UNDEFEATED

DRC: Ugandan soldiers eye the exits with ISIS affiliate still entrenched

By Musinguzi Blanshe

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Posted on May 20, 2022 09:15

 © An Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) soldier rests next to a road after Islamist rebel group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked area around Mukoko village, North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, December 11, 2018.   REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
An Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) soldier rests next to a road after Islamist rebel group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked area around Mukoko village, North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

The joint operation between Ugandan and Congolese soldiers to root out rebel fighters from eastern DRC is slated to end this month, barring a last-minute extension. 

Though the two governments have praised it as a success, some analysts say Operation Shujaa (‘bravery’) hasn’t achieved much, apart from scattering the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and pushing them out of bases they had occupied for decades.

In Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni’s government has been tight-lipped since the operation kicked off last fall, refusing to brief parliament as the constitution requires. When the defence ministry requested about $25m to fund the operation in January, members of parliament rejected it.

Museveni later told legislators from his ruling National Resistance Movement that the government could not inform them before reaching an agreement with the DRC.

On 17 May, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the commander of Ugandan land forces (who also happens to be Museveni’s son) said the operation was supposed to last six months. However,

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