UPDF Deploys Convoys On Karuma Road
Sep 16, 2002
UGANDA Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has resumed the convoy system for West Nile travellers following Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) attacks on the 106km Karuma-Pakwach road.
By Albert Ayiga Ondoga in Nebbi
UGANDA Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has resumed the convoy system for West Nile travellers following Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) attacks on the 106km Karuma-Pakwach road.
The convoy system which started on Wednesday is manned by heavily armed UPDF soldiers backed by seven battle cars commonly called mambas and buffalos.
One of the commanders said reinforcements were brought in from Gulu to beef-up the foot patrol soldiers deployed in Murchison National Park, Gulu district to protect travellers.
The convoy system was started after several travellers from West Nile districts were stranded for two days at Purongo in Murchison National Park since Tuesday.
The passengers in 11 buses and several other vehicles were stopped twice at Purongo and Pakwach by UPDF who said they were assessing the security situation on the 56km stretch from Purongo to Karuma.
“We cannot allow you to go to Karuma yet because we are assessing the security situation on the road.
More soldiers and weaponry are coming from Gulu to beef-up the current ones here,†a commander on the Karuma-Pakwach road said on Wednesday.
The slow convoy which takes over three hours is punctuated with stop-overs to gather security information from the foot patrol units and under-cover soldiers.
The soldiers accompany the vehicles from Karuma to Pakwach and vice-versa.
However, travellers have expressed fear to travel on the road because of the unpredictable LRA attacks.
Ends
UGANDA Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has resumed the convoy system for West Nile travellers following Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army (LRA) attacks on the 106km Karuma-Pakwach road.
The convoy system which started on Wednesday is manned by heavily armed UPDF soldiers backed by seven battle cars commonly called mambas and buffalos.
One of the commanders said reinforcements were brought in from Gulu to beef-up the foot patrol soldiers deployed in Murchison National Park, Gulu district to protect travellers.
The convoy system was started after several travellers from West Nile districts were stranded for two days at Purongo in Murchison National Park since Tuesday.
The passengers in 11 buses and several other vehicles were stopped twice at Purongo and Pakwach by UPDF who said they were assessing the security situation on the 56km stretch from Purongo to Karuma.
“We cannot allow you to go to Karuma yet because we are assessing the security situation on the road.
More soldiers and weaponry are coming from Gulu to beef-up the current ones here,†a commander on the Karuma-Pakwach road said on Wednesday.
The slow convoy which takes over three hours is punctuated with stop-overs to gather security information from the foot patrol units and under-cover soldiers.
The soldiers accompany the vehicles from Karuma to Pakwach and vice-versa.
However, travellers have expressed fear to travel on the road because of the unpredictable LRA attacks.
Ends