The Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs has attributed the attack on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Kasese District by suspected Allied Democratic Forces – ADF rebels to late, and inaccurate information relayed to the army.
Vincent Ssempijja told Members of Parliament on Thursday that when the attack happened around 11:00 pm, information was relayed to the army 30 minutes later that the students were striking and had set the school ablaze.
The Minister’s statement was in response to a directive by Speaker Anita Among following the attack in which 43 people were killed, among them 37 students of the school.
Ssempijja explained that the information was quickly shared with Police deployed at Bwera and subsequently, a joint UPDF and Police force was dispatched to the scene but unfortunately, the attackers had retreated towards Virunga National Park, near River Semuliki inside the Democratic Republic of Congo – DRC.
The Minister also noted that the Virunga area is wild and not inhabited by humans, and therefore has no security deployment but the UPDF forces pursued the attackers. He said that three of the suspected rebels were killed and a woman and three children rescued.
According to the Minister, such isolated cases of attacks on the civilian population by the ADF rebels were anticipated at the initial planning stage of Operation Shujaa to divert the UPDF, but the army is maintaining deployments in the entire Rwenzori sub-region to avert such threats.
Residents and leaders in Kasese put security on the spot for the slow response to the attack. They also questioned how the rebels managed to attack the area which is 2 kilometres away from the Mpondwe border where there is heavy deployment of soldiers.
The Defence Ministry also cited a similar attack by the bigger ADF group in Ntoroko district in December last year, saying the attackers were quickly defeated by the UPDF due to the timely sharing of information from the civilian population.
The Minister also said that several suspects have been arrested in connection to the attack to help security with the investigation while community sensitization and mobilization for vigilance, and collaboration with security forces is also ongoing in the affected area to restore sanity.
Meanwhile, MPs have also demanded the Ministry of Defence present in the House a comprehensive report on the Uganda People’s Defence Forces – UPDF soldiers killed by the al-Shabaab militants in Somalia on 26 May 2023.
The militants attacked the UPDF Forward Operating Base – FOB leading to the death of 54 UPDF soldiers.
Speaker Anita Among gave the Minister 21 days to report back to the House with information regarding the names and birthplaces of the dead soldiers.
