CHIEF COORDINATOR (CC)
General Salim Saleh
Gen. Salim Saleh (born Caleb Akandwanaho, 14 January 1960) is a retired Ugandan military officer who served in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), the armed forces of Uganda. He is a brother to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, and an adviser to the President on military matters. He served as Minister of State for microfinance from 2006 to 2008.
Military career
In 1976, aged 16, he left Kako Secondary School in Masaka to join the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA), a Tanzania-based rebel group formed and led by his brother Yoweri Museveni to fight against the regime of Idi Amin. Together with his friend Fred Rwigyema and his brother Museveni, he trained in Mozambique with Samora Machel's FRELIMO rebels. It was there that he adopted Salim Saleh[1] as his nom de guerre. In 1978, FRONASA merged with other anti-Amin groups in Tanzania and formed the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), who together with Tanzanian armed forces captured Kampala in April 1979 – sending Idi Amin into exile. Gen. Saleh was later made a platoon commander of a UNLA unit in Moroto District. Following the bitterly contested December 1980 elections, Museveni declared an armed rebellion against the UNLA and the government of Milton Obote.
Gen. Salim Saleh joined his brother's National Resistance Army (NRA) and the guerilla war known as "the bush war", that would last until 1986. In January 1986, Gen. Salim Saleh commanded NRA's assault on Kampala, which eventually led to the demise of Tito Okello's regime, with Museveni becoming President. NRA became the national army, with Gen. Salim Saleh as a commanding officer, General Elly Tumwine as the Army Commander, and Museveni as the Commander-in-chief.
Gen. Saleh proceeded to command an army division against rebel groups that were remnants of the UNLA, including Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA), in northern parts of the country. He was instrumental in working out a peace deal with the UPDA.
Gen. Saleh succeeded Elly Tumwine as Army Commander in 1987, and held the post until 1989. He later became the senior presidential advisor on defence and security (1996–1998), and the commander of the army's Reserve Force (1990–2001), involved in resettling army veterans of the bush war.