Congo and Uganda enhance their military partnership in opposition to the ADF militants

In an indication of the armed group’s ongoing issue for both nations, the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda have decided to carry out combined military operations against the ADF insurgents.

Additionally, it indicates that the Congolese Armed Forces (Fardc) and the Uganda People’s Defense Forces will keep cooperating in the eastern DRC’s Ituri and North Kivu regions.

The fact that President Félix Tshisekedi himself has ordered the continuation of these coordinated operations demonstrates the continued malignancy of the Ugandan rebels who have committed acts of terror on both sides of the border.

A delegation from the command of the Ugandan Land Forces was presented to President Tshisekedi. General Christian Tshiwewe, the Chief of Staff of the Fardc (Congolese army), oversaw these Ugandan officers. “President Tshisekedi gave clear instructions to strengthen military cooperation between the DRC and Uganda in order to eradicate insecurity in the region after reviewing the report on the joint operations against ADF activity in Ituri,” the DRC president said in a news release.

Nearly three years have passed before Fardc and Ugandan forces started pursuing the ADF. In November 2021, the combined operation was first initiated and ran for six months. Numerous reports from the two militaries claimed that the coordinated operations had significantly diminished the Ugandan rebels’ ability to cause trouble; they were reportedly reduced to tiny groups and were retaliating by assaulting civilians.

The rebels, according to the Ugandan and Congolese army, had been reduced to wondering around from hiding place to hiding place.
The UN claims that the ADF is still the most lethal armed force in the DRC in spite of the operation.

“ADF military activities have intensified since mid-October 2023, particularly in the northern part of Beni territory and in the south of Ituri province,” according to a report by UN experts.

“With over 1,000 people killed in 2023, mostly civilians, the ADF continued to be the armed group that committed the most murders in the DRC.”

According to a report released by the DRC’s peacekeeping force, the ADF was responsible for the most deaths between June and September 2024, killing 467 civilians, including women and children.

Despite the assertions made by Vital Kamerhe, the Speaker of the DRC National Assembly, who openly accused Uganda of being one “among the aggressors against the DRC,” joint operations between the UPDF and the Fardc have been renewed.

Mr. Kamerhe was speaking of the conflict between the M23 rebels and the Congolese army. Rwanda has consistently been charged by Congolese officials with aiding the M23 insurgents.

The United Nations experts’ most recent report claims that “4,000 Rwandan army soldiers are on Congolese soil.”