building, peacekeeping, and regional and other issues.
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Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force hold national flags. (AP)
Upon meeting, the defense chiefs of Ethiopia and Uganda signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding in Addis Ababa for military cooperation.
The Uganda military officials were warmly welcomed by Minister of Defense, Abraham Belay, and Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, at the headquarters of ENDF.
This comes as the Defense Minister of Uganda, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, and the country's defense forces Chief of Staff, General Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, are in the Ethiopian capital for an official visit.
The two countries' chiefs of staff signed an agreement that consists of a detailed plan to enforce the Memorandum of Understanding, as confirmed by the ENDF.
Belay expressed that this move will strengthen the ties between Ethiopia and Uganda and that the agreement is an effort to ensure their mutual benefits in information exchange, military capacity building, peacekeeping, and regional and other issues.
On his part, Ssempijja said Uganda is adamant about implementing the agreement, while ENDF chief of staff Field Marshal Birhanu Jula declared that Uganda is a friendly country to Ethiopia, as they have also been collaborating on Pan-Africanism.
It is worth noting that the two-year war in Africa's second most populous country, Ethiopia, killed untold numbers of civilians and forcefully displaced about two million people from their homes.
Tigrayan forces began surrendering heavy weapons in January, and the process is still ongoing. However, forces from the neighboring Amhara region, which also supported the federal forces, continue to control the western part of Tigray.
On July 27 last year, the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray confirmed that more than 50,000 of its fighters had been demobilized under a peace deal it signed with the federal government that ended a bloody two-year war.
