MUKAMASIMBA
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 11, 2013
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The revelation raises concerns about the ability of the Congolese army known by the French acronym, FARDC, to fight and defeat the Islamic fundamentalist rebel movement operating in the eastern part of the country.
DRC president Joseph Kabila recently boasted of victory over the militants.
ADF bases have been dismantled 90 percent and only pockets of them remain near the Rwenzori Mountains, Kabila told fellow Presidents during a regional summit in Luanda, Angola.
However, UN said Thursday that while FARDC officers informed the investigators that 531 ADF combatants had been killed during the government forces operation as at May 7, preliminary investigations, which include observations during three visits to camps Kabila and Madina and a visit to camp AKBG, the Group believes that the figure may be exaggerated.
The international body further observed: Moreover, the Group could not identify the whereabouts of ADF casualties, which should be numerous.
The latest findings underline the growing might of the rebel movement whose objective is to turn Uganda into an Islamic nation with Jamil Mukulu as the countrys Supreme leader.
On 17 January 2014, FARDC launched Operation Sukola I against ADF in Beni territory of North Kivu Province.
The operation was carried out with limited logistical support from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including a medical evacuation mission to Goma.
Troops of the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade are based in the towns of Mavivi and Kamango, but were yet to participate in ground combat.
How it happened
Operation Sukola I has proceeded along two axes. Along the southern axis, FARDC cleared the Mbau-Kamango route before pushing north into ADF strongholds. The northern axis began to the east of Eringeti and advanced south into ADF territory.
UN revealed in a report to the United Nations Security Council, which Chimpreports has seen, that FARDC has taken control of more than a dozen camps and bases, including the key sites of Chuchubo, Nadui, Canada, Commander Ibrahim Battle Group and Madina.1
The operation has reportedly produced hundreds of mainly military casualties, although no independent verification of figures has occurred. FARDC officers told the Group that, as at 7 May, 217 soldiers had been killed in action and 416 wounded. FARDC officers also indicated that those figures included a number of friendly fire casualties, reads part of the report.
Based on interviews with FARDC officers and soldiers and access to FARDC military medical records, it is thought those figures are reasonably accurate.
The Group observed evidence of combat in former ADF positions, but documented the graves of only some 40 assumed ADF members at the three camps, or along the trails between them.
UN said that observation contrasts with claims by FARDC General Bahuma, commander of the 8th Military Region, that his soldiers had killed 300 ADF combatants during the assault on camp Madina alone.
FARDC officers told UN that the vast majority of ADF combatants killed were men. While FARDC captured a boy from ADF position Jericho following fighting, MONUSCO sources who interviewed him stated that he was not a combatant. The MONUSCO Child Protection Section told the Group that it had identified four child soldiers separated from ADF between 1 December 2013 and 31 March 2014.
While government of Uganda insists the recent attacks in Rwenzori were led by radical elements n Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu, there is concern that ADF elements could have been involved in the preparations to attack security installations which include Kanyamwirima barracks to loot arms.
UN reported that the assumed success of the operation notwithstanding, Congolese and Ugandan officials believe the ADF command structure remained intact.
Neither FARDC nor the Ugandan authorities working closely with FARDC have confirmed the deaths or identified the potential whereabouts of senior ADF leaders, who, together with potentially hundreds of combatants and dependants, are believed by FARDC to be in north-eastern Beni territory, south of Abia.
FARDC and MONUSCO sources have issued unconfirmed reports that some ADF combatants have travelled north into the Ituri district.
The UN findings seem to corroborate earlier reports by Chimpreports that while FARDC used heavy artillery to bomb ADF bases, majority of the commanders and fighters disappeared over a large swathe of land.
FARDC has seized all known ADF camps, but taken very few prisoners.
Souece: http://chimpreports.com/index.php/s...f-kills-217-congolese-soldiers-in-combat.html
DRC president Joseph Kabila recently boasted of victory over the militants.
ADF bases have been dismantled 90 percent and only pockets of them remain near the Rwenzori Mountains, Kabila told fellow Presidents during a regional summit in Luanda, Angola.
However, UN said Thursday that while FARDC officers informed the investigators that 531 ADF combatants had been killed during the government forces operation as at May 7, preliminary investigations, which include observations during three visits to camps Kabila and Madina and a visit to camp AKBG, the Group believes that the figure may be exaggerated.
The international body further observed: Moreover, the Group could not identify the whereabouts of ADF casualties, which should be numerous.
The latest findings underline the growing might of the rebel movement whose objective is to turn Uganda into an Islamic nation with Jamil Mukulu as the countrys Supreme leader.
On 17 January 2014, FARDC launched Operation Sukola I against ADF in Beni territory of North Kivu Province.
The operation was carried out with limited logistical support from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including a medical evacuation mission to Goma.
Troops of the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade are based in the towns of Mavivi and Kamango, but were yet to participate in ground combat.
How it happened
Operation Sukola I has proceeded along two axes. Along the southern axis, FARDC cleared the Mbau-Kamango route before pushing north into ADF strongholds. The northern axis began to the east of Eringeti and advanced south into ADF territory.
UN revealed in a report to the United Nations Security Council, which Chimpreports has seen, that FARDC has taken control of more than a dozen camps and bases, including the key sites of Chuchubo, Nadui, Canada, Commander Ibrahim Battle Group and Madina.1
The operation has reportedly produced hundreds of mainly military casualties, although no independent verification of figures has occurred. FARDC officers told the Group that, as at 7 May, 217 soldiers had been killed in action and 416 wounded. FARDC officers also indicated that those figures included a number of friendly fire casualties, reads part of the report.
Based on interviews with FARDC officers and soldiers and access to FARDC military medical records, it is thought those figures are reasonably accurate.
The Group observed evidence of combat in former ADF positions, but documented the graves of only some 40 assumed ADF members at the three camps, or along the trails between them.
UN said that observation contrasts with claims by FARDC General Bahuma, commander of the 8th Military Region, that his soldiers had killed 300 ADF combatants during the assault on camp Madina alone.
FARDC officers told UN that the vast majority of ADF combatants killed were men. While FARDC captured a boy from ADF position Jericho following fighting, MONUSCO sources who interviewed him stated that he was not a combatant. The MONUSCO Child Protection Section told the Group that it had identified four child soldiers separated from ADF between 1 December 2013 and 31 March 2014.
While government of Uganda insists the recent attacks in Rwenzori were led by radical elements n Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu, there is concern that ADF elements could have been involved in the preparations to attack security installations which include Kanyamwirima barracks to loot arms.
UN reported that the assumed success of the operation notwithstanding, Congolese and Ugandan officials believe the ADF command structure remained intact.
Neither FARDC nor the Ugandan authorities working closely with FARDC have confirmed the deaths or identified the potential whereabouts of senior ADF leaders, who, together with potentially hundreds of combatants and dependants, are believed by FARDC to be in north-eastern Beni territory, south of Abia.
FARDC and MONUSCO sources have issued unconfirmed reports that some ADF combatants have travelled north into the Ituri district.
The UN findings seem to corroborate earlier reports by Chimpreports that while FARDC used heavy artillery to bomb ADF bases, majority of the commanders and fighters disappeared over a large swathe of land.
FARDC has seized all known ADF camps, but taken very few prisoners.
Souece: http://chimpreports.com/index.php/s...f-kills-217-congolese-soldiers-in-combat.html
