At least four people were shot dead and eight others injured this past Thursday after attacking the farm of UPDF Reserve Force Commander Lt Gen Charles Oweny Otema at Obira in Nwoya District.
The men, who were carrying bow and arrows and other rudimentary weapons, were taken out of action by Gen Otema’s military guards.
Defence spokesperson Brigadier Richard Karemire said the “attackers came from across the Nile River.”
“The 6th March 2020 attack on a UPDF detachment in Zombo in which 5 soldiers lost their lives should not give any one false confidence that armed with arrows, bows and pangas one can attack armed soldiers and get away with it,” said Karemire on Friday morning.
“Whatever the underlying issues, it was totally wrong and suicidal to attempt such a move.”
Uganda People’s Human Rights Forum has since condemned that they described as “human rights violations.”
Karemire said the soldiers “acted in self defence and a team is on ground to establish more facts.”
The injured were admitted at Pakwach Health Centre
Otema and his brothers were in 2019 named before the land probe for allegedly grabbing the late Oryema’s land.
The late Oryema was Uganda’s first African Inspector General of Police and worked as a Minister of Lands before he was murdered alongside Archbishop Janani Luwum and minister Oboth Ofumbi.
Ms Nancy Oryema, the granddaughter of Oryema, told the land probe chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire yesterday that her grandfather owned 6,500 acres of land but most of it is occupied by Maj Gen Otema and his relatives.
Brig Karemire said Otema was in Kampala at the time of the attack.
About The Author
