What Happened
Local sources within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reported that an attack by the DRC’s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group has left at least 10 civilians dead. The attack took place on a village named Mangodomu, in the DRC’s North Kivu province.
Following the attack, DRC military authorities again renewed their vows to destroy the ADF.
Who Are the Allied Democratic Forces
The ADF holds origins within Uganda, where it was formed and began operations in 1996. The ADF was formed as a merger of a number of other Ugandan rebel movements, and began operations in western Uganda, close to the border with the DRC.
The group was formed, and persists, as an Islamic extremist group. Other than their attempted portrayal as “religious crusaders,” their exact ideology is rather unclear. They hold ties to a number of rather prominent Islamic extremist groups, such as the Islamic State (who their leader has sworn allegiance to), and alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab.
While Uganda has pushed them out of the country, they still maintain a presence in the DRC, where they have held bases since not long after their founding. The DRC has served as a basing ground for the ADF in order to maintain recruitment, which assisted it in its insurgency against Uganda. The ADF is primarily active in the DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Over the past several years the DRC’s military has launched their own set of offensives against the group. The offensives saw moderate success, and while they have not erased the group, they have severely diminished its presence. Still, the ADF is semi-frequently blamed for attacks against civilians, in which dozens of people have been killed in recent times.
Following major offensives by the DRC in 2019 and 2020, the group split, and became heavily factionalized. One of the major factions merged with the Islamic State in Central Africa. In modernity, they still maintain several hundred members.
At the heights of their insurgencies during the 2000’s, tens of thousands of people were displaced due to their actions.
