Uganda, DRC in joint operation against terror group ADF

By Patrick Ilunga

Uganda, and its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday November 30, launched a joint aerial operation against the Allied Democratic Forces, the terror group blamed for massacres in both countries.Both countries’ spokespeople indicated the aerial offensive will target the group’s hide-outs in eastern Congo provinces of Ituri and North Kivu where there have been recent killings blamed on the ADF.Patrick Muyaya, DRC government spokesman said: “As announced, the targeted and concerted actions with the Ugandan army started today with air strikes and artillery fire from Uganda on the positions of ADF terrorists in the DRC.”The attacks come two weeks after bombings that killed four people in Kampala, and which authorities there said terrorists allied to the ADF had masterminded the operation.The attack, was actually acknowledged by the ISIS terror group, to which ADF has pledged allegiance.The ADF, the Ugandan rebels who have been operating in eastern DRC since the 1990s have recently embarked on suicide attacks in Uganda.Now the two sides say the group has become a problem for both sides.“The ADF are our common enemy. We will fight them,” said Patrick Muyaya, government spokesman. A spokesman for the Ugandan Ministry of defence said: “This morning, we have launched joint air and artillery strikes against ADF camps with our Congolese allies.” In the DRC, mainly in the province of Ituri and in North Kivu, several massacres are attributed to the ADF rebels, considered as the branch of the Islamic State in Central Africa.The actions of the Ugandan and Congolese armies have nonetheless sparked a heated debate in the DRC. According to some Congolese lawmakers, the government was obliged to inform parliament first before any military action by a foreign army on Congolese soil.