Former National Resistance Movement (NRM) vice chairman for Eastern Uganda and businessman Captain Mike Mukula has recalled the role General Muhoozi Kainerugaba played in the military campaign against Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
Mukula, who commanded the Arrow Boys auxiliary force in Teso in 2003, said Muhoozi was among the young Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) officers involved in confronting the LRA during the height of the insurgency.
Speaking from his personal experience, Mukula said the conflict subjected communities in northern and north-eastern Uganda to killings, abductions and widespread suffering.
“I speak from personal testimony as the then Commander of the Arrow Boys, an Auxiliary force of nearly 10,000 fighters in 2003 in Teso,” Mukula said.
“When Joseph Kony’s LRA terrorists brought death, abductions and immense suffering to Northern and North-Eastern Uganda, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, then a young Major serving in the PPU, now SFC, was among the gallant UPDF officers who confronted them, particularly on the Amuria axis.”
Mukula said the UPDF worked alongside local auxiliary forces, including the Arrow Boys, as government forces intensified operations against the LRA.
According to his account, the military pursuit later extended beyond Uganda's borders as the UPDF followed LRA elements through South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo before reaching the Central African Republic.
He said the operations took Ugandan forces roughly 2,000 kilometres away from the communities that had previously been targeted by the insurgents.
“The UPDF, supported by local auxiliary forces including the Arrow Boys in Teso, pursued the LRA beyond Uganda, through South Sudan and the DRC Equatorial region and deep inside the Central African Republic about 2,000 kms far from the communities they once terrorised,” Mukula said.
The LRA insurgency, led by Kony, became one of Uganda’s longest-running armed conflicts, with northern communities bearing much of its impact through attacks, abductions and displacement.
Mukula credited the efforts of the UPDF, auxiliary forces and other participants in the campaign with helping restore security in Uganda.
“That sacrifice helped restore the peace Uganda enjoys today, from North to South and East to West,” he said.
He also paid tribute to the soldiers and auxiliary fighters who participated in the campaign, placing Muhoozi among a generation of military officers who served during the conflict.
“We honour the courageous General Muhoozi, officers and men of the UPDF, the Arrow Boys and everyone who sacrificed in that struggle,” Mukula said.
“Gen. Muhoozi belongs to that generation of soldiers who answered the call when Uganda needed them most.”