Uganda denies hitting civilians as it pursues rebels in DRC

This come barely days after Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and their Congolese counterparts announced that they had started joint military operations against the ADF rebels. Kampala blames the rebel outfit of orchestrating a series of attacks on its soil, with the most recent a twin bombing in Kampala that killed three and injured over 20 people.

The UPDF carried out a series of airstrikes against the ADF militants in DRC on Tuesday, an offensive that Ugandan officials said was intended to drive the militants out of their bases.

The Ugandan military bombed four bases in two locations of Beni and Ituri in North Kivu provinces according to security sources, with one of the locations believed to be the ADF headquarters and home to its top commander Musa Baluku. However, hours later report emerged that the ADF fled their camps before the aerial and artillery bombardments launched from Uganda territory on November 30.

“Clearly, that is propaganda. No one has been to these camps yet, not even our forces. We maintain that we hit our targets, and any other information is baseless,” said Brig Flavia Byekwaso, the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces spokesperson. Brig Byekwaso said the aerial raids were carried out to surprise the enemy and isolate the bases, therefore no one can claim to have details of those bombardments.

UN agencies, independent sources and non-governmental organisations that track conflict in the volatile eastern Congo told The EastAfrican that they had not picked up any information to this effect.