Four UPDF soldiers killed since inception of operation shujja

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Four members of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces-UPDF have died since November 2021, when the forces together with their Congolese counterparts raided camps of Allied Democratic Front rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC.

The operation commander Maj. Gen. Kayanja Muhanga, says that one soldier was killed in crossfire with the rebels during the first phase of the operation, while the other three died due to individual errors, and as a result of rough terrain in the jungle.

He added that when the ADF group was ousted out of the Virunga forest in phase one of the operation, they fled in two directions, south towards Rwenzori mountains and north of Kainama-Tchabi and Boga into Ituri Province. But the group has since scattered into smaller groups as a tactic to overstretch the forces.

Gen. Muhanga said that despite the losses, the army has made tremendous gains since November dislodging the ADF from their strong camps in Virunga forest and this has seen reduced killing of the innocent people in those areas. He said that the major aim of the operation is not limited to pushing ADF out of Eastern DRC but ultimately to neutralise them.

“The challenge is whenever we are approaching their locations, they run away for fear of our superior firepower, the enemy is so inferior that he cannot stand and fight,” he added. However, Muhanga says they are getting overstretched because they have to provide a protection force to the civilians who are getting back to their formally abandoned homes.

He says that there could be a need for more force on both sides of Uganda and the DRC to deal with any deployment gaps. “Our counterparts need to train LDUs to form zonal protection forces such that when the joint forces are hunting the enemy, the LDUs are protecting the civilians.

According to Lt. Col Gonzaga Gonza Kworekwa, the head of Intelligence Analysis Cell-Operation ShujJa, said they have discovered that most of the fighters are children who were taken as captives before they were indoctrinated with rebel motives. He mentions that if the joint force maintains the current momentum, soon the operation agenda will be achieved and Eastern DRC will return to normalcy.

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