UPDF to recruit 13,000 more LDU’s

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) will recruit 13,000 more Local Defence Unit (LDUs) personnel.

Deputy Army and Defence Spokesperson Lt Col Deo Akiiki, says that recruitment exercise will resume in a week’s time but declined to divulge the numbers being targeted.

Akiiki referred URN to Land Forces Spokesperson, Lt Col Henry Obbo, who also confirmed the upcoming recruitment of more LDUs but also remained cagey on figures.

Obbo said they were in meeting deliberating where the exercise will be conducted and will afterwards issue a detailed statement explaining when and where the fresh recruitment will be done.

However, a source told URN that 7000 LDUs will be recruited in a three days’ exercise that will start on July 15 to 31st.

Source said the new recruits will be for upcountry urban areas majorly municipalities and town councils. The targeted areas for deployment include towns such as Masaka, Mbarara, Arua, Lira, Gulu, Mityana and Mubende.

Fresh LDU recruitment will start with headquarters of UPDF Divisions I, II, III, IV and V in Kakiri barracks, Mbarara, Mbale, Gulu and Pader respectively.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni ordered for the recruitment of 24000 LDUs in September last following the rampant gun violence, kidnap and robbery crimes.

The order came after former Buyende District police commander, Muhammad Kirumira, had been gunned down in his home area in Bulenga, Wakiso District along Kampala-Mityana highway.

UPDF in October conducted recruitment phases in which 6,400 LDU personnel were recruited. The recruitment took place in areas of Kamwokya, Kawempe, Makindye, Lubaga, Nakawa and Luzira.

UPDF sent the recruits to Oliver Tambo Military School in Kaweweta in Nakaseke District where they underwent a four-month basic military training. Museveni passed out the recruits in March this year but over 200 had escaped from training.

In May, UPDF deployed 6000 LDUs in Kampala City, Wakiso and Mukono districts purposely to avert crime. However, the presence has been castigated by public that claims they arrest them even as early as 8 pm.

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URN