Museveni sends Generals Mbadi, Muhanga to Kasese after rebels attack on school

President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the commander in chief of armed forces has reportedly directed the chief of defence forces Gen Wilson Mbadi and land forces commander, Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga, to rush to Kasese district after suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed over 39 students.

The suspected rebels attacked Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe town which is a few kilometers from the Uganda-DRC border. Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesperson, said Museveni has instructed Mbadi and Muhanga to ascertain the circumstances under which the rebels attacked the school.

Kulayigye said Mbadi and Muhanga will be accompanied by a team from the ministry of Education to conduct the ground assessment. Earlier this week, more than 100 Congolese nationals entered the Mpondwe-Lubiriha town council in Kasese district following suspected ADF attacks on local communities.

In 2021, the UPDF launched operations against the ADF rebels inside DRC. The rebels were accused of using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Kampala that caused the death of nine deaths and left over 40 injured. The dead included a policeman Amos Kungu, and three suspected suicide bombers.

In November last year, Museveni praised UPDF’s presence and its ‘Shujja’ operation in DR Congo, saying it had obliterated all ADF threats to further carry out any attacks on Uganda.

The Friday night attack in Kasese comes days after the United States warned its nationals against coming or living in Uganda, warning of imminent terror threats, high crime rates, and Anti-Homosexuality law.

However, the state minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem laughed off the US travel warnings, saying Uganda has the capacity to deal with any security threat. A fortnight before the 2021 terror attacks in Kampala, the UK issued a security warning for its citizens in Kampala but the security said they were more than ready to counter insecurity incidents. 

Later on, police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, said the UK terror warning was plain without specifics on where it was likely to happen. Military, police, and sister violent crime and intelligence units arrested 58 suspects following the October and November terror acts in Kampala in 2021. 

Last month, 54 UPDF soldiers were killed and scores injured when the al-Shabaab militants attacked their base in Buulo-Mareer base, Lower Shabelle region of Somalia.