The Uganda Peoples Defense Forces, UPDF has started withdrawing from the Central African Republic, CAR bringing an end to a five-year-old combat-equipped deployment in search for Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lords Resistance Army.
The UPDF has been in CAR since December 2009 as part of Operation Lightening Thunder, launched after reports that the LRA was causing instability in Obo, a forested town in CAR and later as part of the African Union Regional Task Force launched in 2012.
The troops were under instructions to arrest or kill Joseph Kony, the elusive leader of the rebel outfit. Kony and other LRA commanders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during two decades of fierce fighting in northern Uganda.
UPDF Spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire says that although Kony was not captured, the decision to withdraw was premised on the realization that the mission to neutralize the LRA has now been successfully achieved and LRA's capacity of waging war against Uganda has been degraded.
The first batch of 31 infantry soldiers was received in Gulu by the Chief of Staff Land Forces Brig Tumusiime Katsigazi and Fourth Division Commander Brig Emmanuel Kanyesigye, today April 19 2017. They landed in Gulu airfield at about 10:22am followed by another group at 11;15am aboard a US Mission chartered plane.
Brig. Tumusiime Katsigazi says the mission of the operation has been largely accomplished since it forced most fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army to surrender to the UPDF while others were captured in front line.
A press release issued last month by the U.S. Africa Command indicated that operations by the African Union - Regional Task Force against the LRA have dramatically weakened the rebel outfit in numbers and overall effectiveness.
"Where the group once boasted nearly 2,000 fighters, efforts of the African security forces… have reduced the group's active membership to be estimated under 100. While its leader Joseph Kony remains in hiding, the AU-RTF has captured four of the five key LRA leaders," the statement reads.
"Joseph Kony with less than 100 armed fighters is now weak and ineffective. He no longer poses any significant threat to Uganda's security and Northern Uganda in particular," According to Brigadier Karemire.
