Twenty five days after landing on the battlefield, Uganda lost its first soldier to al-Shabaab fire. It was March 31, 2007. The day started like any other, with the enemy attacking at will. At 10am, there was blood on the floor
RIP. Lance Corporal Wilber Muhwezi Rwegira was the first victim of the cruel hand of death on the battle field. Six months after his death on March 31, 2007, four more UPDF soldiers were killed in the line of fire and six others were injured. The death of these soldiers re-opened public debate about the deployment of UPDF in Somalia.
Mogadishu. Twenty five days after landing on the battlefield, Uganda lost its first soldier to al-Shabaab fire. It was March 31, 2007. The day started like any other, with the enemy attacking at will. At 10am, there was blood on the floor. As the terrorists carried on their usual shelling, Lance Corporal Wilber Muhwezi Rwegira suddenly found himself in the line of fire. He was killed when a mortar shell landed right beside his firing position inside the presidential palace.
The previous night, al-Shabaab had shelled the presidential palace non-stop. That night, Rwegira and his colleagues put up a valiant fight, ensuring that the president, Abdullahi Yusuf, was safe.
But in the wee hours of the fateful day, the 14mm anti-air gun Rwegira had spent the night firing developed a mechanical fault.
In the morning, a team of technicians led by the commanding officer of Air Defence, Maj Duncan Kashoma and Lt Martin Okello, now Captain, moved from KM-4 Junction to the palace to repair the damaged gun.