Maj. Gen. David Oyite-Ojok

David Oyite-Ojok was born on 15 April 1940 in Lira District. He joined the Uganda Army in 1963, trained officer cadets in Jinja in 1965 and served at Army Headquarters in the late 1960s, becoming a major in 1970 and a lieutenant colonel in 1971.

Exile and the war against Amin

After Idi Amin's coup in 1971 he fled to Tanzania and joined Obote's exile force. He took part in the failed 1972 invasion and later commanded Obote's small lake force on Lake Victoria. In 1978–79 he was a field commander of the exiled Ugandan fighters who joined Tanzanian forces in the war that ended Amin's rule. In March 1979 he headed a battalion of the new Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA).

Chief of Staff

Oyite-Ojok rose to become Chief of Staff of the UNLA. He sat on the Military Commission in 1979–80, was dismissed as army chief in May 1980 and, after the Military Commission removed President Binaisa, returned to the post under Obote. From 1980 to 1983 he led the campaigns against the National Resistance Army and other groups, campaigns that were both militarily effective and, according to historians, costly to civilians.

Death and memory

He died on 2 December 1983 when his helicopter crashed in Nakitoma sub-county, Nakasongola District. The government blamed a technical failure, while the NRA claimed to have shot it down. He is remembered by many Lango as a national figure, and Uganda's later government honoured him as a national hero.