At Least a Dozen Ugandan Generals Arrested in 15 Months as Army Chief Threatens Vice President
Over the past 15 months, at least a dozen generals and senior officers have been arrested in Uganda under Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the country's army chief and the son of President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for four decades. Kainerugaba, 52, is widely seen as a potential successor to his father.
This week, Kainerugaba threatened Vice-President Jessica Alupo with dismissal and possible arrest, while suggesting he should take her position. The ruling National Resistance Movement has rejected reports that its senior leadership had rejected a proposal to back Gen Kainerugaba as the next president.
Among the most prominent detainees is former deputy army chief Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, detained on 2 November over allegations that he had plotted to destabilise the eastern Teso region. Kainerugaba announced the move on X, writing that "the traitor Peter Elwelu is hereby stripped of his ranks. He is demoted to Private." The army later confirmed Elwelu's detention, saying investigators had recovered 15 guns, military uniforms and two pickup trucks linked to him.
Other senior arrests include former intelligence chiefs. Maj Gen James Birungi, a former head of defence intelligence and security, was arrested in August 2025 on allegations including treason, terrorism and corruption, and was later released after Kainerugaba said he had forgiven him. Another former intelligence chief, Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, was arrested in September this year and remains in detention. Three former military intelligence chiefs have been arrested since April 2025, according to an investigation by Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper.
The military has defended the arrests as part of efforts to tackle corruption, and government spokesperson Allan Kasujja has dismissed claims of a succession-related fallout. Gerald Bareebe, a Ugandan-born political scientist at Canada's York University, told the BBC he saw the arrests as connected to political manoeuvring over Museveni's succession, commonly referred to as the "Muhoozi Project," saying senior officers believed not to support the project had been arrested, detained or charged with corruption and treason.
Source: BBC News
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：乌干达陆军司令穆胡齐·凯内鲁加巴将军。作者：日本外务省，CC BY 4.0，维基共享资源。 / Photo: Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Force. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
