More than 800 bags of charcoal impounded from dealers transporting the contraband through northern Uganda have been distributed free of charge to residents in Nwoya district.
The charcoal was distributed on Thursday to residents of Agung village in Purongo sub-county and Anaka Town Council on the orders of Fourth Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Felix Busizoori.
The move comes days after the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and other security agencies renewed enforcement of a ban on commercial production, transportation and trade in charcoal in northern Uganda, including the importation of charcoal from South Sudan.
While leading a joint operation with security agencies and local government officials in Nwoya, Gen Busizoori said the distribution was intended to benefit communities whose livelihoods and environment have been affected by deforestation.
Busizoori had earlier warned charcoal traders that, effective August 11, any charcoal impounded in northern Uganda would be distributed to local communities.
“You are receiving this charcoal because your livelihoods and surroundings have been severely impacted by deforestation driven by illegal dealers,” he told residents.
He urged communities to take an active role in protecting the environment and conserving natural ecosystems, while calling for closer cooperation between residents and security agencies to combat illegal logging and charcoal burning.
The charcoal distributed to residents was part of more than 2,000 bags impounded by security forces in Nwoya between Wednesday and Thursday at checkpoints in Purongo sub-county and Anaka Town Council.
At least three box-bodied trucks, registration numbers UBL 273K, UBM 450B and UAY 3204, were impounded while transporting the charcoal towards Karuma.
Nwoya Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Christopher Omara said some of the trucks had come from Amuru district and the Oraba border point in Koboko district, in the West Nile sub-region.
Omara said seven suspects found transporting the charcoal had been arrested and were being held at Nwoya Central Police Station.
He said that once investigations are complete, the suspects will be taken to court and prosecuted for allegedly aiding environmental destruction and violating a Presidential Executive Order issued in May 2023 banning the felling of trees for commercial charcoal production in northern Uganda.
At a meeting on Tuesday, security and environmental officials reported that some charcoal dealers had shifted their operations to the West Nile sub-region.
They said some dealers were producing charcoal in South Sudan and transporting it into Uganda, where they claimed it was imported charcoal and therefore not covered by the ban.
Eriya Ssenyonyi, national chairperson of the Uganda Charcoal Traders Association, however, accused some law enforcement officers of facilitating the illegal trade by allegedly taking bribes from charcoal dealers.
The latest enforcement measures come amid growing concerns over the large-scale destruction of forest cover for charcoal production in northern Uganda, which environmentalists say is contributing to climate change.
Data from Global Forest Watch shows that Yumbe district had about 55,000 hectares of natural forest in 2020, covering approximately 24 per cent of its land area. By 2025, the district had lost about 250 hectares of tree cover.