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Army launches campaign over cross-border threats
Security officials monitor activities at the shores of Lake Albert in Hoima District in 2017. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- Rising cross-border criminality on Lake Albert red-flagged as national security concern because mainland Bunyoro hosts some of Uganda’s most important assets such as oil wells and under-construction international airport and oil pipelines.
Ugandan security and political leaders have ramped up mobilisation and sensitisation of residents in areas straddling Lake Albert following continued incursions by armed individuals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The attackers have over the years killed or abducted fishermen and security operatives they accuse of straying into parts of the lake which is on Congolese territory.
There is uncertainty among Ugandan officials on whether the perpetrators are Congolese government troops, members of motley militia and subversive groups such as the Allied Democratic Front (ADF) or free-range criminals in the conflict-plagued eastern DRC.
Residents told senior security officials during a meeting in Buliisa District on Wednesday that they feel vulnerable because the invaders operate in small bands and strike at landing sites unexpectedly.
In other instances, they noted, the gunmen intercept fishermen and even marine officers patrolling the lake from whom they seize firearms, boats, fishing gears and other valuables including cash.
A catalogue of these cases prompted the new UPDF 303 Brigade Commander, Col Allan Matsiko, working with police and spy agencies, to initiate public engagements to reawaken residents to the lurking cross-border danger and be more vigilant.
The open-air security meetings commenced in Kikuube District on March 6 and similar sessions have been held in Hoima and Buliisa districts with others planned for Hoima City and Kagadi, Kakumiro and Kibale districts.
On the sensitisation team are regional and district police commanders, district internal security officers and resident district commissioner, the latter by virtue of their offices being chairs of security committees in their jurisdictions.
Speaking at Wanseko and Walukuba landing sites, both in Buliisa District, Col Matsiko told resident that security starts with them as individuals and households, before graduating to the community, district and national levels.
He exhorted them to use their eyes and ears as “main weapons” to spot and report to authorities anything with a potential to undermine security in their neighbourhoods.
The security chiefs in mid-western Uganda have turned to civilians in efforts to bolster security in the sub-region, according to one official, because both the Constitution and Sections 48(f) and 49(a) of the Local Government Act oblige lower administrative units in this context village, parish and sub-county leaderships - to assist in the maintenance of “law, order and security”.
During the ongoing joint sensitisation meetings, residents reported that criminal syndicates, among them drug traffickers, armed robbers and sex predators, had formed at some landing sites on Ugandan side and are conniving with Congolese counterparts to spread terror across the frontiers.
Monthly meetings
Col Matsiko tasked Local Council executives to exercise their mandate on security by holding monthly security meetings to improve alertness of residents who can timely identify and report on newcomers and strange developments in their locality.
“Security begins you,” he said, adding that the law requires the LCs to convene village council meeting attended by all adult residents once every six months.
“Strangers come into a village and no one bothers to find out who they are or where they are coming from, or report about them to the authorities,” he said, “In the whole country, there is nowhere they (villagers and their leaders) have been holding village council meetings, which is supposed to be twice a year, to evaluate security situations in their area.”
Failure to convene such meetings in villages or cells, the smallest administrative units in the country, means matters of potential national security importance are in some instances not picked up or addressed promptly.
In addition, he noted, the cascading of intelligence and security information through various hierarchies is the pipeline connecting the National Security Council and village councils to guarantee peace and security of the people and the state.
“We must resurrect the monthly LC I executive committee meetings on regular basis in order to review your security situation and share [emerging issues] with those concerned with implementation,” Col Matsiko said.
There is no significant development in Bunyoro posing immediate national security scare, but officials argue that the continued cross-order crime on Lake Albert risks undermining investor confidence and safety of key national and high-value assets.
These, among others, include the oil wells, under-construction Kabalega International Airport and oil pipeline, both in Hoima, as well as central processing facilities and waste treatment facilities of oil giants; Total and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).
Uganda expects to strike more oil deposits from continuing explorations and the government, in one of the many deferrals, says oil production will now start next year.
The construction of the country’s second international airport in Hoima is nearing completion inside Kabaale Industrial Park where some 100 factories are expected to be established in coming months and years, adding to the chain of strategic assets in the sub-region where elements of Special Forces have deployed to provide additional security layer.
In an interview yesterday, Hoima Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Michael Kyakashari, said the security sensitisation meetings are to mobilise residents in border areas straddling Lake Albert to keep vigilant and identify new arrivals in their neighbourhoods and stem “unforeseeable incidents”.
“[We are] trying to tell the local people how they should be vigilant themselves, they should be able to identify who is that new person they don’t know in their community. Much as security is there on the waters, the locals must be aware that security begins with them,” he said.
He downplayed any threats posed by ADF in the oil-rich sub-region, saying the Shujja operations being jointly conducted over the past two years by Ugandan and Congolese troops had degraded capabilities of the outlaws.
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.
Following complaints by residents during the Wednesday joint security sensitisation meeting, Buliisa RDC Longino Bahebwa promised to convene an interface between FPU and fishermen to amicably iron out teething issues.
ATTACKS ON LAKE ALBERT
August 2007:Shooting. Heritage Oil Company engineer Carl Nefdt shot dead allegedly by Congolese government forces on claims the firm’s exploration barge strayed into Congo territory, sparking bilateral tensions.
October 2012: Attack. About 20 armed Congolese stormed Nkondo Landing Site and confiscated mobile phone handsets and fish from Ugandan fishermen, leaving local population in panic and feeling vulnerable.
November 10, 2012: Gunfire. Ugandan troops and armed Congolese groups engage in intense gunfire exchange after the latter accused Ugandan fisheries officials of harassing Congolese fishermen.
May 2013: Abduction. Three Ugandan fisheries enforcement officials and two policemen are abducted on Lake Albert on Hoima District side by armed attackers suspect to be from the DR Congo.
May 2016: Patrol. Suspected Congolese armed group attack Ugandan policemen patrolling Lake Albert, resulting in the tragic deaths of three policemen and critical injuries to another.
April 2017:Diplomatic tension. A group of suspected Congolese soldiers stage a raid and abduct Ugandan fishermen on Lake Albert on the side of Hoima District, igniting diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
December 2017: Death toll. Armed Congolese nationals seize fishing gears from Ugandan fishermen at Kaiso landing site in Hoima district, leaving residents scared and searching for answers on their protection.
November 2018: Double killing. Suspected Congolese militia shoot dead seven Ugandans, who were searching for the body of a colleague allegedly slain by same attackers, near Kaiso Landing Site in Buseruka Sub-county.
2019:Arrest. Ugandan fishermen on Lake Albert apprehend two men armed with AK-47 rifles whom they believed were members of a Congolese militia terrorising the local fishing community.
October 2020: Abduction. Suspected armed Congolese militia members abduct 16 Ugandan fishermen and confiscate 20 boats and boat engines in a daring raid on Kaiso, Sebigoro and Kijangi landing sites.
April 2020: Clash. Two killed in fighting between suspected Congolese militiamen and UPDF soldiers after the former reportedly grabbed boats, engines, fishing gears and nets from Ugandan fishermen at gunpoint.
March 2021: Theft. Gunmen believed to be from the DR Congo abduct more than a dozen Ugandan fishermen, steal four fishing boats and engines in attacks on Kaiso Landing Site.
November 2022: Ambush. Police Marine Unit officers in Ntoroko District go missing after falling into an ambush believed to have been staged by Congolese militia who seized four guns.
