The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Paul Lokech, alias The Lion of Mogadishu, died at his home near Kitikifumba, Kira Municipality in Wakiso District on Saturday.
The cause of his death isn’t yet known. The Inspector General of Police, Martins Okoth-Ochola, yesterday ordered the director of health services in the police to carry out a post-mortem to establish the cause of death.
Gen Lokech is said to have been born in Pader District, where most of his relatives live. But he spent most of his youth in Abim District.
Not much of his education background is known.
He was among the first officers to join the National Resistance Army (now Uganda People’s Defence Forces), nearly a year after it had just taken power.
On February 1, 1987, he joined the army and rose in rank.
He came to prominence during the war against West Nile Bank Front rebels in West Nile in early 1990s. The West Nile Bank Front was defeated and wound up operations in 1997.
Promotion
His leadership earned him promotion and by 1998 he was a Major in the UPDF.
The army leadership would later capitalise on his experience to send him, under Operation Safe Haven, to the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight Allied Democratic Forces and other rebel groups that were using the eastern part of that country to give Ugandans sleepless nights in 2001.
As the commander of the 65th Battalion, he exhibited outstanding fighting skills and was able to bring troops under his command by foot back to Uganda.
President Museveni was among the government officials, who welcomed them at the Uganda-DRC border.
The army later sent Gen Lokech to South Africa where he studied in the National Defence College.
He would later travel to the United States of America to further his military education in the Command and General Staff College  at Fort Leavenworth.
Lokech returned home and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In 2006, the army deployed him to the UPDF 3rd Division that covers Karamoja sub-region, as the Operations and Training Officer to ensure that cattle rustling is stopped.
Indeed, by the time he ended his tour of the Karamoja sub-region, the criminality in the region had reduced and he gained a promotion to a Colonel.
In 2009, he was sent to Jinja as the commandant of the Junior Staff College, where he worked for a year until 2010.
At the same time, al-Shabaab insurgents were giving the African Union Mission in Somalia trouble. The next year, he was appointed the contingent commander of the Eighth UPDF Battlegroup in war-torn Somalia.
The situation was so bad that then president of Somalia called him at the State House bunker and he pleaded with him to get him out of the country.
Few months into his deployment, he organised an offensive that flashed al-Shabaab insurgents out of the capital city, Mogadishu. He was nicknamed “The Lion of Mogadishu”. It was the start of peace in Somalia. It earned him a promotion to Brigadier General.
He returned to Uganda and was sent to Russia as a defence attaché.
Air Force Chief of Staff
Prior to his special assignment “to monitor on behalf of the guarantors of the South Sudan peace process, the assembling, screening, demobilisation and integration of the armed forces of South Sudan,” Maj Gen Lokech served as Chief of Staff of the UPDF Air Force, for a period of five months, from July 11, 2019, until December 11, 2019.
Prior to that, from December 2018 until July 2019, he was Commandant of Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre (URDCC), in Jinja District. He was appointed to that position in December 2018.
In February 2019, when the President promoted officers, his name was missing, prompting public criticism on social media.
The army leadership sent another list that included his name among those promoted. He got the rank of Major General.
After a few months, he was sent to South Sudan to help the country fighting a civil war to form a national army.
In December 2020, President Museveni appointed Maj Gen Lokech the deputy Inspector General of Police, replacing Maj Gen Sabiiti Muzeyi.
Profile
He was nicknamed the Lion of Mogadishu after pushing al-Shabaab out of the Somali capital. It was the start of peace in Somalia. It earned him a promotion to Brigadier General.

He returned to Uganda and was sent to Russia as a defence attaché.

In January 2017, he deployed to the 2nd UPDF Division, in Mbarara District, as the commander.

In December 2018, he was appointed the commandant of Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre (URDCC) in Jinja District.

On August 16, 2019, he left URDCC for the Air Force where he was appointed the Chief of Staff.

Source:monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/