GULU CITY — The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has rescued another 45 former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters and abductees from South Darfur in Sudan, bringing the total number of returnees rescued over the past month to 70.
The development was revealed by Maj. Gen. Richard Otto, the Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security, during the burial of veteran broadcaster Johnny Baptist Oryema in Gulu City.
According to Maj. Gen. Otto, the latest group of returnees is currently being processed through South Sudan and is expected to arrive in Uganda within the next 48 hours.
“The returnees are currently in Wau and are being transported to Juba. They are expected to be airlifted to Gulu Airfield within the next two days,” Otto said.
The rescue operation is part of ongoing efforts by the UPDF and regional partners to trace and repatriate Ugandans who were abducted by the LRA during the insurgency that ravaged northern Uganda for nearly two decades.
The latest group follows the recent repatriation of 13 Ugandans from South Sudan through a coordinated operation involving the UPDF and South Sudanese authorities. The returnees were received in Gulu and handed over to rehabilitation and reintegration programmes to help them rebuild their lives.
Many of the former abductees are believed to have spent years moving across conflict zones in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Sudan after the LRA was driven out of northern Uganda by sustained military operations.
The LRA, led by fugitive rebel leader Joseph Kony, waged a brutal insurgency in northern Uganda from the late 1980s, abducting tens of thousands of children and civilians who were forced to serve as fighters, porters and captives. Although the group’s operational capacity has been significantly weakened, remnants of the movement have continued to operate in remote areas of Central Africa.
Officials say the rescued individuals will undergo medical screening, psychosocial support and rehabilitation upon arrival in Gulu before being reunited with their families and communities.
The announcement came during the funeral of Johnny Baptist Oryema, a respected broadcaster from northern Uganda, where Maj. Gen. Otto used the occasion to update mourners on ongoing efforts to locate and return Ugandans who remain stranded in conflict-affected regions.
Community leaders in Acholi have repeatedly welcomed such repatriation efforts, describing them as an important step toward healing the wounds left by the LRA conflict and reuniting families separated for decades.
With the arrival of the latest 45 returnees, authorities say the number of former abductees rescued and brought home over the past month now stands at 70, marking one of the largest recent repatriation efforts involving survivors of the LRA insurgency.