Military operation of RDC army against Islamist rebels of Uganda.

According to the Press Agency Reuters, Democratic Republic of Congo army has launched a military operations against the Ugandan rebels called "Allied Democratic Forces ADF", on Saturday, January 13, 2018, after an attack last month that killed 15 United Nations peacekeepers. The Islamist ADF is very active along the Congo-Uganda border and has responsable for many attacks agaisnt UN forces and Congolese army since the last few months.

A Tanzanian artillery specialist with the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) adjusts his aim during a training exercise. (Picture source unmultimedia website)

The ADF Ugandan rebel force is an Islamist armed group acting in North Kivu and South Kivu, the two western provinces which border Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

The ADF was formed by puritanical Muslim Ugandans of the Tablighi Jamaat group who merged with the remnants of another rebel group, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU). The main figure of the group was Jamil Mukulu, a former Protestant who converted to Islam.

ON 7 December,2017, a base of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) in Semuliki was attacked that killed 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers and wounded 43 others.

This military offensive is joint military operation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda against this rebel group.it was announced during a press conference by the General Marcel Mbangu, commander in charge of Congo’s North Kivu province.

More than 300 soldiers of the congolese army with tanks and armoured are involved in this combat operation.

Last month Uganda launched air strikes and artillery attacks on ADF positions on its side.