UPDF, FARDC launch the second round of attacks against the ADF in DR Congo.

The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces-UPDF and the Congolese Army have begun the second phase of their offensive against the Allied Democratic Forces-ADF rebels.

The military claim to have completed the first phase of the operation after capturing the ADF camp in the dense jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to Major General Muhanga Kayanja, the overall commander of Operation Shujaa, they have now entered a second phase in which they would pursue the ADF on foot.

Muhanga told media in Bundibugyo on Saturday that the papers uncovered by the combined forces show that the camp had 624 people and that its demolition is a serious setback for the organization.

However, Muhanga said that the troops are being tested by the tough terrain and illnesses afflicting the soldiers as a result of the jungle’s thickness. He goes on to say that the lengthy communication lines between Kampala and their operating area are impeding the timely delivery of commodities.

Muhanga argues that the mission’s aim is to eradicate the ADF rebels and restore long-term stability and economic activity in the DRC’s northeastern region.

The ADF has been operating in the dangerous North Kivu region for some years, which borders neighboring provinces such as Ituri to the north and South Kivu to the south and has been a battlefield for a number of opposing armed ethnic groups since 1998.

The province is made up of three cities: Goma, Butembo, and Beni, as well as six territories: Beni, Lubero, Masisi, and Rutshuru.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies reports that the organization has adopted the moniker Madina at Tauheed Wau Mujahedeen–City of Monotheism and Holy Warriors–MTM to indicate its ties to the Islamic State.

The ADF has been implicated for the latest assaults in Kampala, which killed seven individuals.

The combined UPDF Air Force and artillery blasted Kambi Ya Yua, Tondoli, Belu1, and Belu2 in North Kivu province in the Virunga and Ituri impenetrable woods of Eastern DRC last month.