During the bush war, there were fighters who were nicknamed ‘Kalampenge’ because of the extraordinary bravery with which they confronted the enemy (Obote’s UNLA forces) and all bush-war veterans will tell you that Salim Saleh was such a fighter.
It is this level of bravery which Lt. Gen. Pecos Kutesa in his book "How i saw it" equates to being possessed, that almost cost Saleh his life on February 20, 1983.
On that day, the UNLA detach near Bukalabi in Nakaseke spotted the NRA rebels doing reconnaissance (okuketa) and in anticipation of an attack, the UNLA forces dug trenches and torched the surrounding bushes to create an open field around their trenches.
During that time, the NRA had received the first European journalist—a German who would give them the much needed international publicity. In order to demonstrate to the journalist that NRA was a powerful rebel force, Saleh was sent to raid that UNLA encampment.
Saleh, however, encountered a well prepared UNLA force who had taken good positions in the trenches. The wise thing would have been to call off the attack, but being the Kalampenge that he was, Salim Saleh went ahead with it.
Saleh tried to smoke the enemy forces out of their trenches—a virtually impossible mission in military operations and in the end the NRA lost nine fighters as Saleh escaped having been shot four bullets in both arms.
But even after being shot, Saleh continued to command his troops with blood oozing out of his hands but later after losing a lot of blood, he became weak and was carried back to the rebel base. He later found 18 more holes of bullets in his jacket and how he dodged the bullets, only God knows.
A senior officer, who lived at the NRA headquarters at the time, said that Saleh was hidden away from the journalist and the opportunity for the much needed publicity in Europe was lost.
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