...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
on Wednesday, two witnesses said, as a joint offensive against an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
-linked gang appeared to expand. Late on Tuesday Congo said special forces from both countries would be deployed to secure bases belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces
...the ADF is one of several murderous Moslem groups in NE Congo. In 2019 the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on them for the usual reasons. They don't appear to be affiliated with al-Qaeda or Islamic State, though ISIS claims their work from time to time — they just like killing infidels....(ADF) militia, which had been targeted by air and artillery strikes earlier in the day.
The campaign takes place after months of lobbying of regional governments by President Felix Tshisekedi, whose own efforts to end the decades of bloodshed in Congo’s east have been stymied by poor planning, corruption and insufficient funding, according to a parliamentary report.
On Wednesday morning Ugandan troops and vehicles were seen crossing into Congo at the Nobili border post for the second day, a local resident and civil rights activist said.
"I have just seen 30 vehicles full of Ugandan soldiers entering Congo. I also saw two tanks," said Blaise Bokassa, who lives in Nobili. "If our army collaborates with (the Ugandan army) a solution will be found, and the history of the ADF will be consigned to the past."
Faustin Baraka Baswegy, a member of a civil rights group in Nobili, said he also saw troops enter Congo in the morning.
"I have seen many vehicles with hundreds of Ugandan soldiers," he said.
A Ugandan army spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment. Congo’s government front man Patrick Muyaya said he had no further information but has scheduled a news conference for later on Wednesday to provide an update on the joint operation.
The ADF, which started as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in Congo since the late 1990s, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in mid-2019, but United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
researchers have found no evidence of IS command and control over ADF operations.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES
Little is currently known about the scope and duration of the operation, said Nelleke Van de Walle from the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group.
However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
it appeared to be more ambitious than the last time Uganda’s army attacked the ADF in Congo in 2017, when it said it killed 100 fighters in
...
KABOOM!...
s.
Although welcomed by some, it has also provoked unease in both capitals because of the Ugandan army’s conduct during Congo’s 1998-2003 civil war, for which Kinshasa is seeking billions of dollars of reparations. Uganda has called the amount ruinous.
"We fear we could see the same illegal activities that happened during the past deployment, stealing gold and those other commodities," Joel Ssenyonyi, a Ugandan opposition politician, told Rooters.
"They needed parliamentary permission so we can debate why they need to go there. Is there a legitimate justification or are they going there to steal again?"
Related:
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-20 Uganda's Kampala bombings: Muslim cleric accused of jihadist links shot dead
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-18 Islamic State group claims responsibility for Kampala bombings
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-17 3 suicide bombers carried out Kampala twin explosions, 2 more tied up before kabooming
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-20 Uganda's Kampala bombings: Muslim cleric accused of jihadist links shot dead
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-18 Islamic State group claims responsibility for Kampala bombings
Allied Democratic Forces: 2021-11-17 3 suicide bombers carried out Kampala twin explosions, 2 more tied up before kabooming