DRC: Congolese and Ugandan armies join forces to hunt down ADF

Joint operations of the FARDC (armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) with the Ugandan armed forces, on December 14, 2021, in North Kivu.

AFP - SEBASTIEN KITSA MUSAYI

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Ugandan army has been carrying out a joint operation with the FARDC for more than three months in the east of the country to fight the ADF, the most deadly armed group in the region.

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With our special correspondent in Tchabi,

In the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, many villages, regularly attacked by the rebels, are now almost completely emptied of their population.

This is the case of Tchabi, a locality in southern Ituri, crossed by Ugandan army convoys where some residents hope to see their old neighborhood reborn.

In the middle of the deserted houses of this village of Tchabi, a dozen men are digging the foundations of a new building.

“ 

 ,” underlines Jacques.

Like the rest of the inhabitants, Jacques left his home last year to take refuge in Bunia, following numerous attacks by suspected ADF.

He is one of the first groups to return to the village a few days earlier.

“ 

,” he adds.

Residents hope that the new military presence in the area will allow people to return.

For the past month, Ugandan army convoys have been crossing Tchabi regularly.

“ 

,” said Commander Peter Mugisa, spokesman for the operation.

The Ugandan soldiers, whose operations in North Kivu began on November 30, have also been intervening in the province of Ituri since the beginning of February.

"The objective of the operation is to destroy the capabilities of the ADF"

No recent report has been communicated by the Ugandans on the number of ADF captured or killed since the start of their operations in eastern DRC on 30 November.

In the Kainama military base, a town in the province of North Kivu, near Ituri, Major General Kayanja Muhanga, in charge of the operation for the Ugandan army, gives an update on the progress of the interventions against the ADF.

RFI: What is the first assessment of your operations against the ADF in the region?

Kayanja Muhanga:

We drove them out of camps they had occupied for decades, in what is called in French the triangle of death.

This triangle of death corresponds to the road from Kamango to Mukakati to Oicha, Eringeti and Boga.

We are now mobile, because the enemy moved north [into Ituri] and crossed the road between Eringeti and Boga, towards Mambasa and Komanda. It is for this reason that we opened the second sector of the operation, where we are now.

There are also some enemy groups to the south, in the Rwenzori region, and we have to deal with them in this sector as well.

Is the objective of this intervention to keep the ADF as far away as possible from the Ugandan border?

Of course, the objective of the operation is to destroy the capabilities of the ADF and the strategic objective, obviously, is to create a secure environment, in order to be able to carry out peaceful exchanges between our two countries.

Is there not a risk of shifting the problem, instead of solving it?

No, because we don't just want to push them away.

Our objective is to destroy their camps and kill them.

Our plan, with our allies, the FARDC, is for the Congolese army to block the enemies as they move north.

We operate with the FARDC, they accompany us in mobile operations and when the enemy moves towards the north, in areas where the FARDC are already deployed, they will be able to block them.

For example, the rebels cross the road between Eringeti, Irumu and Bunia.

So the FARDC are there.

Their job is to stop them while our mobile forces follow and hunt the ADF.

More than three months after the start of the operation, the ADF continue to attack villages in the sectors of intervention of the UPDF.

The latest example is that of Kikura, on the night of February 27 to 28, just a few km from the Ugandan border.

How do you explain it?

Yes, we had a number of attacks south of Nobili, in the Luanoli sector, but our joint forces on the ground responded.

So far we have recovered twelve rifles from the ADF.

We killed over twenty enemies in this area and captured three of them.

We also killed a commander in that sector where they carried out attacks.

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