Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)

Politics & Policy

Focusing on M23 allows ADF insurgents to expand in eastern DRC

The capture of Goma and Bukavu by the M23 early this year has put further strain on the DRC's already weak national army, creating a security vacuum that the ADF has exploited to expand its operations
UPDF combat vehicles and soldiers cross to Burasi in the Democratic Republic of Congo using the newly installed ferry at the Haibale landing point on the Semliki River in February 2022. Presiding over the opening ceremony at the Burasi landing site in DRC, the Operation Shujja commander, Major General Kayanja Muhanga, noted that the crossing into Congo using this access route marks the beginning of the second phase of the operation. Maj. Gen. Kayanja revealed that the road from Burasi to Boga, a stretch of about 50km that was previously impassable, is being worked on jointly by both the UPDF and the FARDC (Congolese national army)."
Politics & Policy

The interests at the heart of Uganda’s involvement in eastern DRC

Uganda's ambiguous and often tumultuous relations with DR Congo have made headlines recently, with the UN last month accusing security officials of actively supporting the M23 rebel group
UPDF combat vehicles and soldiers cross to Burasi in the Democratic Republic of Congo using the newly installed ferry at the Haibale landing point on the Semliki River in February 2022. Presiding over the opening ceremony at the Burasi landing site in DRC, the Operation Shujja commander, Major General Kayanja Muhanga, noted that the crossing into Congo using this access route marks the beginning of the second phase of the operation. Maj. Gen. Kayanja revealed that the road from Burasi to Boga, a stretch of about 50km that was previously impassable, is being worked on jointly by both the UPDF and the FARDC (Congolese national army)."
Politics & Policy

US sanctions prison chief over human rights abuses

Johnson Byabashaija heads an organisation that has tortured government critics and LGBTQI+ people
Johnson Byabashaija, the commissioner general of prisons. The US has imposed financial sanctions on Johnson Byabashaija, the commissioner general of prisons, in a review and expansion of its visa restriction policy targeting Ugandan officials it says are complicit in human rights abuses.
Politics & Policy

Setting aside regional rivalries would go a long way to neutering the ADF

ADF's recent attacks highlight how regional rivalries in the Congo-Uganda-Rwanda borderlands provide the group with oxygen to survive and grow
Ugandan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), listens while Contingent Commander for Uganda, Brigadier Paul Lokech (not seen) briefs members of 09 Battalion before an advance on the town of Afgoye to the west of the Somali capital Mogadishu. AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) troops swept through Afgoye on the morning of the 25th May 2012 without a shot being fired, liberating the area and its population - including 400,000 internally displaced people - from the control of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al Shabaab.