Army calls for calm amid  terror threat

The army yesterday called for calm and vigilance in Mount Rwenzori region and Kampala Metropolitan Area as it warned of fresh ADF rebel incursions.
The deputy spokesman of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs (MoDVA), Col Deo Akiiki, yesterday said they have received intelligence that an unknown number of rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) entered Uganda at the weekend. 

He said the rebels are led by one of their top field commanders and are planning attacks in urban areas, on worship centres and public events. 
“This group is suspected to be under the command of a notorious ADF commander Ahamed Muhamood Hassan, aka Abu Waqas, a Tanzanian-born ADF bomb expert. Others include Muhammed Issa, Amigo Kibirige, aka Simba, Muhamad Lumisa, and Nasser Hamid Diiru, and one of them is suspected to have been sent by Abu Waqas,” Col Akiiki said. 

He added: “We call upon all citizens to be vigilant, identify and report any suspicious individuals or packages to avoid being victims of ADF as we catch up with this group.”

The ADF rebels resumed intense attacks on Uganda in 2014 and have targeted soft spots like bars, trucks, schools, and roadside markets. 
The rebel group has also been accused of killing more than 200 people in 30 attacks in Uganda since July 2001. The most recent of the attacks was in June 2023 when they killed more than 41 people, mostly students at Lubhiriha Secondary School in Kasese District. 

Some of the students abducted have never been seen again. 
The visit yesterday to the Mount Rwenzori region by commander of the Land Forces, Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga, has raised fears that the threat level could be high. But he calmed the fears, saying the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) would hunt down the rebels who infiltrated Uganda. 

“ADF rebels in eastern DR Congo have already been defeated. That is why those who escape are attempting to enter Uganda to overstretch the army and portray their continued existence to the public. We [the UPDF], are still in DR Congo actively searching for those who are still in hiding,” Lt Gen Muhanga said. 

The communities in Fort Portal City, and in Kasese, Ntoroko, Bundibugyo and Kamwenge districts have suffered previous attacks by the ADF rebels. 
Col Akiiki said, “We call upon all citizens to be vigilant, identify and report any suspicious individuals or packages to avoid being victims of ADF as we catch up with this group.” 
In October last year, suspected gunmen attacked a truck carrying onions from Kisoro District to Mpondwe border in Kasese District. They killed one person and injured another, and also set a truck ablaze. 

The same group is said to have attacked Lhubiriha S.S but have since been dismantled. One of its leaders, Abdul Rashid Kyoto, alias Njovu, was arrested and has been remanded in Uganda. Others were shot dead by the security forces. 

The Ntoroko Resident District Commissioner, Rtd Maj Edward Jones Mugabirwe, said they are on a high alert. 
But Ms Agnes Businge, a parent in Bwera Town in Kasese District, said, “Our worry is about where they want to attack. Last time they attacked a school in Kasese District. This time we don’t know where they want to attack. We want the school owners to step security to ensure our children are safe.”
 
The Kamwenge District chairman, Mr Joseph Karungi, said: “For Kamwenge District, our schools are safe because we trained more than 600 school security guards and our security in the entire district is on high alert.” 
In February this year, a total of 592 Local Defense Unit (LDU) personnel from the districts of Kamwenge and Bunyangabu were passed out to enhance security and counter the threats posed by ADF rebels at both parish and village levels in the districts. 

The LDUs spent nearly six weeks on basic military training at the Hima Military Training School in Kitswamba Sub-County, Kasese District, and were deployed to Kamwenge and Bunyangabu. 
During the pass-out ceremony, Maj Gen James Birungi, the commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, said the newly trained LDUs would boost the efforts of the UPDF in combating ADF. 

Since 2022, the country has been on terror alerts, with some issued by the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Relatedly, security forces have defused several concealed bombs targeting churches, including one at Kibibi in Butambala District, and at Miracle Centre Cathedral in Rubaga Division in Kampala City. 
 
The UPDF said the intention of the attacks is to divert the UPDF operation in the DR Congo. 
Col Akiiki said the UPDF and DR Congo forces would continue with Operation Shujaa to hunt the ADF rebels as the LDUs protect people in the affected areas. 

Operation Shujaa started in November 2021 following terror attacks in the city centre and on Masaka Road.  At least 4,000 soldiers are deployed to eastern DR Congo to hunt the ADF rebels. 

Gratitude
Residents during the separate meetings in Kikuube, Hoima and Buliisa districts thanked the security officers for their timely interface with them and the security tips shared. 
They, however, accused UPDF Fish Protection Unit operatives of highhanded enforcement during which local fishermen are allegedly tortured and their fishing gears irregularly confiscated. 

Lt Col Mercy Tukahirwa, the commander of the UPDF Fisheries Protection Unit, yesterday refuted the claims and said reports by residents that the Ugandan side of Lake Albert is inadequately protected are untrue.
“It’s inaccurate to claim that we lack sufficient force to protect Ugandan fishermen on Lake Albert. The main issue lies with Ugandan fishermen persistently crossing into Congolese waters for fishing,” she said, citing similar mistakes by Congolese nationals.

Lt Col Tuhakirwa added: “When our security forces apprehend them, it often sparks anger. Consequently, when Congolese find Ugandan fishermen on their side, they retaliate by arresting them.”
Other security sources said the lack of physical marks on the 5,600-square kilometer lake, which runs about 160 kilometres long, makes it difficult for fishermen and sometimes state marine units to ascertain and confine to borders of either country.