Retired Major General Emilio Mondo has revealed that the late Gen. Moses Ali became leader of the Uganda National Rescue Front I (UNRF I) after proposing the formation of a rebel force to return thousands of West Nile refugees who had fled into exile following the fall of Idi Amin’s government.
Speaking during Gen. Moses Ali’s burial in Adjumani on Wednesday, Mondo said the decision was made at a meeting of former military officers and leaders in Yei, South Sudan, after refugees from West Nile had settled in camps.
According to Mondo, the meeting was convened by the late Gen. Mustafa Adrisi to discuss how displaced people could return home.
“There is nothing else that we can do to ensure the return of our people home. We have got to form an army and fight and open the way for our people to return home,” Mondo quoted Moses Ali as telling the meeting.
He said delegates unanimously endorsed Moses Ali as the supreme leader of the new force because of his proposal and determination to lead the struggle.
Mondo added that the new movement immediately tasked Moses Ali with mobilizing military equipment and other resources from contacts he had built during his time in government.
“We told General Moses Ali… you are going to go out and look for resources. Without the resources you cannot fight. He did successfully. He brought us the guns, and today we were able to come here because the organization won and opened the way for us to come back home,” Mondo said.
He credited Moses Ali’s leadership and organizational skills with keeping the movement together during the rebellion and later helping to restore peace in the region.
Former minister and one of the remaining members of the UNRF executive, Obiga Kania, described Moses Ali as a commander who fought for what he believed was a just cause and urged West Nile residents not to forget the history of the struggle.
“We are pleased with the comments that we have received from so many people that the person we appointed our commander was a good man; he has done his deed, and he fought for a good cause,” Kania said. He urged younger generations to preserve the region’s history, saying understanding the past was essential to shaping the future.
“A people who forget their history will not know where to go. We are here because of the history of the struggle that was started by a number of people, including General Moses Ali as the chairman,” he said.
The burial also came amid renewed calls by some leaders from West Nile for the government to fully implement outstanding commitments under the peace agreement signed between the National Resistance Army (NRA) and the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF).
However, in a message delivered on his behalf by former spy chief and ambassador Phillip Idro, Gen. Caleb Akandwanho, popularly known as Salim Saleh, said the concerns repeatedly raised by Gen. Moses Ali had been addressed.
Saleh recalled that Moses Ali had once bluntly warned him not to attend his burial unless the government settled the outstanding welfare concerns of former UNRF soldiers.
“General Saleh, if you don’t pay off my soldiers and their debts, if I die, don’t come to bury me,” Saleh quoted Moses Ali as saying. According to Saleh, the government fulfilled that obligation before Moses Ali’s death.
“On September 5, 2025, I was able to visit Adjumani because we had settled that obligation. It was a visit that brought me peace, and I believe it brought him reassurance,” the statement read.
Saleh added that although verification of beneficiaries was still ongoing, funds for former UNRF soldiers had already been secured.
He said payment delays were now being caused by the verification process rather than a lack of government commitment.
Idro also displayed copies of correspondence that Gen. Moses Ali had written to President Yoweri Museveni and Saleh, highlighting issues affecting former fighters and the wider West Nile region, including compensation for ex-combatants, resettlement support, compensation for frozen bank accounts, road infrastructure and electricity.
Gen. Moses Ali, who died last week aged 87, led UNRF I before later signing a peace agreement with President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army government and serving in various senior government positions for decades, including as Second Deputy Prime Minister-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
