KAMPALA.
The powerful First Son and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has appointed Brigadier Paul Muwonge as the new commander of the UPDF Mountain Infantry Division .
The UPDF Mountain Infantry Division which is based in Fort Portal has been headed by Maj.Gen James Burungi who Gen Muhoozi has transferred to Bujumbura , Burundi as Uganda’s Military Attaché and Defence Advisor (DA) in the country.
“Brigadier Muwonge has been elevated from his current position of Deputy Commander in the same division, replacing Major General James Birungi who assumed command in April this year,” said Col Chris Magezi, Military Assistant to the Chief of Defence Forces – UPDF in a statement this Wednesday night.
Brig. Simon Ochan who has been Uganda’s DA in Bujumbura ,Burundi has completed his tour of duty and will report back to the Joint UPDF Services headquarter for reassignment.
Maj. Gen. Birungi was until April this year the UPDF Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security (CDIS), swapping positions with Maj. Gen. Richard Otto who previously commanded the Mountain Infantry Division.
It remains unclear why Birungi was transferred to Burundi.
However, Birungi’s former close workmates at military intelligence headquarters in Mbuya – Colonel Peter Ahimbisibwe, Director of Counter Terrorism at Defence Intelligence, and Lieutenant Colonel Ephraim Byaruhanga, Director of Special Operations, were recently arrested on the orders of Gen Muhoozi .
The arrests, which were executed at the Defence Intelligence headquarters in Mbuya,Kampala are linked to an ongoing internal investigation into alleged acts of subversion.
Military sources say the officers are suspected of presiding over units that may have been infiltrated by operatives of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)—a rebel group responsible for multiple terror attacks in Uganda and the region.
Brig. Muwonge who recently accompanied the CDF on an official working trip to Kinshasa, DRC, now also assumes command of the ongoing Operation Shujaa, a joint operation with DRC’s military forces (FARDC) to degrade and destroy the Allied Democratic Forces(ADF) terrorist group that operate in some parts of eastern DRC.