Uganda Rallies Tanzania in Fight Against ADF, ISIS Terrorism
Uganda is set to cooperate with Tanzania in the fight against terrorism in the region, Chimp Corps exclusively report.
In 2020, defence ministers of Uganda and Tanzania signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen cooperation in defence matters.
Uganda has since appointed a five-member team to the Intergovernmental Security Committee to operationalise the defence cooperation arrangements.
During the Joint Permanent Commission session in Kampala this past Wednesday, Uganda’s Minister of Security Retired Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi expressed Uganda’s desire to work closely with Tanzania to confront the terrorism threat.
“I want to have representatives on the Intergovernmental Security Committee to deal with the international terrorism of Islamic State and ADF,” said Muhwezi during interactions with the Tanzanian delegation led by Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula.
The Tanzanian team welcomed Muhwezi’s request.
The JPC was attended by Tanzania’s Defence Minister Stergomena Tax, Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo and his Works counterpart, Gen Katumba Wamala.
Tanzania affected
The development comes at a time Ugandan armed forces are battling ADF fighters in DR Congo.
The IS-linked militants’ reign of terror stretches from North Kivu to Mozambique – Tanzania’s southern neighbour.
In Uganda, a total of 12 ADF fighters were killed and 113 arrested in 2021.
President Museveni recently said ADF terrorists, have been making money in Eastern Congo and using it to finance terrorism in Eastern Congo by routinely massacring Congolese, orchestrating terrorism within Uganda and funding terrorism as far afield as Mozambique.
“Once the different chapters of the African Patriots cooperate and coordinate, there is no force that can defeat us on the African continent,” he observed.
“Therefore, all and sundry, should know that once the chapters of the African Resistance coordinate, there is no security or defense problem they cannot solve. The recent coordination between the Government of DRC and Uganda is such an example.”
In 2013, Congolese forces stepped up military attacks against ADF.
This prompted the Islamic movement’s supreme leader Jamil Mukulu to flee to Tanzania where he was arrested in 2015 and subsequently extradited to stand trial in Uganda.
The ADF has executed attacks against hard targets such as prisons as well as security and international forces.
In October 2020, the ADF attacked Kangbayi Prison in Beni, freeing more than 1,300 inmates in an effort to liberate ADF combatants and recruit new fighters.
Additionally, suspected ADF fighters have repeatedly attacked peacekeepers assigned to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
This included a 2017 attack on a MONUSCO base in Semuliki during which 15 Tanzanian UN peacekeepers were killed and 53 were wounded.
President Museveni this week dispatched Defence minister Bamulangaki Ssempijja to deliver a special message to Tanzanian President Hassan Suluhu on the progress of Uganda’s military operations in North Kivu.