A day in the life of a soldier in the jungle
A soldier making their way through the thick jungles of Garamba Forest as they search for the enemy. PHOTOS BY Risdel Kasasira
What a soldier goes through at the battlefront can be described as tough – and more. In the case of the UPDF soldiers tracking LRA leader Joseph Kony in Central African Republic (CAR) and DR Congo, they are thousands of miles away from home. Walking hundreds of miles in the jungles, crossing rivers and bogs, facing enemy fire is their daily life. They have no phones to talk to their families.
The only communication is between them and their superiors through radio communication. Birds buzz and monkeys howl in the wilderness. “We sometimes can’t tell a date in a month,” says 2nd Lt. Leonard Tusiime, who graduated with BSC environmental science from Makerere and joined the army as a cadet in 2010. Ugandan and American journalists were invited to visit UPDF bases in CAR and South Sudan.
We met one of the fighting squads under the command of Capt. James Matata, deputised by 2nd Lt Tusiime on November 25, about 70km from UPDF tactical headquarters in Obbo. Capt. Matata is the former LRA fighter who defected and joined UPDF in 2003. He is referred to by his bosses as the “lion of the jungle” because of his boldness and assertiveness against LRA.
“These boys are our heroes. If it were not them, this operation wouldn’t be possible,” the UPDF intelligence coordinator, Lt. Col Abdu Rugamayo says
Capt. Matata and his fighters were preparing to return to Obbo after one month of patrolling jungles along the DRC-CAR border. In a one-hour patrol with them, they crossed tributaries feeding into River Mbomu which separates DR Congo and Central Africa Republic.
In military formation, a group of four heavily armed cross first and take positions in a single line but facing in opposition directions. Crossing water points makes them vulnerable to the enemy fire. “You must move fast. We need to leave this place as fast as we can,” one of the soldiers tells me as I struggle to avoid waves of the running stream.
You can hardly see 10 metres ahead because of tall grass and thickets formed near the streams. The advance team moves with a machete to cut the creeping plants to create way for moving troops.
They move quietly but fast and communicate using sign language and radio walkie talkies to advance or take positions. Throughout this tiring expedition, everyone carries their 25kg piece of luggage that includes posho and beans, a saucepan, small mattress, bed sheets and sugar.
They prepare their meals in the shortest time they can in order to continue with the journey. The journey begins at dawn and ends in the evening when they pitch a camp and create a defence ring in case the enemy attacks.
Despite the unfriendly environment, Sgt. Ocan Malikit who has fought with NRM government in most of the past wars, seems to enjoy every bit of this expedition. He holds a rocket propelled grenade in one hand as he uses the other to lift Garamba, a dog they found at the LRA abandoned camp in Garamba in 2008. “Garamba is going home today,” he says as they prepare to board a helicopter with the pet, back to the base located about 70km away.
Sgt. Malikit fought Uganda People’s Democratic Army rebels in 1987, Holy Spirit Movement of Lakwena, was in DR Congo in late 1990s, redeployed in northern Uganda after DR Congo and is now in Central African Republic. “Do you miss your family?” I ask him. “Of course, but when national duty calls I have to be there for my country,” he responds.
The UPDF operations headquarter South Sudan is based at Nzara. The camp is sub-divided into small groups-hospital, air force, infantry and field engineering.
Life at Nzara is far much better compared to the jungle patrols. Soldiers watch TV, play volley ball and football with the locals. Most of the soldiers based here do administrative work and do not fight. They also do night patrols inside and around the camp, a different thing altogether from walking the thick jungles searching for an enemy.
