Allied Democratic Forces Attack Threat has Uganda on High Alert

ADF STAFF

Ugandan security forces are on high alert after members of the Allied Democratic Forces terrorist organization entered the country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-March.

The Ugandan People’s Defence Forces said the group likely is led by Ahamed Mahamood Hassan, also known as Abu Waqas, a Tanzanian-born bomb expert, and might be planning attacks in urban areas, places of worship, schools, and public events around Kampala and the Mount Rwenzori region.

“We call upon on all civilians to be vigilant, identify and report any suspicious individuals or packages to avoid being victims of [Allied Democratic Forces] as we catch up with this group,” Col. Deo Akiiki, deputy spokesman of the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, said in a report by Ugandan newspaper the Daily Monitor.

On March 29, people participating in Way of the Cross processions in Fort Portal City commended the armed security personnel, including counterterrorism forces, guarding the event.

“We are happy because our security is heavily guarding us as we walk,” Way of the Cross participant Jane Asiimwe told the Daily Monitor on Good Friday. “We pray that even on Easter Sunday, they will also increase our security at churches.”

Ugandan authorities on October 15, 2023, prevented the Allied Democratic Forces from bombing two churches in central Kibbi, about 50 kilometers west of Kampala, the national capital.

The bombs were linked to public address systems and sent to pastors disguised as gifts. However, members of the public were suspicious of the devices and alerted police, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said. The Allied Democratic Forces is linked to the Islamic State group (IS) and frequently targets Christians in its propaganda.

Vincent Twesige, Rwenzori West region police spokesperson, urged all worship centers in the region to collaborate with local law enforcement to ensure security through the Easter period and to screen all people attending services. Twesige also encouraged civilians to “promptly report any suspicious individuals they encounter,” the Daily Monitor reported.

In 2021, Uganda and the DRC launched a joint offensive to drive the Allied Democratic Forces out of their Congolese strongholds. The group began targeting western Uganda in December 2022 as it lost ground in the DRC.

The group garnered international attention for the October 2023 murder of a newlywed couple from the United Kingdom and South Africa, and their Ugandan guide, while they were on safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park near the DRC border.

In June 2023, the group ambushed the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School near Uganda’s border with the DRC. The late-night attack killed 42 people, including 37 students, who were hacked with machetes, shot or burned to death. Six other students were abducted.

The Allied Democratic Forces is largely funded through illegal mining and logging operations and kidnappings for ransom.

The United Nations reported last year that IS also has “provided financial support to [the Allied Democratic Forces] since at least 2019, through a complex financial scheme involving individuals in several countries on the continent, emanating from Somalia and going through South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.”

Museveni announced in September 2023 that airstrikes against the group killed “a lot” of militants, possibly including Meddie Nkalubo, a notorious bomb maker.

The Allied Democratic Forces was formed in Uganda in the 1990s by people disgruntled with the government’s treatment of Muslims. Ugandan forces defeated the group, and its remnants fled to the DRC.