Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni.
Badru Katumba/AFP
- Only two of the ADF terrorists who killed a South African and British tourist, as well as a local tour guide in Uganda, have been accounted for.
- President Yoweri Museveni said Uganda had improved its surveillance against terror attacks.
- The Ugandan government has resolved to name a road after the slain tourists.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed he will not rest until the remaining members of a terrorist group, which killed a British and a South African tourist, along with their tour guide in October last year, are arrested or killed.
British national David Barlow and his South African wife, Emmaretia Celia Geyer, were on honeymoon when, with their tour guide, Eric Ayai, they were ambushed and killed by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels in Queen Elizabeth National Park near the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) border.
Museveni said while two of the terrorists were killed, some were still at large.
“The ADF terrorists, who killed two tourists from the UK and South Africa plus their Ugandan tour guide, were killed, but some escaped back to the DR Congo. They will be pursued until they are arrested or eliminated,” he added.
Museveni was delivering his State of the Nation Address on Thursday to mark the 38th anniversary of the National Resistance Movement’s march into Kigali to assume power from Brigadier Bazilio Olara-Okello and General Tito Okello’s short-lived military council.
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Museveni agreed with his DRC counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, which allowed the Uganda People’s Defence Force to venture into DRC territory to hunt down the rebels.
That operation led to the deaths of some ADF members.
In response, the ADF continues to enter Uganda to launch attacks mainly targeted at the civilian population.
However, Museveni said despite “isolated” incidents, Uganda was a peaceful country.
He added surveillance mechanisms have been greatly improved to avoid terrorist attacks that might affect the country’s tourism industry.
Museveni added:
Despite a few incidences where some ADF terrorists penetrated our borders from DR Congo and killed our tourists, Uganda is a safe and peaceful country.
“The security of the country remains strong, and the government is modernising further its security capabilities and infrastructure to detect terrorist incidences before they happen.
“We have greatly improved our intelligence and surveillance capabilities to ensure that Ugandans and our visitors who come here are safe,” he said.
The killing of the tourists made a bad dent in the tourism industry recovering from the Covid-19 global shutdown.
Uganda went as far as passing a resolution to name a road leading to the Queen Elizabeth National Park after the slain couple.
But some Ugandans criticised the government for that decision because it excluded their tour guide.
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