ADF activities slowed down last month: Sector commander

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The rebel Allied Democratic Forces-ADF have scaled down their attacks against the people of Eastern DR. Congo, the Operation Shujja sector III commander, Col. Denis Wandera Wanyama has revealed. Operation Shujja sector III was created in April 2022 to block the fleeing of ADF rebels from their strongholds in Ituri and Virunga impenetrable forest.

It covers Kasindi-Beni routes. According to Col. Wanyama, they have killed 20 suspected ADF rebels and recovered over 10 guns and various calibers of ammunition over the past month. Wanyama, who shared the sector operation status report with URN, said that whereas the ADF threat still exists, the trend of violence has reduced enabling many people who had fled to Uganda to return to their communities and resume normal life.

“We are seeing a downward trend of atrocities committed by ADF in the sector, at least for the last one month since our deployment. We have not had any serious incident,” Wanyama noted. By the time UPDF and the Congolese forces launched Operation Shujja last year, ADF rebels had stepped up attacks against civilians along Kasindi-Beni route where they would torch and loot property.

Wanyama noted that the joint forces remain focused on eliminating the smaller ADF groups that are spread across the Eastern parts of Mwalika, Mwenda, Mutwanga, and Viirunga National park. “Since we started deployment in this sector we have so far put out of action 20 ADF, 15 in the jungles of Mwalika and 5 along Kasindi-Beni road,” the sector commander revealed.

He also pleaded for the protection the joint forces have offered to the workers on the Uganda-DRC road project. Jean Paul Kahindo Katembo, the chairman of Bulongo community says that they are witnessing relative peace for the first time in more than a decade.

He says ADF fighters would often strike during the day and attack the community, killing and looting their properties. “Those days ADF would come to Bulongo town in broad daylight, kill people, destroy property, burn vehicles and loot foodstuff,” he said.

Innocent Sindiwako, a chief in Rwenzori Eastern DRC, says that since 2012 when ADF/NALU entered the Rwenzori sector, the local community has remained in disarray. He however says that the rebels are present in the areas of Mt. Kilungi, Kilingo, R. Muruho, Semuliki and Lusilusi.

Mayini Mwishi Giste, a resident of Bulongo says that families have started getting back to their gardens.

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URN