Between 1982 and 1984, Australians served in Uganda as part of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU).
Political tension, corruption and conflict between tribal groups and the Ugandan military had ravaged the country for decades. Seven countries from the Commonwealth of Nations agreed to help train the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). The aim was to safeguard the civilian population and rebuild Uganda as a stable society.
In early 1982, the Australian Government deployed a 5-person contingent to join the 36-person multinational training team. In total, four 6-monthly rotations of training personnel were deployed to Uganda.
By the time the Australians left in 1984, they had helped train more than 3,500 Ugandan military personnel in tactics, fieldcraft and weapons handling.
Cultural and political background
Uganda is a small, landlocked country in East Africa with a diverse population and complex political and cultural history. The indigenous population includes 56 tribes with 4 main ethnicities. Intertribal violence and rivalry are common and still cause instability today.
Since achieving independence in 1962, the Ugandan government became increasingly militarised to defeat local insurgencies. The abolishment of traditional kingdoms, internal favouritism, corruption, and tribal rivalry created further instability within the military structures.
Rival regimes ravaged the country, impacting the economy and causing extreme food shortages. Around 300,000 Ugandans died in conflicts between 1971 and 1979.
In 1980, Dr Apollo Milton Obote was reinstated as president of the Republic of Uganda in a rigged election. As a result, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) became a central part of enforcing the regime's power, and many senior officers were granted political appointments.
In strong opposition to Obote's corruption, Yoweri Museveni led the National Resistance Army (NRA) in a guerrilla campaign against Obote in 1981. So Obote requested help at Melbourne's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Obote argued he intended to stabilise Uganda and continue its national reconstruction.
CHOGM in Melbourne 1981
CHOGM is a biennial summit of leaders from Commonwealth nations. The 1981 agenda was about extending the Commonwealth's commitment to supporting struggling countries within a fair international economic and financial system.
Britain was reluctant to enter into a one-on-one agreement with Uganda at the time. So Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser proposed a joint response between Britain and Australia. As a result, Australia and Britain provided Uganda with the 2 largest military training contingents.
After consultations with the Australian Government Department of Defence, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tony Street, announced on 2 February 1982 that Australia would offer an Australian Army team of between 2 and 6 troops as part of the CMTTU. A contingent of 5 soldiers was eventually agreed upon.
The Australian Government also pledged A$50,000 if the CMTTU was a 'representative group' from Commonwealth countries. Each CMTTU unit would be deployed for 6 months at a time and extended by request from Obote for continuing support from the Commonwealth.
Not long after Australia committed to the CMTTU, 300 rebel guerrillas attacked an army barracks on the outskirts of Uganda's capital, trying to overthrow the government. It was clear that Uganda would be a difficult assignment.
The UNLA was ill-trained and undisciplined. There were no systems of control, meaning no authority existed at any level of the military or government. Members of the UNLA were often the cause of the trouble.
Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan had all tried and failed to train the Ugandan army. The traditional British style of discipline and order was seen as the only way of achieving the behaviour and training needed.
Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU) officers and senior non-commissioned officers, Jinja, Uganda, 1983. Left to right: back row: Staff Sergeant (SSgt) R.K. Abdul, Tanzania; Sgt M.J. Humphrey, Australia; SSgt M.J. Miles, United Kingdom (UK); Sgt S.D. Salsman, Canada; and Sgt T. Makonyola, Tanzania. Middle row: Sgt M.J. Russell, UK; SSgt D.S. Bailes, UK; Warrant Officer (WO) J. Wright, Canada; WO2 C.C. Savage, UK; WO 1 B. Baxter, UK; WO1 R.A. Duncan, UK; WO2 P.A. Hill, Australia; WO2 R. Williams, Jamaica; WO2 W. Roberts, Guyana; and Sgt R.J. Smith, Australia. Front row: Captain (Cpt) D.C Maganya, Tanzania; Cpt T.G. Moylan, Australia; Major (Maj) P.M. Claughton, UK; Maj David A Wilson, Australia; Maj R.P. Fox, UK; WO1 D.J. Whyte, UK; Colonel J.C. Holman, OBE, UK; WO2 P.E. Bullock, UK; Maj M. Atheriy, Guyana; Maj A.H. Carter, UK; Maj L. Hajeau, Canada; Cpt B. Hackney, UK; and Cpt G. Watts, UK. AWM P02021.001.
Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda
Deployed to Uganda in March 1982, the CMTTU comprised a 36-person training team from 7 Commonwealth countries.
The Australian Component Commonwealth Military Training Team (ACCMTTU) included:
- a major, the component commander
- a captain
- 3 non-commissioned officers (NCOs).
A 'continuity person' (usually a captain) arrived halfway through each deployment to ensure the handover of operational objectives to the next contingent.
A British colonel commanded the Australian team, and the 4 Australian contingents comprised personnel from the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.
The first and second teams came from the 6th Brigade in Brisbane (6th Battalion RAR and 8th/9th Battalion RAR). Teams 3 and 4 came from the 1st Brigade at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney (3rd Battalion RAR and 5th/7th Battalion RAR).
The majority of CMTTU personnel were British. There were also four 5-person contingents with personnel from Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Guyana and Tanzania.
The British were responsible for Ugandan officer administration training. The Canadians provided the medical team. The Australians, Tanzanians and Jamaicans trained Ugandan warrant officers and NCOs.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Gary Hunter outside the accommodation barracks used by the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), 1982. These barracks were in the old British Military Camp at Jinja, constructed in the 1930s, which was originally the home of the elite British Army KAR. After independence, the barracks became the Ugandan School of Infantry. AWM P05320.008.
Australians arrive in Uganda
UNLA units and armed idiots roamed the streets. At night the capital city of Kampala was a veritable battle with the sounds of small arms fire almost constant ... Civilian infrastructure was almost non-existent. Running water, electricity, healthcare, roads, law and order and any other 'necessities' were simply not to be had. Fuel, tyres and batteries were almost as good as gold.
[The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations]
ACCMTTU Team 1 in 1982
Arriving in Uganda on 18 March 1982, the first ACCMTTU was commanded by Major Tony Casey. The team's role was to conduct UNLA training at the Ugandan School of Infantry in Jinja Barracks.
When the Australians arrived, they found anarchy on the streets and basic infrastructure seriously lacking. The existing UNLA command was apathetic and disengaged, equipment and weapons were in poor condition, and troops had received little arms training. However, in general, the personnel were enthusiastic about learning the ways of war of mzungu('white person' in Swahili).
Without much in the way of equipment and supplies, the Australians kept it simple. They learned as much Swahili as possible to communicate and train effectively. The Ugandan askari(armed personnel) became eager students.
In early 1982, Major Casey reported:
The team has knitted together remarkably well, considering that the members of the team come from seven countries with totally different training and cultural backgrounds. I have labelled this for want of a better term, the Commonwealth spirit. Team members have accepted the obvious differences, overcome initial inhibitions and are working together well for achievement of the team aim.
[The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations]
The students came directly from UNLA forward lines, where they had engaged in anti-bandit operations and guerrilla warfare in the north. Unfortunately, some askari used their training to become better bandits. Casey and his team began to wonder if they were training the wrong side of the conflict because the UNLA was loathed and feared by many Ugandans.
Regardless, the Commonwealth considered the UNLA an effective force against the insurgency. The Australians did their job as professionally as they could.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Gary Hunter (left), Major Pat Cullinan (centre) and a Canadian doctor (right), all members of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), standing next to a sign on the Equator, as they return from Nairobi, Kenya. 1982. AWM P05320.002.
The fighting escalates
On 2 May, UNLA troops at Jinja Barracks ran riot. Just before midnight, rifle fire ripped through the night, lasting 90 minutes. Casey blamed the outburst on ill-disciplined and nervous troops. Contingent Sergeant Peter Orth thought the UNLA harboured some resentment towards the CMTTU.
The next day, a heavily pregnant woman was attacked and assaulted by UNLA personnel in the guardroom. The situation on the ground was highly volatile.
A Canadian medic, Dr Peter Greene, threatened to pull out of Uganda altogether. Not wanting the CMTTU to be dismantled, Casey wrote a letter threatening to withdraw himself from the operation if no action was taken against the perpetrators.
As the Australian Contingent Commander and as an officer, I am duty bound to protest the inhuman actions perpetrated by members of the [Ugandan] barrack guard against civilians held in detention by them unless the strongest possible protest is made against these violations of basic human rights, these actions will continue.
[The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations]
Casey knew that incidents like this would taint the mission and that CMTTU's reputation would suffer. The Australian Government was concerned for the safety of its ACCMTTU personnel.
On 14 May, a civilian was tortured in the Jinja Barracks guardroom. As a result, training was cancelled while the UNLA commandant of the Uganda School of Infantry assessed the matter.
Feeling pressure from the Committee of High Commissioners from the UN Commission on Human Rights, Obote sent Major General Tito Okello, UNLA Commander-in-Chief, to Jinja Barracks. He expelled around 200 army personnel and around 6 UNLA officers. However, the remaining UNLA officers continued to act flawlessly, and more acts of gratuitous violence occurred.
On 7 June, the next warrant officer course began with 72 students. Their age and experience varied widely, and ethnic tensions remained. However, many of the battalion troops wanted to make a good impression.
Over the following months, tension and uncertainty continued, but the ACCMTTU also noted fewer armed UNLA troops and decreased outbursts of violence on the streets of Jinja. Their experience had been delicate, and discipline and military training improvements were slowly becoming apparent. The Commonwealth was having a slow but positive influence in Uganda.
Four members of the first Australian contingent to the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU) before boarding an aircraft at Entebbe airport to take them home to Australia. Left to right: Sergeant (Sgt) Mick Caughey, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR); Warrant Officer Class 2 Peter Stammers 6 RAR; Major Tony Casey, 6 RAR; and Sgt Peter Orth, 8/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Uganda, September 1982. AWM P05320.004.
ACCMTTU Team 2 in 1982
On 19 September, Major Patrick Cullinan took over command of the ACCMTTU. Cullinan and Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Garry Hunter started by interviewing all students and expanding the military courses.
It became evident that food rationing was a problem. Food was not provided to the trainees without supervision, and Ugandan officers often stole the food. Some soldiers were so weak they fainted during rigorous drill sessions.
Food shortages led Cullinan to pause training. He insisted that the officers feed the students before courses could begin again.
Human rights violations were also common. Violence became the answer to even the most basic quarrels between trainees. These conflicts often spilled over into arguments with civilians, who were beaten or tortured.
Cullinan feared the team's work was nothing more than a band-aid solution. So the CMTTU began to operate with a zero-tolerance policy towards any breaches of human rights.
Tension, uncertainty and violence remained significant in Ugandan society, and this was slow to change. From January to November 1982, there were 69 murders, 11 attempted murders, 199 assaults and over 500 robberies and thefts in Jinja township. Most incidents involved UNLA soldiers.
Of the UNLA officers enrolled in the CMTTU training, 31 of 38 graduated. In April 1983, the British CMTTU commander Colonel Clavering commended the Australians for doing their best job, despite the situation. Strict discipline, racial equality and reward for outstanding work contributed to their slow successes.
Despite the issues, professionalising the UNLA still appeared to be an important step in safeguarding the civilian population and rebuilding Uganda as a stable society.
Group portrait of Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Gary Hunter (front row, third from left) and Major (Maj) Pat Cullinan (front row, fourth from left) and members of the Field Wing who are the future instructors in the UNLA, Uganda, 1982. The Australians were members of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU). AWM P05320.009.
ACCMTTU Team 3 in 1983
On 5 March 1983, Australian Labor Party leader Bob Hawke was elected prime minister of Australia. With the change of government, there was some doubt as to whether the ACCMTTU's deployment in Uganda would continue. But on 9 April, Major David Wilson arrived at Entebbe (Uganda's main airport), ready to command the third team.
Not long afterwards, one of the trainees was killed during a drill. Wilson also noted food rations were still an issue.
Regardless, training continued in full force. After a year of operation, CMTTU procedures were starting to become institutionalised. Compared to the previous 2 teams, discipline breaches and violent incidents had declined.
Team 3 focused on drill competitions between UNLA battalions, team barbecues and morale-building exercises. On 16 July, Wilson oversaw the first coordinated company-strength attack performed on exercise in Uganda for over 10 years. It signalled the success and efficiency of the CMTTU trainers.
On 3 August, President Obote approached the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Sir Shridath Ramphal, seeking a 6-month extension of the CMTTU into March 1984. The Australian Government reluctantly agreed, extending the deployment with a fourth CMTTU team until March 1984, on the condition that they could be withdrawn at the end of the term.
Improvements, meanwhile, continued in Uganda. Wilson reported the 'surprisingly good weapon handling and results' during the range practice. Training continued without incident until the team departed in September.
The hard work of the first 2 teams allowed Wilson to use the relative stability to extend existing courses, implement new initiatives benefiting students, and foster team spirit.
Sergeant Rod Smith, one of 6 Australian Army servicemen to serve with the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), conducting a class in infantry field tactics for UNLA students in an open-air classroom, Uganda, 1982. AWM P05320.001.
ACCMTTU Team 4 in 1983
The fourth Australian team arrived on 5 October 1983. Major Jack McRoberts took over as the commander of ACCMTTU Team 4 on 13 October 1983.
Student numbers in the training courses were greater than ever. The courses were popular, and 137 students arrived for the fourth platoon sergeants' course. Only 100 were accepted, proving that popularity helped to ensure high standards.
However, Weston was critical of the British contingent. He reported that British personnel were failing to engage with the Ugandans. They weren't learning Swahili, segregated themselves from the students and took morning tea that could last for hours. While the Australians took their responsibility seriously, the British were apathetic.
In early 1984, McRoberts oversaw the fifth platoon sergeants' course, with 115 students.
Not long afterwards, he reported the disturbing news that bandits near Entebbe had killed 3 Swiss and a British expatriate settler. It was a stark reminder of the dangers still inherent in Uganda.
Major David A. Wilson of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), standing before a wrecked US Sherman M4A1 medium tank, Kampala, Uganda, 1983. AWM P02021.002.
Withdrawal of Australians
Publicity about the situation in Uganda led to the quick withdrawal of ACCMTTU personnel in March 1984.
In January, BBC film crews arrived to document military training. Their reports portrayed the CMTTU training of UNLA personnel as work in support of the dictatorship. They also found damning evidence, later confirmed by the British High Commission, of white mercenaries operating in Uganda.
On 23 March, crews from the Australian television program 60 Minutes found evidence of mass graves behind the military police compound in Kampala. As a result, Prime Minister Hawke withdrew the team the next day.
It was a sour end to the ACCMTTU deployment. The final team had little time to extend the existing course but had overseen the largest enrolments to date.
After the withdrawal of the CMTTU, 13 British soldiers stayed on to train the UNLA army, aided by some 300 North Koreans. When the US withdrew support from Obote's regime, Britain increased military trainer numbers to 20 personnel.
Outcomes
In many respects, the CMTTU was not a traditional peacekeeping mission. The objective was to train and discipline existing forces for peace-building purposes. CMTTU operated without a United Nations mandate, but the multinational force worked to reduce conflict and instability and engage disenfranchised personnel to ensure national stability.
WO2 Weston had no doubt that the CMTTU presence was for the better:
Personally I think it would have been better if we had stayed on. I have no doubt we made a lot of difference. We trained thousands of soldiers in ground-level grunt stuff, minor tactics and bushcraft, and we also tried to teach them the rules of war, the proper way for a soldier to behave. I also have no doubt some of this got through to our students.
[The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations]
High Commissioner Geoff White agreed:
The CMTTU gave those Ugandans who had direct contact with it an idea of how an army should function and relate to the civil population. This applied not only to the trainees (3,700) who passed through the CMTTU on its 23 courses but also the population in and around Jinja in particular.
[The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations]
Some international observers reported an improvement in the Ugandan army's behaviour as a direct result of the CMTTU training. The mission's aim wasn't to solve Uganda's problems but to train the biggest source of the unease: the military.
On 27 July 1985, Obote was overthrown by Museveni, which led to a broader conflict over border issues and local primacy between Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These conflicts were still being fought 2 decades later.
Ugandan army warrant officers on a march-out parade at the barracks of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), Jinja, Uganda, 1983. AWM P02021.013.
Impact on Australians who served
The ACCMTTU is recognised for promoting stability in a war-ravaged country. The Australians didn't doubt the value of their mission at the time, but there was a negative side to their service in Uganda.
Sergeant Peter Orth of the first ACCMTTU team described being 'disillusioned as nothing from now on in my career would be the same again', while Tony Casey feared his actions had harmed his career prospects. The physical and psychological impacts of service in Uganda stayed with many veterans.
Some ACCMTTU veterans were decorated for their courage and service.
Commemoration
National Peacekeepers' Day
On 14 September each year, we observe National Peacekeepers' Day. It's the anniversary of the day Australia became the world's first peacekeepers to deploy into the field, in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1947. It's a day to recognise the important work of those who have served, and continue to serve, in the name of global peace.
Learn more about Australia's peacekeeping missions since 1947.
Badge worn by Major David Wilson in 1982 and 1983 when serving as a member of the Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU), c. 1982. AWM REL/21843.
Sources
Australian War Memorial, Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda (CMTTU) 1982 to 1984, accessed 11 August 2022, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/CN500130
Londey, Peter; Crawley, Rhys; Horner, David (2020). The Long Search for Peace: Volume 1, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations. Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Kings African Rifles, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_African_Rifles, accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Metusa II of Buganda, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutesa_II_of_Buganda, accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Milton Obote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Obote, accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Second Republic of Uganda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Republic_of_Uganda, accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Uganda, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda, accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Uganda Army, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Army_(1962%E2%80%931971), accessed 11 August 2022.
Wikipedia Editors (2022), Uganda National Liberation Front, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_National_Liberation_Front, accessed 11 August 2022.
Glossary
- Commonwealth of Nations
- mandate
- Protectorate