Today in History: Gen Paul Lokech Dies After Decorated Military Career

What the report says

On this day in 2021, Uganda lost Lt. Gen. Paul Lokech, a senior military officer and then deputy inspector general of police, who died at his home in Kitikifumba, Kira Town, Wakiso District. He was 55. Nile Post reported that a later post-mortem found the cause of death was a massive bilateral pulmonary embolism linked to deep vein thrombosis, which developed after he fractured his right ankle and had the leg placed in a cast several weeks earlier.

Lokech was born in 1966 in Uganda’s Acholi sub-region and joined the National Resistance Army, now the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, in 1987. Over his career he held a number of senior posts, including military attaché in Moscow, commander of the UPDF Second Division in Mbarara, and roles in operations against the Allied Democratic Forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The article said his most widely recognised service came in Somalia, where he led Ugandan troops under the African Union Mission and earned the nickname “The Lion of Mogadishu” for his role in operations against Al-Shabaab.

The report also noted his later involvement in the South Sudan peace process and his move to the police in late 2020. As deputy inspector general, he was involved in major security work, including the investigation into the attempted assassination of General Katumba Wamala. His death drew tributes across Uganda’s security establishment, and President Yoweri Museveni later posthumously promoted him to lieutenant general.