DRC Congo: UN Slaps Sanctions on Fighting Uganda’s ADF Rebel Group
By Staff Writer
The UN Security Council decided Tuesday July 1 to slap sanctions on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group which was created by Ugandan Muslims and who are active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, diplomats said.
The council added the ADF rebel group also known as the ADF-Nalu to the Congo sanctions list for committing "serious violations" of international law by recruiting and using child soldiers; killing, maiming and sexually attacking women and children; and attacking Monusco-UN peacekeepers.
Sanctions include an arms embargo, freeze on assets and a travel ban; they were sought by Britain, France and the United States.
Its supreme leader, Jamil Mukulu, has been subjected to U.N. sanctions since 2011.
After their stunning defeat of the M23, the Congolese army and a UN intervention brigade have set their sights on the ADF, a Ugandan Islamist group, and the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu militia that includes some of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
However, there are fears that recent fresh violence could undermine international efforts to bring stability to the DRC's lawless east after years of bloody conflict.
The conflict is fueled by the east's wealth of mineral reserves -- particularly gold and minerals used in electronic products.
According to the United Nations, the ADF was created in 1995 and operates in the mountainous border area between eastern Congo and Uganda. It was reportedly started by Ugandan Muslims disaffected with the government of President Yoweri Museveni.
In 2013, a report by U.N. experts estimated its strength at 1,200 to 1,500 armed fighters located in the Beni area of eastern Congo's North Kivu province, close to the border with Uganda. As a result of an offensive by U.N. and Congolese armed forces in 2013 and 2014, the U.N. said the ADF has dispersed its fighters to numerous smaller bases.
It also cited a U.N. experts report in 2013 which blamed the ADF for attacking numerous villages in eastern Congo, prompting more than 66,000 people to flee into Uganda. The report said the ADF was also responsible for decapitating at least five people in the Kamango area, shooting several others and kidnapping dozens more.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's March 2014 report on conflict-related sexual violence includes the ADF on its list of "parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict."
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo has reported two ADF attacks on its peacekeepers, the first on a patrol on July 14, 2013 and the second on March 3, 2014, when grenades were thrown at a U.N. vehicle force, injuring five peacekeepers.