NRA war: First phase of final push sees Kabasanda, Mpigi fall

_______________

After the NRA High Command meeting in Masaka, there was no looking back. “You know, we had been fighting for all these years and we had never come so near to success as we were now,” Lt Mohammed Ssekamatte says.

Ssekamatte, who retired in the early 90s is currently working privately with the United Nations (UN) in Mogadishu, Somalia. There had not been any serious military engagement since the UNLA had been defeated at Katonga in early December 1985. Mbarara had also surrendered at the end of December 1985.  

The order of battle was clearly drawn out in a line that zig-zagged from Budde on the Kampala-Masaka Road, Kibibi in Butambala, then cutting behind to around Bujjuko, Kakiri, Masulita onwards. During the meeting on January 15, each Battalion had been given an objective to act. The guns were oiled, bullets given out and all logistics completed.

After the capture of most of the Central, save for Mukono district and nearly all the western parts of the country, NRA units on the move, in addition to their commanders could now use vehicles freely.  Some of the commanders had Land-rovers –Jeeps that they used, while the fighters moved on trucks including Bedfords and Tatas. Most of these had been captured from government forces.  

Rebel leader drives around

So, it was not surprising when Museveni was openly driven in a Land-rover 110, which was one of the most loved Military vehicles at the time, from Masaka, where he had held the commanders meeting on January 15th, 1986 to Hoima to brief a then slender and tall now General, David Tinyefunza, about his role in the final push. Tinyefunza was in charge of two battalions of the NRA, the 9th under Julius Chihande and the 19th under Late Brigadier Peter Kerim. This unit was supposed to play a blocking role around Masindi, to stop any possible government forces counterattack from the north, via Masindi.

As if he was already a President driving in his own country, Museveni then on January 16th drove from Hoima to Nakaseke, via Kiboga. He met another NRA battalion, the 13Bn under Ivan Koreta, at Bulamba near Semuto. The 13th Bn was tasked to block the Kampala –Bombo-Gulu Road and stop any reinforcements.

The same day, Museveni drove from Nakaseke, through Masulita, Kakiri and Wakiso, then turned southwards, joined Mityana road, drove up to around Bujjuko and then used that road up to Kibibi. However, he had to be careful of a big government force that had camped at Kabasanda before reaching Kibibi, which for the last month had been the home of the 7th Bn under, now Major General Matayo Kyaligonza. This unit had been tasked to attack one of the government forces units at Kabasanda.  Satisfied that all was well, he drove back to Masaka and waited for D-day on January 17th.

It was quite a hectic time for Museveni because ever since the war started, this was the most active period since he was supposed to monitor at least 10 same-time operations across an area spanning nearly 100km. He was reported never to have had any sleep, on the night of 16-17, even after two days of a long drive around the war zone.  By 4:00am, he was already seated with his radios waiting in for the action.  All attacks were set to start at 6:30am. 

Rain or bullets?

Norah Nakimbugwe was a 20-year-old woman, residing around Lukole on the Mpigi-Kabasanda road. Lukole is about 2km from Kabasanda.  “Olunaku lwali lwakubiri awo ngobudde bukya. Mba nzukuka bwento genda okuwulira ngamasaasi gayiika ngenkuba ku mabaati,” (It was Tuesday as dusk broke and as I was about to wake up, I heard a lot of noise that resembled so much rain hitting the iron roof) 

What she heard were elements of the NRA`s 7th Bn attacking Kabasanda. The government soldiers were occupying the hill were the sub-county headquarters sit today, which gave them a slight advantage over a force that attacked from Kibibi in the east. The ‘rain’ without water falling went on for over two hours before it stopped, for around 30 minutes before it started again. The fighting went one and off through the whole day, until after midnight when it stopped completely.

“At night, we heard many soldiers running past our home towards Mpigi town.  We learnt that those were government soldiers withdrawing,” Nakimbugwe says. The 7th Bn followed the withdrawing government forces and hit them again in Mpigi and overran it on January 18th.  They rapidly advanced on the main road and by January 21st were poised just after Kyengera, near where the Express Highway crosses Masaka road today.

“I was in Nsangi I think on a Tuesday when I saw two long lines of shabbily dressed soldiers carrying all sorts of weapons walking through the town,” remembers Samuel Bomboka, who had taken his father`s bicycle at a repair shop. These were units of the 7th Bn advancing towards Kyengera. He says that while at first, the population feared them, they soon came back and started jubilating. “Abayekera batuuse,’(the guerrillas have arrived) was the commonest word. “People gave them food and water,” he remembers. Of course, that stretch was not as populated as it is today.  

Kampiringisa dispersed

Although today, this village in Mpigi is more known for holding delinquent children, on the morning of January 17th 1986, it was a battlefield, as the NRA`s 5th Bn attacked under Ahmed Kashilllingi attacked Kampiringisa.

Since early December, a unit of government soldiers was stationed around where the children`s facility sits. In their strategic planning, this force was supposed to stop any NRA advances from Gomba and Kibibi. It was working together with another government force at Kabasanda. In addition to Kampiringisa, there was also another detachment at Budde, on the road to Kibibi.

“We attacked them at around 6:45am,” said one of the fighters in the Battalion.  However, he says that the forces were well dug in and offered serious resistance. They had a couple of well-positioned 14.5mm guns, supported by several 12.5mm guns, which affected the NRA attack.   “We fought for the whole day, but as night fell, they started withdrawing,” he says.     

After defeating the Kampiringisa force, the 5th Bn rapidly moved towards Mpigi. ‘At Kasanje, we moved onto that murrum road facing the lake, then detoured and ended up near Nkumba, were the Express Highway joins Entebbe Road. During that time in 1986, the Mpigi-Kasanje road was still a village, with few residents living there.

By the night of January 22, all NRA units that were supposed to attack the city had reached their jump-off points. For example, the 1st, 3rd and 7th battalions were lying in defensive positions on the other side of River Lubigi at Busega, on Masaka and Mityana roads, running all the way to the Hoima Road at Namungona. “It is only that river and the papyrus that separated us from the government forces,” Ssekamatte remembers.

Meanwhile, on the government side, an armed helicopter spent the whole of Wednesday, January 23 and the early hours of January 24th harassing the ‘massed’ NRA forces. “It flew over the papyrus, firing rockets and its machine gun. We fired back at it using 14.5mm and 37mm guns,” Ssekamatte says. The chopper never had any significant impact on the forces.