Ugandan soldiers beaten up and disarmed by civilians in land row

Ugandan military has called for a probe into an incident where the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) soldiers were physically assaulted by civilians and disarmed during a heated land row.

UPDF 1 Infantry Division spokesperson Major Charles Kabona, in a statement, faulted the locals for their aggression towards the men in uniform whom he commended for remaining calm amidst the humiliation as captured in a viral video on Monday afternoon.

“As the soldiers were conducting their routine patrols in the area, they were attacked by one of the fighting groups,” he said, as quoted by the Monitor.

“I would like to commend our soldiers for portraying the highest degree of professionalism and refraining from using maximum force despite their humiliation. This could have turned fatal.”

In the two-minute clip at Kasokwe village in Galilaaya Sub-County, Kayunga District, enraged civilians could be seen engaging in a physical brawl with about four armed soldiers on motorbikes.

The residents, seemingly aggravated by the presence of the soldiers in the contested land, could be heard ordering for the burning of the two motorcycles, and for the soldiers to kneel as others were forced to surrender their weapons.

The parties pitted against one another in the one-square-mile piece of land are family members of the late Nathan Mpagi (father to the Ssabanyala) and the Ssabanyala, Maj. Baker Kimeze.

A section of Ssabanyala’s siblings claim ownership alleging that he fraudulently sold the land to GM Sugar in 2018.

However, the Ssabanyala, through his kingdom premier Martin Ssenkatuuka, dismissed the allegations maintaining that his late father Mpagi and the late Adam Kikonyogo who were friends, both owned land which was adjacent to each other.

A manager at GM Sugar, James Murenzi, said the harassed UPDF soldiers had been deployed to guard the company’s properties.