Maj Gen Dick Olum is set for a new role, leading Ugandan troops who are part of the DR Congo-Uganda joint military force fighting the Allied Defence Forces.
President Yoweri Museveni has named Maj Gen Dick Olum to take over as Uganda’s new commander of the army’s Mountain Brigade based in the Rwenzori Mountains, at the country’s western frontier bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In this new role, he also becomes the Ugandan commander for Operation Shujaa, a Uganda-DR Congo joint military operation launched on November 30, 2021 to fight the Allied Democratic Forces in eastern DRC.
Maj Gen Olum, who previously served as the defence attaché at the Ugandan embassy in the DR Congo, had a decade ago commanded an operation against Joseph Kony in the Central African Republic, where the Ugandan fugitive is still believed to be living with no known threats against country.
He also previously served as commander of the army’s Third Division based in Moroto, which oversaw the Karamoja disarmament exercise, as well as serving as contingent commander of the UPDF in Somalia, where Uganda has the largest force fighting the Shabaab militants.
Maj Gen Olum takes over from Lt Gen Kayanja Muhanga who was a few days ago appointed commander of the land forces of the Ugandan army, replacing the president’s son Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
