The Archbishop of Uganda has condemned the 16 June 2023 attack by Islamic militants on the Mponwdwe Lhuburiha Secondary School in the country’s western Kasese district which has left 42 people dead, including 38 students.
At approximately 23.30 local time, rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) a jihadist group allied with the Islamic State set fire to the boys dormitory at the school and looted the school’s storehouse. A school guard, three local residents and 38 students were killed, and eight were wounded. Six female students were also abducted.
Police spokesperson Freed Enanga stated the Ugandan army pursued the ADF rebels across the border into the Virunga National Park in the Congo. Mr. Enanga said twenty people have been arrested for complicity in the attack and for negligence, including the school’s headmaster,
The Most Rev. Stanley Kaziimba, who was on a three-day pastoral visit to the diocese of West Ankola, called the attack evil and barbaric, and urged the government to beef up security along the volatile Congolese border.
