Why should we deal with the rise of the Allied Democratic Forces and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) now? ADF-NALU another extremist Islamic group was originally opposed to the Ugandan government. After it was defeated by the Ugandan army it ran into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ruwenzori mountains where it created bases and continues to commit atrocities in the North Kivu and Orientales provinces.
The expansion of Islamic extremism groups today provides an opportunity for the ADF-NALU to thrive and we must not wait anymore to put an end to it. It took the kidnapping of 276 girls from their boarding school in Nigeria’s Borno state on April 14, 2014 for the international community to become aware of the danger Boko Haram poses to Nigeria and beyond. The Nigerian government knew all along that this group was growing in strength and radicalization but totally ignored it.
Unfortunately the world has yet to realize that ADF-NALU is another Boko Haram out to create an Islamic State of Africa in the Great Lakes’ region.
People of North Kivu and Orientales provinces have been the victims of repeated attacks by ADF-NALU ranging from rape, abductions of local populations, burning of villages, atrocious massacres of civilians to child soldiers recruitment across the region. In addition, ADF-NALU is believed to have links with Al Shabab, the Somali terrorist group in the Horn of Africa .
The Congolese army with the support of the UN intervention Brigade has been fighting the ADF-NALU after it defeated on November 2013 the M23, one of Congo’s most dangerous rebel group In May 2014, the Congolese armed forces destroyed Medina and Watalinga, the best known military bases of ADF-NALU Fighting ADF-NALU calls for a renewed international commitment to help DRC in its ongoing campaign against the terrorist group. The defeat of ADF-NALU starts with understanding of what it is and the threat it represents for the DRC, the region and the world. Any victory over ADF-NALU requires a swift response similar to the Ethiopian army intervention against Al Shabab in Somalia, the US-led international campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or the robust French display of military power in the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France.
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Photo Copy Right Ugandan Defense Force, Source: irinnews.org
by Jacques Bahati
