East African Gazette
Rwenzori
The Counter-Terrorism Task Forces persist in their efforts to track down the ADF terrorists in the Rwenzori region.
The security teams, which consist of the Uganda Police Force (UPF) and Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), are closely observing the borderlines in the Western part of the nation for any possible threats.
“Although we do not have specific intelligence reflecting any new attacks along our Rwenzori axis with the DRC, we are monitoring ADF activities in Bukuka Hills across the border in the DRC,” the police spokesperson, Senior Commissioner of Police, Fred Enanga noted.
In June of last year (2023), Uganda was confronted with a horrifying ADF assault at Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpodwe Kasese. The attack resulted in the tragic deaths of 41 individuals, including 38 students, who were either burned, shot, or brutally hacked to death by the assailants.
Additionally, six other individuals were abducted by the rebels, who managed to escape across the porous border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following the gruesome raid.
This incident stands as the second deadliest attack in Uganda since the twin bombings in Kampala in 2010, which claimed the lives of 76 people.
Enanga urged the public to stay alert and promptly notify the security teams of any dubious behavior, while speaking to reporters at the police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala on February 19, 2024.
“Our Joint Territorial teams continue to maintain a heightened posture, with patrols and increased visibility, to counter potential threats,” he added.
On February 12, 2024, the territorial police in Rwenzori East and Mpondwe made an arrest around 3pm, Abdul Razak Bahati, a suspected 28-year-old ADF rebel from Todoli in the DRC, was apprehended.
He was part of the group that entered Uganda in November, 2023, through Butunya – Ntoroko and carried out attacks in Kamwenge. Most of Razak’s associates were eliminated during the ongoing operations targeting other remaining members.
Additionally, the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force recovered an 11-year-old ADF recruit named Kibumbo Munimbu in Kibirizi village, in Lake Katwe sub-county.
Munimbu had escaped from the ADF in the DRC, where he had been taken by his grandfather Sulaid Muzungu along with three other children from Erapa Nabirimba village, Buyende district.
The children belong to Muzamil Kibumba and Fatuma Nabirye, and according to Enanga, plans are being made to handover the victims while security forces search for their grandfather, an ADF rebel collaborator.
He emphasized the importance of parents safeguarding their children and preventing them from being recruited by such dangerous collaborators into terrorist activities.