KAMPALA: Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) intelligence agencies have busted a plot by a strange armed group in the region to spoil the two countries’ forces currently on a joint operation against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the Eastern Congo.
In November last year, the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo [FARDC]) entered a joint agreement to deploy against the ADF in the east of the vast country from where the terrorist group had started carrying teorrist attacks in Uganda.
Consequently, the two armies launched devastating airstrikes on the ADF camps on November 30, causing massive damage and where several militants and their trainers are said to have perished.
The Ugandan army eventually announced on January 02, that the joint forces had “already degraded the enemy’s capacity” after it overran at least six camps of the rebel group in eastern DR Congo.
UPDF spokesperson Brig Flavia Byekwaso said the army incursion into eastern DRC had dislodged and scattered the ADF from their camps, but also killed 100 rebels, captured at least 43 and a further 61 surrendered.
She also revealed that the joint forces captured Kambi Ya Yua, described as the headquarters and main training base of the ADF, just before Christmas. Other bases taken are Belu I, Belu II, Mombasa, Kambi Erumu in North Kivu and Ituru provinces in eastern DR Congo.
The Sinister Plot Burst
With this registered success, an armed group whom the countries’ intelligence services have refused to name, is said to be unhappy with the two armies’ progress and has consequently hatched a plot to sabotage it.
“The FARDC and the UPDF wish to alert the public that they have critical information about the existence, in the region in which they lead military operations, of an armed group harboring sinister clandestine plans deliberately intended to sabotage the joint military action against the ADF in the East of DRC and discredit Operation Shujaa,” a statement dated January 10, and signed by Brig Byekwaso and her FARDC counterpart, Maj Gen Leone- Riahcrd Kasonga, states.
The two spokespersons reveal chilling information to the effect that on January 6, a commercial truck was intercepted carrying assorted cargo including army uniform similar to that of UPDF and its consignee is a known businessman in Butembo, DRC. The truck, whose registration number has been withheld by Ugandan security, was reportedly cleared through the Mpondwe border post between Uganda and DRC.
“By wearing the UPDF uniform and insignia, the members of this group plan to resort to this subterfuge to camouflage themselves to be able to on an atrocious rampage wreck un-scalable havoc including massacres in order to badly injure the image of the UPDF, ultimately creating the belief that it is the UPDF tacking the people they have saved and protected so far,” the two spokespersons added in the joint statement.
It is not known which armed group this is but recently, both armies released photos of combatants that were found at the occupied ADF camps which were said to belong to a country in the region. However, MediaSpace News could not verify the claims.
Attached below, is the full statement.