MANHUNT

Uganda struggles to corroborate ‘successes’ against remote ADF rebels in DRC

By Musinguzi Blanshe
Posted on Tuesday, 7 December 2021 09:56

Democratic Republic of Congo military personnel patrol against Allied Democratic Forces and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda rebels near Beni in North-Kivu province
DRC military personnel (FARDC) patrol against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) rebels near Beni in North-Kivu province, December 31, 2013. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe

Almost a week after Ugandan forces arrived in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to help Kinshasa battle the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an army spokeswoman acknowledged that glowing reports of early battlefield successes have so far been impossible to document or corroborate.

The joint operation in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, codenamed Operation Shuja, started in the morning hours of 30 November with an artillery and aerial bombing of four ADF bases. At the time, Brig. Gen. Flavia Byekwaso boasted that the targets were “accurately hit”.

Meanwhile, the land forces commander, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has been touting the “tremendous successes” of the joint operation.

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