Uganda Reports Killing of 60 Gunmen, Troops Dispatched to Oil Region – Reuters

By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA – Uganda’s army announced on Monday that it had eliminated over 60 gunmen who had attacked police and army posts in the western region on Saturday. Additional troops have been sent to restore security near the country’s newly developed oil fields.

Officials believe the assailants belong to a local militia and have confirmed that they are not connected to the Islamist rebel group ADF-NALU.

Uganda is concerned about ADF-NALU, which, if allowed to operate unhindered in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, may threaten the nation’s oil fields in the Albertine rift basin, where several international oil companies are preparing for production possibly starting in 2017.

The attackers were responsible for the deaths of 17 individuals, including police and military personnel, during assaults on three police stations and a military barracks in western Uganda, an area that was previously the center of an Islamist insurgency.

"Since we commenced our response, we have killed more than 60 of those attackers and continue to pursue them," said Ninsiima Rwemijuma, a spokesman for the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). The army had reported the death of 41 attackers the previous day.

"We have also intensified our deployment in the region to enhance patrols and ensure that local residents feel secure enough to return to their homes," he mentioned, adding that a number of the attackers have been apprehended and are assisting in identifying their accomplices.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Rwemijuma noted that some frightened residents fled to nearby towns for safety.

The ADF-NALU Islamist insurgents were active against the Ugandan government in the late 1990s and early 2000s, operating from bases in Western Uganda along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were eventually defeated and forced into hiding in the eastern jungles of the DRC.