The UPDF Commander Land Forces, Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga, together with Somali National Army (SNA) Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Odowaa Yusuf Rageh, have jointly agreed to enact a curfew on the highway (main supply route) from Afgoye to Barawe in the lower Shabelle region.
The move is aimed at countering the nighttime movements of the Al Shabaab in the hotspot areas.
The decision comes just days after Al-Shabaab attacked a UPDF base in Lower Shabelle, killing scores of Ugandan soldiers.
The curfew agreement was proposed on May 29, 2023, at Golweyn Forward Operating Base (FOB), where the two Generals met commanders and troops serving under ATMIS in Sector 1.
Museveni recently dispatched Land Forces commander Lt. Gen. Kayanja Muhanga to Somalia to “ascertain the circumstances under which the attack happened and devise the way forward.”
Kayanja has commanded several UPDF contingents in Somalia, liberating many territories from Al-Shabaab.
Al Shabaab, which is known to exaggerate its figures, claimed killing 137 Ugandan soldiers and seizing vehicles and the base’s cache of weapons and ammunition.
But officials say the death toll is far lower than what Al Shabaab claimed.
The investigation into the incident is being conducted by military intelligence and Special Forces Command.
Investigators will try to establish if the base was well fortified and if adequate measures were taken to repulse the enemy.
Investigators will also try to determine if the attack was the result of an intelligence failure.
The Al Shabaab has since released videos and photos showing Ugandan soldiers who were captured during the battle as prisoners of war.
The attack came hardly a month after regional leaders sitting at State House Entebbe endorsed plans to reduce the number of regional peacekeeping troops deployed in Somalia and allow Mogadishu to take full charge of the stabilization of the war-torn country.
Uganda was the first East African country to deploy troops under AMISOM into Somalia in March 2007.
Uganda would later make up the bulk of the African Union force helping Somalia’s UN-backed government.