ADF will soon be defeated, says Museveni
President Museveni has said the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group will soon be a story of the past following the joint operations between the UPDF and Congo forces in Eastern DRC.
Speaking during the 36th liberation day celebrations at Kololo Independence grounds on Wednesday, Museveni ADF is such a small group that can easily be defeated.
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“The LRA was here and we defeated them. We shall defeat them(ADF). We defeated them here and they went to disturb and kill our brothers and sisters in Congo. They once in a while come and plant bombs here and kill some sheikhs but that one we shall defeat,” Museveni said.
Survival
The ADF has for several years operated in the volatile North Kivu which borders other provinces including Ituri to the north and South Kivu to the South and has been a battle ground for a number of rival armed ethnic groups since 1998.
The province consists of three cities including; Goma, Butembo and Beni as well as six territories—Beni, Lubero, Masisi, Rutshuru.
Museveni explained that as a means of survival, the ADF has been involved in looting from villages and farms and selling products to earn money to finance their activities.
“In Congo, people grow cocoa among other things but what was happening was that when cocoa was ripe, the ADF would come and chase people, harvest the cocoa and selling it to get money,” he said.
He noted that this they would do through the use of their business agents in Congolese towns like Beni and Goma but also in Uganda.
“They had business agents who were selling the stolen cocoa to live a good life, send to their families but also to buy materials to make bombs among others. They also dig minerals and sell them.”
The president hailed his DRC counterpart for allowing the UPDF into his territory as part of Operation Shuja to flush out the ADF rebels from Eastern Congo.
“I thank President Tshisekdi for having allowed us to work to finish that little problem. The ADF is nothing and we shall defeat them. It is easy to defeat these groups and not all that big problem.”
The ADF has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US government.
According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the ADF which was designated as a terrorist group by the US government, has used the name Madina at Tauheed Wau Mujahedeen (City of Monotheism and Holy Warriors—MTM) to refer to emphasize its links to the Islamic State.
In 2019, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an ADF attack and first referenced a “Central Africa Province.”
The organization is led by Musa Baluku, who served as a senior ADF Islamic legal official before consolidating power following Mukulu’s 2015 arrest.
Air and artillery attacks by the UPDF have dislodged the ADF from their camps to relocate elsewhere.
