Steven Oluka and Zadock Obor who are accused of ordering the combatants to withdraw when the al-Shabaab militants raided their base have been charged with offences of cowardice. The court martial chaired by Brig Gen Robert Freeman Mugabe and his team flew to Somalia at the weekend and heard that Oluka and Obor’s cowardice acts contravened UPDF Act’s sections 120 (1) (2) and 128 (1) (b).
The army leadership including the commander in chief of armed forces President Yoweri Museveni has maintained that if Oluka and Obor had encouraged their subordinates to fight on, al-Shabaab wouldn’t have overrun the base to the extent of killing 54 soldiers including the most senior commander Lt Col Edward Nyororo.
“Maj Steven Oluka, 47 years and Maj Zadock Obor on or around 25th to 27th of May 2023, while deployed as officer commanding companies in Bulomarer and Golweyne, did not encourage officers and militants under their command to fight courageously upon coming into contact with al-shabaab,” reads the statement issued by UPDF.
It took more than two weeks for President Museveni to give the exact number of soldiers who had been killed by al-Shabaab. However, al-Shabaab issued a statement including videos claiming it had killed more than 120 UPDF soldiers.
Oluka and Obor have also been charged with failure to protect war materials contrary to section 122 (1) (2) (h) of the UPDF Act which involves four non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Brig Mugabe explained that they had relocated to Mogadishu in order to access witnesses in the cases since most of them were in the mission area.
“Secondly, the general court martial has jurisdiction to try cases anywhere in and outside Uganda where UPDF is operating,” said Brig Gen Mugabe as quoted in a statement shared by Col Deo Akiiki, the deputy army spokesperson.
UPDF has said that the memorandum of understanding and the status of forces agreement with Somalia provide that each troop contributing country has to try her own personnel while in the mission area.
Brig Mugabe will be in Somalia for two weeks hearing cases and at the end of the sessions, those who will be found guilty will be given appropriate sentences and those found not guilty will be acquitted. The army said the judgements will depend on the circumstances under which the offences were committed and the evidence that will be brought to court.
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