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By M.R.
Radio Katwe in its ongoing coverage of the operation involving the Ugandan army and the LRA rebels lead by "General" Joseph Kony, has received a report which indicates that the conflict could be taking a serious turn for the worse.
Senior intelligence sources have briefed us with a report which we shall give you below.
These same source have proved very accurate and reliable when they gave us the tip-off that the LRA had downed a Ugandan airforce plane. After trying to keep it quiet, the army has come out to admit it showing that our source is reliable.
The report is that a UPDF truck carrying personnel was hammered to pieces in the Bunia region by the LRA during the recent fighting.
Joseph Kony has reportedly acquired heavy weapons from an Arab state [names withheld]. A Hino truck belonging to the UPDF was on Monday December 29 hit with what is known as a B-10. This is a big (82mm shell) recoilless gun that fires a High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) projectile that can penetrate more than 200 mm of armour.
The ordinary unarmoured troop carriers or even armoured Mamba vehicles are virtually defenseless against such a weapon. Now that is the fire UPDF is facing in Congo.
Kony has also acquired more surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs). Troops from the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB) deployed in Congo were sent scampering and 45 of them were being scooped off the ground after the truck was hit.
To verify this information, contact Army spokesman Maj. Paddy Ankunda and if he denies or feigns ignorance, kindly request him to allow Ugandan and international journalists into the DEME (the army workshop) where the wreckage of this truck was delivered December 30, 2008 at around 2:00pm East African Time.
The whole truck was shattered. PGB were given a rude awakening by this B-10 weapon.
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), General Robert Aronda Nyakirima is opposed to this war strategy, so he held a crisis meeting yesterday to map out a way forward.
Basically the South African made Mamba trucks are built on a chasis very similar to a Toyota Hilux Surf vehicle, the major difference is the engine armour plating.
Some UPDF generals are now suspecting their South Sudan partners of playing some role in the supply of this weapon, plus giving Kony new signal interception equipment than can acquire signals of the UPDF.
Radio Katwe Management comments:- During his press conference at State House Nakasero on December 22, President Yoweri Museveni seemed to express surprise that the LRA had been able to beat the UPDF's supposedly surprise attack and the army found the LRA camps empty. (The president is full of tricks and his words have to be carefully screened on whether he was being genuine, but let us assume he was).
Museveni said that Kony might have been using a gadget to intercept UPDF military radio communication. The report by our source about Kony getting equipment which can tap UPDF signals could be a confirmation of that claim.
This could be an early sign that the latest clashes between UPDF and the LRA could take on a bigger, extremely dangerous form, and become another Kisangani clash in which the armies of countries in the region fight a proxy war in Congo, this time it being Uganda versus Sudan.
The law of unintended consequences strikes again.
Watch this space.
Meanwhile, the UPDF has named the soldier who was accidentally killed in Congo as Pte. Sam Ochen. He was accidentally shot by a UN soldier.
The body was flown home on Sunday. But the army was yet to inform the family of the dead soldier.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/666510
Readers Comments:
01 Jan 2009
1.
The other day a friend who reads Red Pepper told me the paper had carried pictures of extremely heavy artillery being taken to the war front. He asked a cynical question: if LRA is already defeated and scampering, why take this kind of heavy equipment? I now see the reason behind his cynicism from this Radio Katwe story.
Maurice Sule.
2
Dear RK
Happy New Year!
I don't know how you people do it! Hats off for you patriots! Thanks for keeping us informed.
You know RK, in my earlier communication to you I said I was going to attend the burial of the late Pilot Bosco Opio in Ongino, Kumi District. While there I managed to glean some information or a rumour (which I will share with you shortly) that actually UPDF's so called commandos got a bloody nose in the jungles of Congo.
Before then I had bumped into a certain Opolot - recall that chap from Ngora who abseiled from a UPDF track headed for Kisangani then?
He told me enom Kony itelepai k'angina bobo (Ateso meaning - Kony has hit the young men again!) I didn't believe him!
Opolot intimated to me that actually the UPDF commandos sleepwalked into a trap because Kony's fighters did patiently lie in situ for days waiting for the UPDF to come along and the rest is history!
And he went ahead to say "Idar ber ijo eraai Ikanyarei einerun ka lo ainerun." Meaning that M7 will have to talk to Kony! Opolot thinks that soon Museveni will be ready to talk peace again!
The ineffectual aerial bombardment was a knee-jerk reaction after suffering heavy losses though Uganda propaganda machinery will want us to believe that there were no foot soldiers sniffing around Kony's camps within 190kms?! Any idiot (with the exception of the Muhoozi's perhaps?) would have worked out that you need foot soldiers within charging distance after softening up a target!
Now reading today's Newvision Newspaper: Rebel chief Kony pleads for ceasefire -
All one can read into this is Newvision Newspaper is being used to prepare the Nation for a humiliating climb down!
RK - What has happened to Captain Vincent & Mussolini? I hope they have not been liquidated or compromised! These comrades bring very crucial information which makes Yoweri have those cold sweats every night!
E-K
Ngora, Kumi District
Dear E-K, thank you for this timely and informative update.
Capt. Vincent and Smart Musolin wish all readers, both critics and supporters, a happy New Year.
Afande Musolin has been very busy this New Year season preparing a report on the serious intrigues and rifts in the High Command set off by Operation Lightening Thunder. We will publish it soon.
Lets redouble our efforts to take back our country! Wazalendo, pamoja!
3.
As a contributor to RK mentioned a few days ago, the real men with hard balls bearing the brunt of the frontline are (again) from the East and North, while cowards like Muhoozi sit somewhere in safe distance, go and pose for photos, then take credit for what they did not provide input for!
Coincidentally, in the North, Opio is the name given to the first male twin-child to come out, while Ocen is given to the second male twin-child to get out of the womb.
Let's hope next time it shall not be an Okello or Odongo (children born after twins).
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