Kampala — The army has been put on alert in western Uganda to forestall an imminent attack by suspected Allied Democratic Forces rebels based in the DR Congo, sources said yesterday.
The Congolese army recently launched an offensive to drive out the rebels from their territory, raising fears that the rebels might respond by attacking Uganda in turn.
Already, rebels fleeing Congolese forces on Monday morning attacked a Congolese town of Mutwanga, 50km inside the DR Congo on the western slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains.
The rebels were reportedly targeting Edwardo Nyamwisi, the brother of Congo minister Mbusa Nyamwisi. They besieged the town, despite the presence of the UN peace-keeping forces called MONUC.
Ugandan and Congo military sources said Nyamwisi escaped unhurt. "The rebels, however, captured his guard, burnt the vehicle of a local chief and a guest house, and looted the entire town," the sources said.
The spokesman of the 2nd Division in Mbarara, Maj. Patrick Kamara, said the military intelligence had established that the attackers were ADF rebels.
"We are on the alert. Our security and intelligence forces are on the ground," Kamara said yesterday on telephone.
He said the army would not allow the rebels to cross into Uganda and cause havoc.
"But this confirms that the enemy still exists in the DR Congo and doing the terrorist things they used to do in Uganda."
Kamara said the conflict in eastern Congo was an internal matter, which the UPDF would not get involved in. However, he expressed sympathy for the Congolese who suffered the attack.
The ADF rebels were flushed out of Uganda in 2002 after committing atrocities for nearly six years, including the massacre of about 100 students of Kicwamba Technical College in Kabarole district.
They also attacked St. John's Minor Seminary in Kasese district and displaced thousands of people in the Rwenzori region.
The ADF, led by Kyagulanyi a.k.a. Jamil Mukulu, is suspected to be linked to al-Qaeda terrorists.
The attack comes hardly a month after a joint meeting between Ugandan and Congolese military chiefs in Fort Portal, in which they discussed the rebel threat.
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This current Congo-Uganda tension happens to be one of the many evils that we Africans continue to entertain. At http://www.onehumanityproject.comxa.com the argument for a one human family is insisted on. Africa could be the best place under the sun if only we could come to our senses and stop the senseless conflicts that continue to maim our identity. Why do we delight in going to war more than to the negotiating tables? Are we still struggling with ridding ourselves of barbarism at a time when others in the world are celebrating the luxuries of civilisation? May our brothers and sisters in Congo and Uganda be spared from yet another castrophe that is designed by humans. We have the capacity to talk peace and to deal with conflicts: Why then do we continue to live as though we were ath the mercy of those who delight in bloodshed? The call is for a peaceful coexistence and the removal of all artificial boaders that seem to leave people exposed to the fancies and whims of the greed and corrupt individuals who will never be satisfied by anything noble.