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Army destroys 200 tonnes of ammunition
UPDF officers at the demolition site. Photo by Jonathan Adengo.
What you need to know:
The exercise seeks to rid the country of dangerous weapons as well as emphasise the safety of citizens and limit crime in society.
Mubende- The Uganda National focal Point (NFP) on small arms and light weapons in partnership with the UPDF, has demolished more than 200 tonnes of redundant and unexploded weapons in Karama, Kabamba Military Barracks.
The demolition is part of an ongoing week-long exercise that started last Friday seeking to reduce volumes of dangerous weapons currently in circulation.
Mr Okello Makmot, the commissioner of National Focal Point, said at the Karama military training grounds in Kabamba, Mubende District, Uganda has so far destroyed more than 1,300 tonnes of explosives and 120,000 pieces of ammunition.
“These exercises serve to get rid of tools of violence and danger contributing to society’s safety,” he said.
He added they would continue to conduct collection and disposal activities alongside other critical firearms management programmes until the country gets free of obsolete stockpiles.
In a commissioned exercise overseen by the UPDF, the expired weapons included aircraft bombs, motors, RPG bombs, anti-aircraft bullets, fuses and high explosives.
Some of these like the aircraft bombs weighed more than 250 kgs each.
Col Richard Wakayinja, the commanding officer field engineering at Karama demolition grounds, said most of the items to be demolished were purchased during late president Idi Amin’s time.
And as such have been in storage for a long time. He also explained that the demolition of the expired stock helps to avoid the risk of such old corrosive and volatile items from exploding while in storage, causing harm and death as it happened in Mombasa a few years ago.
Mr Wakayinja explained that the demolition is done in bits of seven tonnes. He also added that the demolition is in line with the acceptable standards.
