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Uganda launched, Tuesday, November 30, in consultation with Kinshasa a military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against rebel positions of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), accused by the Congo of massacres of civilians and by Kampala of recent attacks claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
Airstrikes and artillery fire from Uganda were reported in the morning almost simultaneously by official sources in Uganda and DRC. “Targeted and concerted actions with the Ugandan army started today with airstrikes and artillery fire from Uganda on the positions of ADF terrorists in the DRC”, said on Twitter the Minister of Communication and spokesman for the Congolese government, Patrick Muyaya.
“This morning, we launched joint air and artillery strikes against ADF camps with our Congolese allies”, also made known on the social network the spokesperson of the Ugandan army (UPDF, Uganda People’s Defense Force).
Testimonies reached Beni, the capital of North Kivu, a province bordering Uganda, then reported the entry of Ugandan soldiers into the DRC at the Nobili border post, information not officially confirmed at this stage.
“Awakened to the sound of heavy weapons”
From 5 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT), the chiefdom (administrative entity) of Watalinga “Woke up to the sound of heavy weapons”local civil society president Zawadi Ngandanodette told AFP. According to him, shots came from the Ugandan border village of Butogo and went towards the Virunga National Park.
The explosions caused panic among the population but the situation then calmed down, he added. According to other witnesses, explosions were also heard in Nobili, as well as in the neighboring province of Ituri, towards Boga and Tchabi, areas known to harbor numerous ADF rebels.
An adviser to the DRC presidency on Sunday confirmed to AFP, on condition of anonymity, information from diplomatic sources that President Felix Tshisekedi had authorized the Ugandan army to cross the border to fight ADF rebels. He added, however, that it was necessary that “All procedures are respected, in particular at the level of Parliament”.
This authorization is not viewed favorably by all Congolese, some pointing to the role played by Ugandan and Rwandan neighbors in the destabilization of eastern DRC for nearly thirty years.
During a usual briefing devoted to the state of siege established in two eastern provinces, the Congolese Minister of Communication assured, Monday, that there was “No Ugandan troops” in the DRC, but that “Targeted and concerted actions” were “Envisaged with the Ugandan army to fight the terrorists of the ADF, our common enemy”.
State of siege
Originally, the ADF was a coalition of Ugandan armed groups, the largest of which was made up of Muslims opposed to the regime of President Yoweri Museveni. They have been installed since 1995 in eastern Congolese, where they have taken root and are considered the deadliest of the multiple armed groups that have been rampant for decades in the region.
Since April 2019, some of their attacks have been claimed by ISIS, which designates the group as its “Province of central Africa” (Iscap). In March, the United States placed the ADF among the “Terrorist groups” affiliated with ISIS jihadists. However, experts are divided on the degree of this affiliation.
Uganda accused “A local group linked to the ADF” to be the author of a double suicide bombing that killed four people on November 16 in Kampala and was claimed by ISIS. The attack came three weeks after two other attacks, a bombing of a restaurant in the capital on October 23 and a suicide bombing on a bus near Kampala two days later.
In eastern DRC, North Kivu and the neighboring province of Ituri have been placed under siege since early May, with civilian authorities replaced by army and police officers. Despite this exceptional measure, the army was unable to prevent the massacre of nearly 1,200 civilians during this period, according to a report by the Kivu Security Barometer (KST), which has experts in the areas of such violence.