Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen. Paul Lokech has passed on this Saturday morning.
Uganda People’s Defence Forces Spokesperson Brigadier Flavia Byekwaso has confirmed the sad news.
“UPDF fraternity regrets to announce the passing on of the Deputy Inspector General of Police Maj Gen Paul Lokech. More details to follow. May His Soul Rest In Eternal Peace,” Byekwaso tweeted without giving details.
Maj. Gen. Lokech was christened Lion Of Mogadishu for his role in commanding UPDF forces on a peace keeping mission in Somalia.
Lokech was Commander of the Uganda contingent to Somalia, as part of the AMISOM peace-keeping force between 2011 and 2012. He was redeployed to Somalia between 2017 and 2018.
During his first tour, Lokech commanded Battle Groups Eight and Nine, responsible for ejecting Al-Shabaab militants from Mogadishu in 2011.
Before his second redeployment in Somalia, he was the Commanding Officer of the Second UPDF Division, based at Makenke Barracks, in Mbarara.
He also served as the Military Attaché at Uganda’s Embassy to Russia, based in Moscow.
Lokech also served as part of Uganda’s peace-keeping forces in South Sudan. He was also part of Operation Safe Haven (OSH), a UPDF operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo intended to neutralize the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
Lokech was appointed Deputy IGP on December 16, 2020. The appointment was perceived as President Yoweri Museveni’s effort to control possible city riots in the 2021 elections.
Lokech was respected as a specialist in urban warfare following his Mogadishu stints and the President banked on him to keep the Kampala streets riots-free.
Just a month before his appointment, more than 50 Ugandans had lost their lives in countrywide riots that had followed the arrest of opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu alias Bobi Wine. Lokech’s prime assignment was to avert riots happening.