UGANDA

NORTHERN CONFLICTS
57. The Uganda People’s Democratic Movement/Army (July 1986 - June
1988)
Having overthrown Ugandan
President Tito Okello Lutwa in
January 1986, the National
Resistance Army (NRA)
under the command of
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni,
immediately embarked
on aggressive
demobilization
of former UNLA
fighters. This
process led to
many allegations
of NRA torture,
abduction,
disappearances,
brutal arrest and
numerous killings
and massacres
of former
UNLA fighters
and the general
civilian population.
This violence was
perceived by the local
population as revenge on
the Acholi people for what
UNLA soldiers had done while
in power.
Fearing this revenge by the NRA, many
former UNLA soldiers sought refuge in southern Sudan and regrouped to form the
Uganda People’s Democratic Movement/Army (UPDM/A). The UPDM was led by Prof.
Okot Bwangamoi and Otema Alimadi. The UPDA was under the leadership of Brigadier
Justine Odong Latek. They were joined by many able-bodied youths and adults seeking
to resist NRA-led atrocities against the civilian population. Participants referred to the
10 May 1986 order from the Government which required all former UNLA fighters to
report to the NRA military headquarter in Kampala. This order was perceived as a trap
that would result in the execution of the former UNLA fighters, and these fears helped
to popularise the newly established UPDA and its fight against President Museveni’s
Government.
The UPDM/A’s high command, largely constituted of former UNLA soldiers from
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