SUMMARY
UNRF II (Uganda National Rescue Front II) was a Ugandan insurgent movement formed in 1996 as a splinter group of WNBF (West Nile Bank Front). The group had its roots in the original UNRF (Uganda National Rescue Front), with a majority of the UNRF II fighters having a past in the older movement. These former soldiers were either left in Sudan, the location of most UNRF bases, being deemed unfit to take part in the UNRF-NRA (National Resistance Army) alliance that gained power in Uganda in 1986, or were part of the cutbacks in the Ugandan Army in the early 1990s. In the early 1990s, these former UNRF members joined WNBF, a group created by supporters of Idi Amin, president in Uganda between 1971 and 1979 and the Sudanese government with a goal of overthrowing the Ugandan government.
By 1996, however, tensions grew inside WNBF, as Juma Oris, the groups leader, was rumored to intend to strike a deal with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni. Fearing that a similar fate would occur to them as in 1986, a group of former UNRF members refused any negotiations with Museveni, left WNBF, and formed UNRF II. UNRF II and WNBF remained allied, however, conducting joint operations against both the Government of Uganda and SPLM/A (Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army) from bases inside South Sudan. Furthermore, the goals of the group remained almost identical to those of WNBF, i.e. overthrowing Musevenis government.
UNRF II was relatively short lived, as by March 1997, a series of SPLM/A offensives destroyed most of the group’s operational capacities. Parts of the group did recover, but in the end managed to pose very limited threats to either SPLM/A or the Ugandan military.
In the end, UNRF II signed a peace agreement at Yumbe with the Government of Uganda on 24 December 2002. Under the agreement, the group dissolved, with one battalion being integrated in the Ugandan army, and over 4.2 billion Ugandan shillings distributed to the group.
The leader of UNRF II was, for most of its existence, Ali Bamuze, himself a veteran of the original UNRF.
UNRF II has been involved in the intra-state and non-state categories of UCDP organised violence.
