There is a heavy deployment of Uganda People’s Defence Forces – UPDF soldiers at the Uganda-South Sudan border in Okuti Paris, Kitgum District.
The deployment comes three weeks after hundreds of unknown armed men donning military wear were sighted camped at Lunyili hills in Ikotos County, Eastern Equatoria state in South Sudan, a few distances from Ugandan Border. Parts of Lunyili hills are inside the Ugandan territory of Lucom village in Okuti Parish.
Peter Owit Obol, the LCI Chairperson Akilok Central Village that neighbours Okuti Parish says that army trucks carrying heavily armed UPDF soldiers started entering the area on July 26.
He says the trucks have been advancing towards Lucom army detach in Lucom village at the South Sudan border point a few distances from where suspected rebels are rumoured to have pitched their camps.
Obol notes that the army leadership briefed all the Local Council Chairpersons in the area on July 30 of their presence in a bid to scale down the panic that had started gripping the community members.
Brig William Bainomugisha, the 5th Division Infantry Commander on Thursday confirmed that the army has deployed new forces in the area but downplayed the move as an advance to flush out the armed men.
“These are one of our mandates to the constitution to defend our country and if there is any insecurity the forces are playing the routine activities. The issue of whether it’s suspicious or suspected, the community should wait and see,” Brig Bainomugisha told Uganda Radio Network in a telephone interview Thursday.
Brig Bainomugisha says every after two years, they relieve their forces at the international border while others are taken for courses and further training.
“This is an international border of South Sudan and Uganda, we have been under relieved of soldiers, those coming in and those going out. After two years we relieve soldiers and others go for the course and others go for training, the challenge is sometimes the community see some movements and becomes suspicious about that but that is our day to day activities,” he said.
But Margaret Lamwaka, the Chua East Member of Parliament who is also a member of the Defense and Internal Affairs Committee in Parliament says intelligence reports indicate that more than 1,000 unknown armed men are occupying Lunyili hills.
She says reports indicate that about two weeks ago, seven of the armed men sloped from the hills and attacked local farmers in a communal farmland Tim pa jo Okwarayo in Okuti Parish before returning into neighboring South Sudan. She says although the intention of the gunmen is unknown, their invasion in the past weeks in Ugandan territory signals insecurity that needs urgent army intervention.
Lamwaka reveals that the UPDF has indeed deployed in the area following concerns of the suspicious men in a bid to protect the locals from harm and beef up security at the border point.
South Sudan Peoples Defence Force (SSPDF) Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai told URN in a telephone interview by press time that he was yet to find more information on the presence of the armed men at the Uganda South Sudan border.
-URN
