President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Commander in Chief of Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) has directed his special senior presidential advisor General Salim Saleh to supervise the fight against gunmen who are attacking security installations and forces.
Eagle Online can reliably report that Museveni was briefed by his confident intelligence team that security agencies have failed to defeat the armed men who attack police stations and military barracks.
Internal Affairs State Minister Gen. David Muhoozi briefed parliament that 22 suspects including UPDF soldiers and two police officers were charged before the court martial on offences related to the recent attacks on police stations and military barracks. The minister said that within a period of 12 months, 13 attacks have been reported, 15 guns were stolen and 6 of these have not yet been recovered.
“According to available intelligence, the motives for these actions are acquisition of arms for subversive activities, as well as for other criminal ends other than subversion,” the minister said.
However, the minister explained that some of the attacks were as a result of laxity in the security forces and sources have said that it is this laxity that has forced President Museveni to bring back Gen. Saleh after establishing that his security forces were carrying out uncoordinated operations against the said gunmen.
Sources added that the big man was very bitter with some security bosses for giving uncoordinated statements; he gave an example of the statement issued by police identifying the gunmen as rebels which the army rubbished and insisted that the attackers are criminal gangs.
Sources said that Museveni directed all security bosses that before an operation is carried out, Gen. Saleh has to be informed and if it is an emergency, he has to be briefed not beyond five hours after the operation.
“You know these gangs have started using tactics which President Museveni’s NRA rebels used especially when they started attacking security installations with the aim of stealing guns, didn’t you hear that the attackers at Gaddafi barracks in Jinja first strangled the UPDF soldier before firing bullets on his dead body?” a source preferred anonymity said.
He added that Museveni wants Gen. Saleh to use the same tactics they have previously used to fight gunmen.
Another source said that there is a sharp division within security agencies and the president wants Gen. Saleh to fix it and save the situation.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the special presidential senior advisor on operation, has been the supervisor of all the operations in the country.
