In Uganda, three members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were sentenced on August 27 for their role in a thwarted 2021 attack. The ADF, formed in 1996 and allied with the Islamic State since 2019, remains highly active in eastern DRC.
The incident occurred in August 2021, just before the funeral of General Paul Lokech, a prominent Ugandan military leader. Police arrested Rashid Katumba the day before the event, discovering a homemade bomb, bulletproof vests, detonators, and ammonium sulfate in his possession. Two accomplices were also apprehended.
Katumba received a ten-year prison sentence for “terrorism and illegal possession of explosives,” while the other two ADF members were each sentenced to five years for “membership in a terrorist organization.”
Despite joint efforts by Congolese and Ugandan forces, the ADF has intensified its attacks, particularly in eastern DRC. Last June, 150 people were killed in the region, prompting the African Union to urge neighboring states to combat the growing terrorist threat in the Great Lakes region.