By Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. Recently, Uganda army in collaboration with Congolese army made a devastating attack to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorists in Ituri province, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In a joint military operation between the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Congolese army, FARDC on 6th July 2025, launched attacks on key positions of ADF-NALU terrorists in Ituri territory and extended to Lolwa along the Komanda-Mambasa axis. At the end of November 2021, Uganda’s UPDF and DR Congo army launched a joint operation against the ADF, an armed group allied with Islamic State. The joint forces since then have conducted search operations in the forest of eastern Congo in an operation dubbed ‘Operation Shujaa.’
Warning message
The success of the operation comes just weeks after Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, also first Son, issued a stern warning to the ADF and other armed groups operating in Ituri and North Kivu. He pledged to eliminate all threats to regional security. issued a stern warning to the ADF and other armed groups operating in Ituri and North Kivu. He pledged to eliminate all threats to regional security. Uganda and DR Congo military officials have cited reduced ADF activity as evidence of the campaign’s progress. With this latest strike, local leaders in Ituri say the tide may finally be turning in favour of peace. “We have suffered for too long,” said a local councillor in Komanda. “Now, thanks to the cooperation between FARDC and UPDF, we can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel.” In a series of messages circulated in regional WhatsApp groups, Ituri leaders and residents expressed overwhelming support for the UPDF, praising the precision and impact of the latest attacks. “This Sunday, July 6, 2025, marks a historic turning point for Ituri,” read one message shared by a local official. “Thanks to a precise, coordinated, and strategic military operation, the FARDC-UPDF coalition surrounded the enemies of peace and neutralized them, leaving them no escape.” The statements reflect growing confidence in the Ugandan military’s capacity to protect civilian populations beyond its borders, especially in long-troubled regions like Ituri.
The joint operation
Operation Shujaa was launched by the President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his DR Congo’s counterpart Felix Tshisekedi to fight the ADF. In 2024, the two East African countries. agreed to continue their joint military operations against the ADF rebels. This decision underscored the ongoing threat posed by the ADF in eastern DR Congo and Uganda. President Tshisekedi instructed to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries. Despite nearly three years of joint efforts, the ADF remains a significant threat. UN reports indicate the group was responsible for over 1,000 civilian deaths in 2023. The ADF has been based in the jungles of eastern Congo for more than two decades from where they launch attacks both within DR Congo and sometimes across the border in Uganda.
Previous successful missions
In October 2023, President Museveni announced that Uganda’s military helicopters launched an attack on a camp of the ADF rebels, located 60 km from the border between Uganda and the DR Congo that hosts hundreds of Ugandan troops that were deployed under a separate bilateral arrangement to help hunt down the IS group. In September 2023, the UPDF operating in the DR Congo killed more than 560 members of the ADF, a group allied with Islamic State militants.In January this year, A new United Nations report unveiled fresh detailed accounts of how some of the ADF.top commanders were eliminated during Operation Shujaa’s fourth phase, which began in May 2024 in eastern DR Congo. The joint military operation, conducted by the UPDF and the DR Congo FARDC, resulted in the deaths of several key ADF commanders, including Braida, Amigo, and Seka Issa Papasi, significantly degrading the group’s operational capacity.The report, prepared by the UN’ Group of Experts, painted a picture of a terrorist group in disarray following targeted operations including combined airstrikes, ground assaults, and intelligence-driven ambushes meant to neutralize high-profile targets.
In September 2023, the UPDF operating in the DR Congo killed more than 560 members of the ADF. Also in 2023, A joint operation of the UPDF and the armed forces of the DR Congo rescued 19 while trying to protect themselves against the ADF terrorists. The rescued include eight children, nine women, and two men who reported to the joint base at Bwakadde in Ituri province after the joint forces attacked an ADF position at Tingwe Hills North East of Erengeti Town. In 2022, Operation Shujaa Sector three (III) Commander Col Denis Wandera Wanyama, revealed that the ADF mayhem against residents and travellers along the Kasindi-Beni Road, which used to be rampant, were tremendously reduced because of the repulsive actions from both the FARDC and the UPDF.
UPDF’s other attacks in DRC
In March 2025, authorities in the UPDF announced that they killed 242 fighters belonging to a Congolese rebel group known as CODECO after they attacked a Ugandan military camp across the border in east Congo earlier this week, a claim disputed by the group.
Uganda military spokesperson Chris Magezi said hundreds of CODECO fighters attacked a UPDF military post in the Congo locality of Fataki, in the province of Ituri, on Wednesday and Thursday. The army retaliated on both occasions, killing 31 militants on the first day and 211 on the second day, Magezi said in a post on X. One UPDF soldier was killed and four others injured, he added. CODECO spokesperson Basa Zukpa Gerson refuted the army’s account on Saturday, saying that the group only lost two fighters and that the UPDF death toll was higher.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
