President Yoweri Museveni has dispatched more Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) troops to pacify the southern mountain Rwenzori areas.
The dispatching of soldiers followed the Allied Democratic Force (ADF) attack on Mpondwe Lhubiliriha Secondary School in Nyabugando Parish, Karambi SubCounty in Kasese District. This is a boarding school situated near the DRC border.
The terrorist group is reported to have killed 42 students while five are admitted in hospital still fighting for their lives. Lhubiliriha Secondary School is a private school that was built by an NGO led by Peter Hunter, who works in both Uganda and DRC.
The school has two dormitories, a girls’ dormitory and a boys’ dormitory. The boys had locked themselves in the dormitory and because these evil people could not enter they threw a petrol bomb inside the dormitory which started the fire that burnt the 17 boys.
“The girls on the other hand opened their door and tried to run out but the terrorists cut them with pangas. This is how they killed the 20 girls and the 17 boys, with only five escaping,” Janet Museveni, the minister of Education and sports said over the weekend.
Museveni said since the government of Congo allowed UPDF to operate in the country, there is no excuse in not hunting down the ADF terrorists into extinction.
He urged UPDF to ensure maximum surveillance of the areas so that nobody steals fuel on which they depend on to make more bombs and other things.
“We are now sending more troops into the area, south of Rwenzori Mountain and eliminating any gaps,” he said.
Since the launch of the joint the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC)and UgandaPeoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF)operation in November 2021, a total 105machine guns, five light guns, three RPG tubes recovered, 508 ADFs combatants have been put out of action, 50 captured alive, 90 abductees rescued.
In much2023, UPDF put 29 ADF terrorists in Ntoroko district and recovered SMGs. They invaded Uganda from Congo. Last year East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Conclave on Inter-Congolese Dialogue in April 2022 resolved to establish and deploy the East African Community regional force to pacify Eastern DRC.
Uganda has contributed a battle group to that regional force to address security challenges caused by insecurities in Congo.
Terror attacks: Museveni dispatches more troops to pacify Kasese
