Jinja (Uganda). In a move aimed at boosting Indo-Ugandan defence ties, Indian Association in Uganda with help of the Indian Military training team set up a military war game centre in Ugandan city of Jinja.
On May 24, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni inaugurated the war game centre conceptualised by Indian military team for Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).
Commissioning the wargame centre at the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College in Kimaka in Jinja, the President said “this centre is also a great gesture of the wider cooperation and support we enjoy with the government and the people of India.”
He hailed the relationship between the UPDF and the Indian army which he said has a lot of knowledge, experience and heroism.
“Our relationship with India has existed for centuries. We were colonised together by a small group of people who came from Europe, but when we all woke up, and the small groups ran away. During that time, we fought together first against the Japanese in Burma. The heroic Indians are the ones who stopped the westward expansion of Japan at the famous battle of Kohima,” he said.
The war game centre is named ”INDIA” and is a type of strategy game that simulates warfare realistically, as opposed to abstract strategy games such as chess.
Brigadier Ranjit Singh, Head of the Indian military team said that it is a fitting token of gratitude from the Indian community of Uganda for the UPDF, which has been the stabilising force in Uganda and the region for over three decades.
The war game centre, constructed with an amount of over one billion Ugandan Shillings (US$265,000), has been funded by voluntary contributions from Ugandans of Indian origin.
Lieutenant General Andrew Gutti, Commandant of Senior Command and Staff College, where the Wargame Centre has been constructed, highlighted that the Indian Military Training Team has been a trusted partner of UPDF over many years.
He said that the landmark training aid will help make the UPDF Senior Command and Staff College a centre of excellence in the entire region and it will remain a lasting symbol of the special bond that Indians in Uganda share with UPDF and India shares with Uganda.
