Maj.Gen.Paul Lokech appointed new UPDF Air Force Chief of Staff
President Museveni, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces has appointed former AMISOM commander, Maj.Gen. Paul Lokech as the UPDF Air Forces Chief of Staff.
In a mini reshuffle announced on Thursday evening, Lokech who has been serving as the Commandant for the Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre, in Jinja was appointed as Uganda People’s Defence Air Forces Chief of Staff to replace Maj.Gen.James Birungi who was elevated to SFC commander.
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Brig.Peter Omolla, who has been the commander for the Mountain Brigade and the East African Standby Force has now been appointed as commandant for Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre to replace, Maj.Gen. Lokech.
The transfers have also seen Brig. Winston Byaruhanga appointed as the new commandant for the Junior Staff College in Kimaka, Jinja district and Brig.Bob Ojik will serve as his deputy.
"The UPDF fraternity congratulates the general officers upon their elevation to higher positions of responsibility,"the UPDF spokesperson, Brig.Richard Karemire said.
About Maj.Gen.Lokech
Maj.gen.Lokech has served as part of Uganda’s peace-keeping forces in South Sudan and was also part of the Operation Safe Have in which the UPDF launched an offensive against Allied Democratic rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also served as the UPDF second division commander, based in Makenke barracks.
Lokech for two terms served as the UPDF AMISOM commander in Somalia between 2011 to 2012 and 2017 to 2018.
During that period, Brig.Lokech is credited for a number of battles that broke Al Shabaab insurgents’ backs before earning him the nickname, the “Lion of Mogadishu” from Somalis.
Brig. Lokech has served as Uganda’s Defence Attaché to Russia and also as Commander of the UPDF Second Division, a post he held until recently, when he was appointed Contingent Commander for the second time in Somalia.
On return from his second tour of duty in Somalia in 2018, Lokech, then at the rank of brigadier was posted to Jinja as the commander for the Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre.
He was in February 2019 promoted to the rank of Major General.
