Top ADF commander, 3 other rebels killed in DR Congo

KINSHASA, DR Congo

Ugandan and Congolese troops have killed a top Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group commander who is believed to be a Tanzanian national and three other militants, authorities said.

“The joint Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) and Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo under Operation Shujaa today put out of action one middle-level ADF commander Fazul who has been operating in Mwalika Valley,” said UPDF’s Mountain Division and Operation Shuuja spokesperson Maj Bilal Katamba.  

According to the army, the commander who was put out of action is Tanzanian by nationality. He was killed with one other ADF fighter in DR Congo’s North Kivu Province.

“On August 23, 2023, the joint forces under the UPDF 3 Mountain Battalion in the general area of Kanana, Makisabo, North Kivu Province, were also able to put out of action two ADF fighters and recover two SMGs, four magazines, 84 rounds of ammunitions and one military radio,” Maj Katamba added in a press statement on Friday.

In 2021, Ugandan troops deployed in eastern DR Congo in an operation launched in cooperation with Kinshasa against the notorious ADF rebel group.

On Friday, the joint forces appealed to the militants “to surrender and benefit from the Uganda government amnesty that is still in force to those who opt to give up on the rebellion.”

“The joint forces continue to pursue these terrorists from all corners of the jungles,” they emphasized.

Since the operation code named Shujaa started, nearly 600 ADF rebels have been killed and several people rescued, per UPDF/FARDC accounts. 

However, rebels continue to occupy some strategic positions in the east of the country- and have refused to withdraw in accordance with a regional peace initiative.