His Excellence President Yower Kaguta Museveni has directed the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) to reactivate the force of the Local Defence Units (LDUs) in areas around the National Parks of Queen Elizabeth, Bwindi, and Semuliki.
In a statement released on his social media platforms on December 20, 2023, the president also directed them to go to areas of Kibaale forests, Kyenjojo, and Kagadi. He stated that since the terrorists attack civilians, this will help increase security in the area.
“On account of these repeated atrocities by these infiltrators from Congo, I have directed the UPDF to reactivate the force of the LDUs in the areas surrounding Queen Elizabeth National Parks, Kibaale Forests, the forests in Kyenjojo and Kagadi, Semuliki National Park, and Bwindi National Park,” President Museveni stated.
“Since the terrorists cowardly attack soft targets in the form of unarmed civilians, we are reactivating our old method of transforming the village soft targets into lethal local hard points. We are not short of manpower. It only means deploying more resources to support the manpower,” he added.
In the statement, the President condemned the four armed terrorists who killed 10 people on Monday night around Kibaale Forest.
President Museveni confirmed that the four killers were the remnants of the Njovu-Kamusi group that entered Uganda from the Congo a few weeks ago.
“They had crossed back to Congo but came back. They are the group that killed the children of Nyabugaando School, killed the two tourists and their driver, and burned the onion truck. Two of them were killed in the waters of Lake Edward by the marines, and their leader, Njovu, was injured and captured, and he is now facing charges in court,” the president said.
On December 14, the UPDF confirmed that the CMI and SFC had killed a squad of three from the Njovu group. Kamusi was shot, although his body was not recovered.
Over 20,000 LDUs have been trained in the past two years to help curb the rising cases of criminality in the country.