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OPINION

By Maj Bilal Katamba

When President Mobutu Sese Seko decided to harbour the Allied Democratic forces (ADF) rebels against Uganda in 1995, little did he know that they would become a menace to his people.

The late 1990s saw the ADF on rampage, killing Ugandans abducting, bombing and maiming with wanton.

In the 2000s they started occasioning the same atrocities to the Congolese.

Fast forward, November 2021, the Kampala/Kinshasa MOU to fight the ADF jointly was, therefore, most welcome. UPDF-FARDC joint operation code-named ‘Shujaa’ against the terrorist group commenced on November 30, 2021. As a result of Operation Shujaa, ADF’s capacity to cause trouble has been greatly reduced.

The several internally displaced people’s camps (IDPs) have been dismantled, including the one of Tchabi in Ituri that housed 12,000 people.

On January 27 this year, UPDF handed over 50 rescued and rehabilitated abductees to FARDC.

Schools have reopened, traffic re-opened on Rwebisego-Bulasi-Busiio-Boga-Kainama-Elengeti road.

The 115km Beni-Elengeti-Luna -Ndimo-Manzobe- Kamanda road that previously required one week to navigate, now requires one day.

The traffic of goods trucks from Uganda through Mpondwe-Kasindi, Virunga-Bulongo to Beni is impressive.

Traders are having a field day. The benefits of Operation Shujaa are with us.

The co-operation of these two brotherly countries has been supported by the wananchi of both countries. We thank them. The African proverb of “Abataka abagalana be balima akambugu” meaning to get rid of couch grass (type of grass with nodes creeping underground that is a troublesome weed during cultivation), you need a very co-operative neighbour so that you plough out the weed together/simultaneously. That way, the weed does not crop back.

The joint operation between the UPDF and FARDC lays strong credence to this African proverb.

For more than 50 years, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has advocated such co-operation. He argued that for Africans to ensure their strategic security, they have to work together.

It is through this that Africans can ensure their prosperity.

This was point number nine in the NRA/NRM Ten Point programme.

The vision for the need of Africans to work together did not stop with the elite. Gen. Museveni ensured the rank and file of the NRA understood this vision.

He would deliberately move from Mondlane, where the NRA high command was, to Kabalega, Mwanga, Nkrumah and Lutta units to teach and dialogue with the soldiers.

This vision was simplified through a song that was common amongst the NRA liberators and the wananchi.

The ‘Nia za kyama’. Nia ya tisa, Umoja wa Africa, kusaidia nchi girani zikipate shida’. (Objective number nine, African unity, to support fellow African countries in face of challenges). The NRA contingent of 1994 to Liberia under Brig Ivan Koreta was in this spirit.

The 1992 combat team that had been prepared under Lt Col Edward Katumba Wamala to Somalia was in the same vein.

In March 2007, UPDF finally deployed its first contingent to Somalia.

This was under the arrangement of the African union mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The story of the path to peace and recovery of Somalia cannot be complete without the mention of Uganda.

UPDF remains an integral and honestly committed member of the Somali led peace process.

While talking about some of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s extra ordinary abilities, one local opposition politician ably described him; "President Museveni thinks through an issue in a strategic sense".

The coming together of Africa to solve her challenges, security inclusive, has been part of his strategic direction for a long time.

As we start to write ADF 's epitaph, let us embrace Leadership of vision – a strategic vision that uplifts Africa.

Alluta Continua

The writer is the Public Information Officer Mountain Div/Operation Shujaa