Former members of the Arrow Auxiliary Force will join security agencies in searching for retired Lt Gen Peter Elwelu amid allegations that the former Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Deputy Chief of Defence Forces is linked to plans to destabilise the country.
Francis Musa Ecweru, the former State Minister for Works and Transport and chairperson of the Arrow Boys, said the former fighters would work alongside the police, internal security operatives and other law enforcement agencies to establish Elwelu’s whereabouts.
Addressing journalists at a hotel in Soroti on Thursday, October 29, Ecweru said the initiative was intended to safeguard peace in the Teso sub-region, warning that any attempt to revive armed conflict would be resisted.
“No one will disrupt the peace of Teso. Former Arrow Boys will join the police, internal security and other law enforcement officers to look for Peter Elwelu,” he said.
Ecweru said he had discussed the matter with government leaders and assured residents that Teso would remain peaceful. He urged Elwelu to abandon any alleged plans for an insurrection and surrender to the authorities, or seek the intervention of respected community leaders to facilitate his peaceful handover.
“If it is true that comrade Peter Elwelu wants to cause an insurrection, I don’t know where, but if it is in Teso here, it is a stupid decision, a very stupid decision, which he will live to regret badly,” Ecweru said.
He appealed to Elwelu to surrender by Thursday evening, suggesting that he could approach respected leaders, including Bishop Eciru, Iteso cultural leader Emorimor, or Vice-President Jessica Alupo, if he feared harassment by security agencies.
According to Ecweru, the leaders could facilitate Elwelu’s handover to President Yoweri Museveni. He expressed hope that the retired general could receive a pardon if he explained his actions and apologised where necessary.
“Nobody will scratch him the moment he reaches the bishop. Nobody will scratch him. This one I can promise,” Ecweru said.
However, Ecweru warned that the situation could turn deadly if Elwelu resisted arrest when located by the former fighters and security personnel.
“If we get him in a thicket or hiding in some house, I am afraid he will die,” he said, while urging Elwelu and his associates to pursue peaceful channels to resolve the matter.
Lessons from past insurgencies
Ecweru traced his commitment to maintaining peace in Teso to the insurgency that broke out in the region in 1987 under the Uganda People’s Army (UPA). He said the rebellion, which ended in 1992, caused widespread destruction and left communities struggling to recover from years of violence.
He recalled that after an amnesty and presidential pardon were extended to former combatants, Museveni met some of them at Soroti Flying School in 1993.
Ecweru said the former fighters presented a memorandum of understanding outlining recovery programmes and pledging never to allow another war or anarchy in Teso during their lifetime.
He said he personally signed the memorandum, which was presented by the late Omeda Max in the presence of the President and other dignitaries. About 1,200 pardoned former combatants attended the meeting, according to Ecweru.
“We committed; we will never allow anarchy in Teso again for as long as we are alive. And it is in black and white,” he said.
He added that the commitment was put to the test when the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) entered Teso in 2003.
Ecweru said former combatants subsequently worked with the government under the Arrow Auxiliary Force to support the UPDF in driving the rebels out of the region. The operations continued through 2004 and into early 2005, when the LRA was pushed out of Teso.
Following the operation, the Arrow Auxiliary Force was dismantled and its members demobilised. Some were integrated into the national army and the Uganda Police Force, while nearly 4,000 returned to civilian life as reservists, Ecweru said.
He described the former fighters as law-abiding citizens who had returned to their communities and remained committed to protecting the peace they had helped restore.
Ecweru warns media, local leaders
Ecweru also criticised some radio stations for allegedly giving leaders platforms to make statements that could incite the public and undermine security.
He accused some media houses of failing to hold their guests accountable when discussions shifted from their intended subjects to messages that could provoke unrest.
He said radio stations had a responsibility to inform, educate and entertain the public, arguing that incitement fell outside their mandate.
Ecweru further expressed concern that some leaders were allegedly influencing young people to believe the country was heading towards a crisis, with some reportedly being promised jobs in other parts of Uganda.
He said he would release the names, villages, sub-counties, districts and telephone contacts of young people whose whereabouts were reportedly unknown within four days.
According to Ecweru, the information would help establish whether the individuals had left their homes for legitimate reasons or had been lured away with promises of employment.
He urged parents, local leaders and security authorities to help establish the whereabouts of the young people. He also warned that local leaders, including Gombolola Internal Security Officers (GISOs) and Parish Internal Security Officers (PISOs), would be expected to explain what they knew about the situation in their respective areas.
To illustrate the consequences of armed rebellion, Ecweru recounted the case of Brig Gen Smith Opon Achak, whom he said he had known and advised against taking up arms following earlier insurgencies in the Lango sub-region.
Ecweru said he had tried to counsel the former military officer, who had expressed frustration over several issues. He warned Opon Achak that it was not the right time to start another rebellion in an area still recovering from conflict.
He said Opon Achak ignored his advice and later disappeared from his home before being killed. Ecweru said the incident reinforced his conviction that renewed armed conflict would only bring suffering and destruction to communities that had endured previous insurgencies.
He urged Elwelu to consider the consequences of any alleged plans to destabilise the country and instead pursue peaceful engagement with the government.
“We can continue to have disagreements, but peace is our commitment, our common denominator,” Ecweru said.
He reiterated that Teso would remain peaceful and called on Elwelu, his relatives and associates to cooperate with respected community leaders and security authorities to resolve the matter peacefully.
Muhoozi threatens to declare Elwelu a rebel
The developments come days after Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba threatened to declare Elwelu a rebel if he failed to surrender to the authorities.
In posts on his official X account on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Muhoozi alleged that security forces had recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition from one of Elwelu’s homes in Teso.
“He has hours to surrender before we declare him a rebel and deal with him accordingly,” Muhoozi posted.
The army chief also announced that he had stripped Elwelu of his military ranks and demoted him to the rank of Private, describing the former deputy army chief as a “traitor”.
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