DRC announces the death of ten suspected members of the ADF and the seizure of a “stronghold” in North Kivu

July 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has announced the death of ten suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the destruction of “a large stronghold” of the group, which swore allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group, within the framework of an operation in the province of North Kivu, located in the east of the country.

The Army spokesman in Beni, Antony Mualushayi, has pointed out that the Congolese military “have killed a dozen ADF rebels and have captured many others.” “Among the rebels is a woman named Sarah Helene, the wife of a senior ADF official arrested on June 4,” he detailed, according to the Congolese news portal 7sur7.

“We have also taken a large ADF stronghold on the banks of the Semuliki river,” he said, before stressing that during the latest operations “hundreds” of members of the ADF and the Mai-Mai, Congolese nationalist militias formed to defend their tribal territory against the numerous rebel groups active since the 1990s in the eastern part of the DRC.

The ADF, a Ugandan group created in the 1990s, especially active in eastern DRC and accused of the killing of hundreds of civilians in this area of ​​the country, could be trying to operate again in Uganda, from where it withdrew in 2003. after a series of military operations that drastically reduced its ability to carry out attacks in the country.

The ADF suffered a split in 2019 after Musa Baluku — sanctioned by the United Nations and the United States — swore allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State in Central Africa (ISCA), under whose banner he has been acting ever since. The DRC and Uganda signed a defense agreement in December to carry out joint operations in eastern DRC.