Ugandan President Yoweri Kuguta Museveni on Wednesday 6 June 2018 took a swipe at the United Nations and the Democratic Republic of Congo calling it ‘a safe haven’ for the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group that has been causing havoc in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s province of Ituri and also in western parts of Uganda.
This was during his State of the Nation Address which also marked the opening of the 3rd Session of the 10th Parliament of Uganda at Serena Conference hall in Kampala.
“The terrorists of ADF are still in Congo, preserved there by the UN and the Congo government. If, however, they were to re-enter Uganda, they would be promptly and decisively defeated,” Mr. Museveni told the country.
A tough talking Museveni said the UN has been keeping the ADF rebels in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo headed by President Joseph Kabila.
Boasting of how the might of Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) managed to defeat the notorious Lord Resistance Army-The LRA, other rebel forces and also disarmed the Karamojongs, Museveni said Uganda has built a mighty military and intelligence capacity.
Mr. Museveni assured that Uganda will never be threatened by terrorists operating from the rural areas.
Currently, Uganda hosts more than 3000 refugees who are Congolese nationals flashed by the ADF rebel activities.
The President also warned that the Uganda government will not leave the ADF atrocities go unpunished.
“The ADF criminals in Congo will answer for the killings of our people even when they are hiding in Congo,” said Museveni.
He urged the rebels to voluntarily surrender and seek for amnesty. He however commended President John Pombe Magufuli’s administration in Arusha -Tanzania, for arresting and handing over to Uganda Jamil Mukulu the ADF rebel leader who is now facing trial in the Courts of Law.
Museveni decries recent killings
Meanwhile, Mr. Museveni decried the recent spate of killings that targeted high profile government officials and Muslim Sheiks who included Major Kiggundu, Joan Kagezi, AIGP Felix Andrew Kaweesi and Susan Magara among others.
According to Museveni, this could be the work of the ADF rebels and other criminals who he says after seeing that they could not survive in the rural areas, infiltrated into towns.
The president says government will intensify on intelligence in the city, adding that so far ninety suspects have been held and are undergoing trial in connections with such murders.
In December 2017, the UPDF employed sophisticated war machines and skills, stormed the hide outs of the ADF rebels in the jungles of DRC and killed at least 100 rebels
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Museveni is attacking the UN and international bodies, many of whom are helping Uganda in different ways.
Often, and in many big forums, he has always lambasted foreign bodies like the International Criminal Court. For ICC, he baptized them “a bunch of useless people.”