Formed by ex-Uganda Army soldiers who remained loyal to Idi Amin,[4] the group's exact foundation is unclear.
It appears to have been a West Nile offshoot of the Uganda People's Democratic Army and recruited primarily in Koboko County, Arua and Obongi, Moyo.
The fortunes of the WNBF did not really change until UPDF Major General Katumba Wamala arrived in 1996 and initiated a policy of civil-military cooperation.
He has stated: By working through local and traditional authority structures and enforcing a measured approach to the counter-insurgency, Wamala earned the trust of much of the populace and was able to arrange for numerous rebels to return to their former lives.
Amid Operation Thunderbolt (1997), the last WNBF bases in Sudan were destroyed in a major battle at Kaya in which the SPLA, UPDF and several Congolese armed groups took part.