Reports UCLIQ
The International Crimes Division of the High Court in Uganda sentenced Rashid Katumba to imprisonment for 10 years over a foiled terror attack on the funeral of Major General Paul Lokech.
The court has ordered that two other suspects, Luyenjje Najjimu and Arafat Jamil Kiyemba, also be given five-year sentences each. Jacquelyn Okui, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, confirmed that indeed sentencing had occurred.
Katumba was arrested in August 2021 in the northern town of Pader, with explosives found on him on the eve of the funeral of Major General Lokech.
President Yoweri Museveni linked the plot to the Islamic State-aligned ADF, a militant outfit which first emerged in Uganda in 1996 and since then has been active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Katumba was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail upon their own plea of guilty,” Okui said.
She said Najjimu and Kiyemba, both citizens of Uganda, also got convictions and sentences of five years each for their involvement in the attempted attack.
All the three defendants confessed to their connections with ADF and involvement in the terror plot.
The late Major General Paul Lokech was a prominent military leader who died in 2021 due to blood clots.
He undertook two spells as a commander with AMISOM in Somalia, leading the 2011 offensive that ousted Al-Shabaab fighters from Mogadishu. He earned himself the nickname “Lion of Mogadishu” after his leadership.
The ADF has been blamed for a spate of attacks and killing of civilians over the years-which was originally a coalition of Muslim Ugandan rebels.
Among other violent activities, the group also claimed responsibility for the murder of a honeymooning couple that took place in Uganda in 2023. Since late 2021, the armies of Congolese and Ugandan have been conducting a joint operation against ADF in North Kivu and the neighboring Ituri province.
The aim has been to decrease the influence of the militant group and subsequently its impact on regional security.
