Wire reporting: (AP, via Africanews)

Uganda's military said it arrested former deputy defence chief Peter Elwelu on Monday on accusations that he planned to destabilize the country's east, according to the BBC and Africanews^1,2.

Acting military spokesman Col. Chris Magezi said Elwelu, described by the army as a renegade officer, was taken into custody Monday evening and would be charged in court². Magezi said, as quoted by the BBC, that Elwelu had been "on the run over involvement in subversive activities and plans to destabilize Teso"².

Magezi said security forces had recently recovered 15 guns, military fatigues and two pickup trucks said to be in Elwelu's possession^1,2,3. Africanews, carrying Associated Press reporting, said he was being held by military authorities at an undisclosed location and that the government had not publicly substantiated the allegations^1,3.

The arrest followed statements last week by defence chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Yoweri Museveni's son, who said he had stripped Elwelu of lieutenant general rank and reduced him to private^1,2. Kainerugaba had accused Elwelu of stockpiling weapons, ordered him to surrender and said 20 former soldiers linked to him had been detained^1,2.

Elwelu's family rejected the claims. His wife, Patricia Apolot, told local media he was innocent and would not contemplate a rebellion². The BBC said Elwelu had not commented; Africanews said he could not be reached^1,2.

Elwelu served as deputy chief of defence forces from 2021 to 2024 and later as a presidential adviser before retiring from the military in August 2025, according to Africanews and the BBC^1,2,3. He became widely known after overseeing a 2016 raid on a regional king's palace; the United States imposed sanctions on him in May 2024 over alleged human rights abuses, the BBC reported².

Africanews noted a past disagreement between Elwelu and Kainerugaba over military operations that Museveni mediated¹. Kainerugaba is described in that account as Museveni's likely successor and as having launched a presidential bid for 2031¹.

It was not independently verified what charges Elwelu will face, where he is held, or whether the recovered weapons were his. Court proceedings have not been scheduled in the reporting cited here^2,3.