UPDF mandate in DR Congo expires in two weeks

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) will withdraw from DR Congo in two weeks’ time if its six-month mandate is not extended. 

Code-named ‘Operation Shujaa’, UPDF has since November 30 last year, been executing joint operations with the Congolese forces (FARDC) against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) extremists in Eastern DR Congo. The six months end on May 30. 

The commander of Land Forces who is also the senior presidential advisor in charge of special operations, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, made the revelation about the withdrawal of UPDF via his Twitter handle on Tuesday. 

“Operation Shujaa will officially cease in about two weeks according to our original agreement. It was supposed to last for six months. Unless I get further instructions from our Commander in Chief (President Yoweri Museveni) or Chief of Defence Forces (Gen. Wilson Mbadi), I will withdraw all our troops from DR Congo in two weeks,” Kainerugaba tweeted. 

Lt. Gen. Muhoozi however added, “to be clear Operation Shujaa will continue even for another 6 months if the two Presidents Museveni and His Excellency Felix Tshisekedi (Democratic Republic of Congo) decide to extend it. The two of them are the ultimate authorities. The Joint Forces of UPDF and FARDC are happy to keep eliminating ADF.” 

Commanded by Maj. Gen. Kayanja Muhanga, Operation Shujaa falls under the UPDF Land Forces, whose overall commander is Gen. Kainerugaba. However, the ADF are still active in eastern DR Congo where they have butchered scores of innocent civilians.

ADF scattered 

Following repeated operations against the ADF that started last November, Muhanga recently said that the extremists have now resorted to asymmetrical tactics.

During an interview by local and international journalists at Kainama Forward Operating Base on March 6, Gen. Muhanga said the ADF were pushed out of Virunga forest in phase one, and they fled in two directions.

“They fled; in the South towards Rwenzori mountains and another group towards the North of Kainama -Tchabi and Boga road into Irumu province. Note that our resolve is to hunt them wherever they go. Therefore, Kainama is our launching zone,” Muhanga stated.

The commandant said the aim of the joint forces is not just to push the ADF terrorists, but ultimately to neutralise and eradicate them.

“The challenge is whenever we are approaching their locations; they run away for fear of our superior firepower. The enemy is so inferior that they cannot stand and fight. However, a mechanism has been sought such that when the joint mobile forces are searching and fixing, FARDC on the other side blocks. For us, as long as we work with FARDC, we will ultimately defeat these terrorists,” he explained.

Operation Shujaa started on November 30 last year, with the UPDF launching air and artillery strikes, resulting in the destruction and capture of several ADF camps including Kambi Ya Yua, Tondoli, Belu I and Belu II camps.

Hundreds of ADF fighters have since been killed during the operations, others have been captured and a cache of weapons recovered, while some have surrendered to the joint forces.

Operation successes

According to Muhanga, operation Shujaa has succeeded in dislodging the enemy from their decade long camps; in what was termed as "The triangle of death". Besides, there is a reduction in the killing of innocent people and many people are returning to their formerly abandoned homes.

“We have killed a big number of these terrorists where of recent we killed over 20, captured three Prisoners of War, rescued 12 children, recovered over 10 guns of different calibres. Overall, the operational objective is to degrade the enemy's capacity to make war,” Muhanga enumerated.

He noted that ADF after incurring heavy losses from the joint forces, the ADF are now on a rampage attacking soft civilian targets.

“Although they are an inferior group with a few weapons they have resorted to using machetes, hoes, and axes to hack their victims, we urge our people to be on the lookout, and report any incidence within your villages to local authorities or to the Joint forces,” he advised.

Due to the enormous pressure that the joint forces have put on the enemy and the numerous bombardments from artillery and air force, Muhanga said many ADF fighters have started deserting and reporting to the joint forces.

ADF history

Of the over 100 armed groups active in Eastern DR Congo, the ADF is accused of being responsible for the massacre of more than 6,000 civilians since 2013, according to a tally by religious authorities.

The ADF were originally Ugandan Muslim rebels. They are now touted by the Islamic State terrorist group as its branch in Central Africa. The eastern region of DR Congo has for long been a cradle of rebel activity, often the spill-over of conflict in neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.

ADF was formed in the 1990s and its pioneer leader was Jamil Mukulu, a Ugandan who was arrested in Tanzania in April 2015 before he was in June extradited to face trial in Uganda.

Mukulu, who is currently detained at Luzira prison, faces charges of slaughtering hundreds of civilians in Uganda. Mukulu faces other charges related to numerous Kampala bombings in the late 1990s when the rebel outfit was very active.

Mukulu is also linked to the murders of Sheikh Dactoor Muwaya in Mayuge district in December 2014; Namayingo LC III Chairman, Tito Okware, in January 2015; two police officers who were guarding former Inspector General of Government Irene Mulyagonja’s home; and the attack on Kichwamba technical institute in Kabarole where over 100 students were killed in June 1998.

ADF first operated in the Rwenzori region before the UPDF flushed them out in 2001 and they shifted their base to North Kivu province in eastern DR Congo.

An investigative report by the UN panel of experts on DR Congo released in January 2015, showed that ADF has networks in DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and the UK from where the rebel outfit receives funds through electronic transfers.

Following the arrest of Mukulu in 2015, Musa Seka Baluku became the leader of the Islamist group, which is also said to have links with another terrorist group in Mozambique. Baluku reportedly first pledged allegiance to Islamists in 2016.

But it was not until April 2019 that Islamic State terrorists first acknowledged their activities in the area, when they claimed an attack on army positions near the border with Uganda.

According to the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, the ADF has killed about 200 civilians and displaced nearly 40,000 others in Beni since January 2021. The rebel group also targets the Congolese government and UN troops, as well as civilians.