{{Short description|Ugandan military officer (1958–2020)}} {{Infobox person | image = Benon Biraaro.jpg | image_size = | name = Benon Biraaro | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1958|3|1|df=yes}} | birth_place = Isingiro District, Uganda Protectorate | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|2|12|1958|3|1|df=yes}} | death_place = Kampala, Uganda | alma_mater = Makerere University<br/>{{small|(Bachelor of Arts in political science)}}<br/>Cranfield University<br/>{{small|(Master of Arts in global strategic studies)}} | occupation = Military Officer | years_active = 1982 — 2020 | citizenship = Uganda | known_for = Presidential candidate for the 2016 Ugandan general election | political_party = Farmers Party of Uganda | title = | spouse = }}
'''Benon Biraaro''' (1 March 1958 – 12 February 2020; surname sometimes spelled '''Biraro''') was a Ugandan military officer and a high-ranking commander in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). While still in the active military, he served as the commandant of the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College in Kimaka, Jinja. In 2016, he ran (unsuccessfully<ref>{{Cite web |title=Museveni wins polls with 60.75% |url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/articledetails/1417584 |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=New Vision |language=en}}</ref>) for President of Uganda on behalf of his agrarian Farmers Party of Uganda.<ref name="About">{{cite web | url=http://www.independent.co.ug/cover-story/8235 | title=UPDF General Takes On Museveni | accessdate=24 February 2015 | date=20 September 2013 | first=Haggai | last=Matsiko | newspaper=The Independent (Uganda)}}</ref>
==Background and formal education== Benon Biraaro was born on 1 March 1958 in Isingiro District. He attended Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda's oldest and largest public university, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. Later, he attended Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, graduating with a Masters in Global Strategic Studies.<ref name="About"/><ref name="Solution">{{cite web | date=20 July 2009 | url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/540150-Rwanda-blocks-Uganda-buses.html | title=Major General Biraro Has Found Medicine for Unemployment | access-date=24 February 2015 | first=Karoro | last=Okurut | newspaper=New Vision (Kampala) | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224101012/http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/540150-Rwanda-blocks-Uganda-buses.html | archive-date=24 February 2015 }}</ref>
==Military education== His military education included the following courses:<ref name="About"/> * Officer Cadet Course * Junior Staff College in the United Kingdom * Junior Command and Staff College at the Nigerian Defence Academy, in Kaduna, Nigeria * Senior Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA * Africa Strategic Studies Course at Nasser Military Academy, Cairo, Egypt * Masters in Global Security Studies at Cranfield University, United Kingdom
==Military career== Benon Biraaro joined the Ugandan Bush War on 7 June 1982, straight out of Makerere University. By 1984, he had risen to the position of secretary to the High Command and National Resistance Council. By 1986, he was the deputy to Yoweri Museveni’s Principal Private Secretary. He was then posted to Kitgum District, as the special district administrator from 1986 until 1987. He then was transferred to Kyankwanzi and served as deputy commandant of the National Leadership Institute. Next, he served as the commanding officer of the 97th Battalion in Uganda's Eastern Region, which ended the insurgency in the Teso sub-region and in Tororo and Busia districts. Following that, he served as the commander of the military police in Uganda. He was then appointed the military representative in the Office of the Inspector General of Government. He then served as a member of the Adhoc Committee on Human Rights under the chairmanship of Abu Mayanja. He then became the director of training in the UPDF.
In 1998, he commanded the Ugandan contingent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He then became the commander of the Infantry Division in the Western Region of Uganda. He was appointed deputy chief of staff of the UPDF (DCOS), the fifth-highest rank in the Uganda military. Next, he served as the commandant for two in-takes at the Uganda Senior Command and Staff College at Kimaka in the Eastern Region. He then served as the chief of the Strategic Planning and Management Unit of the Peace and Security Council at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<ref name="About"/>
==Other responsibilities== Biraaro and several prominent individuals in the Ugandan military and business started a public-private partnership with the aim of raising investment funds locally to invest in local infrastructure and industry. Biraaro was the founder president and lead investor in Local Investment for Transformation.<ref name="Solution"/><ref>{{cite web | last=The Independent Staff | url=http://www.independent.co.ug/column/interview/3058-gen-biraaros-bees-to-lift-uganda-out-of-poverty | title=General Biraaro's Bees To Lift Uganda Out of Poverty | date=21 June 2010 | access-date=24 February 2015 | newspaper=The Independent (Uganda) | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224084405/http://www.independent.co.ug/column/interview/3058-gen-biraaros-bees-to-lift-uganda-out-of-poverty | archive-date=24 February 2015 }}</ref>
==Personal details== General Biraaro was a married father. He was of the Christian faith. He was reported to have built a church in the village where he was born, in Isingiro District.
He died on the morning of 12 February 2020, at Kampala Hospital, located on Kololo Hill, in Kampala, where he had been admitted six days earlier. He was reported to have died from colon cancer. He was 61 years old.<ref>{{cite web| newspaper=Daily Monitor |access-date=12 February 2020 | url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Former-Presidential-candidate-Benon-Biraro-succumbs-colon-cancer/688334-5452798-hduv6/index.html |title=Gen Benon Biraaro succumbs to colon cancer |date=12 February 2020 |author=Catherine Ageno and Risdel Kasasira |location=Kampala}}</ref>
==See also== * Ivan Koreta * Aronda Nyakairima * Isingiro District
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=61134&PHPSESSID=3c2fec206ff6b56d4628ffd965a479c3 General Biraaro Plans To Run For President of Uganda In 2016]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Biraaro, Benon}} Category:1958 births Category:2020 deaths Category:People from Isingiro District Category:Alumni of Cranfield University Category:Makerere University alumni Category:Ugandan generals