President Yoweri Museveni who is the Commander in Chief (CiC) of the armed forces has told an NRM caucus that 54 bodies of UPDF soldiers were found lifeless by their colleagues during an operation to recapture the Buulo Mareer Base from the Al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.
The base had fallen to the terrorists who used a lapse in the command to overrun the FOB- killing and allegedly capturing some UPDF soldiers alive.
President Museveni in his engagement with members of the NRM caucus in Kyankwanzi revealed that 54 soldiers were discovered lifeless including their commander Lt Col Edward Nyororo.
Lt Col Edward Nyororo had been the commanding officer deputising Brig Gaetano Peter Omola who was away in Mogadishu when the attack happened.
The mistake in Somalia was made by two commanders, Maj. Oluka and Maj. Obbo, who ordered the soldiers to retreat, President Museveni stated on his official twitter handle .
“Before responding to very pertinent questions raised by members of the NRM parliamentary caucus, I updated them on the incident in Somalia. Our soldiers demonstrated remarkable resilience and reorganized themselves, resulting in the recapture of the base.
We discovered the lifeless bodies of fifty-four fallen soldiers, including a Commander. These terrorists attempted another ill-fated attack on Baraawe Town, but our forces dealt a significant blow, forcing them to flee,” Museveni explained.
President Museveni said that the two Majors who made mistakes in Somalia resulting to the death of Ugandan soldiers have since been arrested and will face charges in the Court Martial.
