Congo-Uganda: High Profile Military Operations Against ADF Will Not Rebuild
Local Stability
By Caroline Hellyer
17 October 2014
After a period of apparent quiet in the Grand North - the area that runs
down from the Rwenzori Mountains to the bottom of Lake Edward and into
Virunga National Park - insecurity is making the headlines again with
reports of attacks, kidnappings and people fleeing villages around Oicha.
This has been blamed on the ADF rebel group which has a leadership of
radical Islamic Ugandans.
Last January the Congolese army, FARDC, launched Operation Sukola against
the ADF after a high-profile victory against M23 near Goma. Prior to this
MONUSCO had been preparing to take on the rebels by scoping logistics,
organising awareness programmes in various towns and villages and
intelligence activities. The sudden launch of Sukola forced their hand
before these activities were completed.
A very high-level diplomatic source told me that in Kinshasa it was
presented as a 'fait accompli' along the lines of: "you take the FDLR we'll
take the ADF."
I warned at the time that
<
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/uganda-heart-darkness-201
3121781321510330.html> any purely military campaign against the ADF risked
the probability that many of the local fighters would just melt back into
the communities from whence they came. In Beni this was evident from the
beginning of the military operation.
Only recently, three families consisting of about 30 people were arrested in
Beni town and accused of being connected to the ADF. Weapons and home-made
bombs were allegedly found which were put on display to the public along
with the defendants.
Another four combatants captured by the army were also recently exhibited to
journalists although they have yet to face any trial. The parading of
captives and former hostages has been elevated from public reassurance to a
form of political posturing that defies all the ethical considerations
enshrined in the Geneva Convention.
Operation Sukola
Prior to Operation Sukola the levels of insecurity in the region were
extreme, international organisations had long ceased to operate except in a
very limited form through local partners and kidnappings were a growth
industry. Thus a wave of new-found patriotism swept Beni and despite the
murder of Colonel Mamadou Ndala, the operation had local support.
The operation also saw a clampdown on the media - local journalists were
bullied and harassed and 'exclusive' access was mostly granted only for
highly glossed reports that came via a relative of the governor of North
Kivu.
One local journalist, Germain Kennedy Muliwawo, who did manage to go out on
a patrol, was killed in an ambush by the rebels.
The army lost around 300 soldiers with over 400 wounded and claimed to have
killed over 500 ADF combatants. While the troop figures are probably more or
less correct, the number of dead combatants has been disputed both locally
and by the Group of Experts. Either way, everyone agrees that the ADF
command-and-control remains intact.
But it is not all bad news and Sukola certainly had an effect on the ADF as
long standing operational bases were attacked and dismantled and the rebels
were forced further and further back into the bush in widely dispersed
groups.
Security around Kamango and Eringeti improved considerably and local people
from Mbau and Oicha breathed a sigh of relief.
New attacks
Then suddenly, during the last few weeks, nine people were killed in a spate
of attacks and kidnappings around Oicha. This caused the flight of
approximately 90,000 people who ended up sheltering in schools, churches and
houses in Beni and Butembo.
Thanks to over-zealous security rules imposed by foreign NGOs, humanitarian
assistance was nowhere to be seen and as always local NGOs and Beni
Territory administrators coped alone.
New attacks in Ngadi near the military airport at Mavivi have also been
attributed to the ADF without raising questions. Ngadi was the place where
Colonel Mamadou was murdered and the victims came from the village which was
home to witnesses in the court case which is being held right now.
This was accompanied by shrill civil society press releases, repeated by the
media without question, that the ADF was responsible. This is highly
unlikely and emphasises the dangers of focusing on rebel groups as discrete
entities.
First of all, despite not being paid for the last three months, FARDC is
still continuing with Operation Sukola. General Leon Mushale, commander of
the Third Region, recently came to Beni to assess the security situation.
On top of this, military security while stretched across a huge area and
suffering that came from national changes recently imposed by Kinshasa, is
still very strong.
The Tanzanians from the Force Intervention Brigade are highly visible on the
roads between Mbau and Komango. The ADF are deep in the forests far from
both Eringeti and Oicha.
But what is also visible in Oicha are the large groups of unemployed young
men hanging around aimlessly with little or nothing to do. These young men
are the fodder for the fragmented local Mai Mai groups that are often formed
by disgruntled ex-soldiers and manipulated by local politicians.
Sometimes these groups of young men organise to protect their villages but
too often economic necessity and the entangled politics of the region suck
them into the networks of militias that shift and change sometimes on a
weekly basis.
All the hallmarks are present, including the type of weapons used - machetes
- that indicate it was one of these networked Mai Mai groups that has been
responsible for the recent attacks. They operate between Lubero and Rwenzori
and right across the Grand North. They function as a call-out service for
local politicians, bigger Mai Mai groups and local gangsters.
In the last few nights there has been fierce fighting between FARDC and Mai
Mai in the Samboko area which is near all locations of the recent attacks.
Hilaire Kombi is a leader of one of these groups and while he is currently
going through the disarmament process, many of the militia that operated
with him are still running rackets across Beni and Lubero. At various times
they've linked up with others including Mai Mai Morgan and splinter groups
of the ever-present Lafontaine.
The over-emphasis on the ADF not only results in these networks being
overlooked but also masks the way that both the ADF and other militias
operate in the community. The divisions between them are porous, shift all
the time and sometimes cross national borders.
While the ADF has a very solid nucleus that operates according to
<
http://digitaldjeli.com/2014/adf-nalu-and-islam-militant-and-mercenary/>
its own self-defined Tablighi influenced vision, like a set of Russian dolls
it is highly compartmentalised. This enables the rebels to maintain a
multi-level network that provides it with sources of finance and support
that extend to the transnational.
Despite having a Command Group that operates outside the DR Congo, for over
25 years the ADF has been locally embedded and a provider of employment via
its various semi-legitimate business operations.
While we know the ADF shifted a gear in the last few years into a hardened,
well-financed and regulated outfit, these local businesses - taxis, shops
and so on - continued. This is where the logic of a military solution
collapses.
Meanwhile, the return of the displaced villagers has been hampered by a
shortage of incoming funds into the bank in Beni and a petrol drought
attributed to a strike that has seen prices rocket to $5 a litre.
Local NGOs have made representations to FEC - Congolese Federation of
Enterprises - requesting that the all-powerful 'petrol dons' withdraw their
strike action in order to enable transport for those that wish to return to
their homes.
The only people able to access cash from the bank have been local elites and
the unpaid soldiers have resorted to eating the crops that were grown by the
ADF before they were chased away. This is how soldiers end up disturbing
communities.
Failure to understand the ADF and the broader landscape within which it
operates has meant that past opportunities for surrender and amnesty were
blocked and political solutions to the complex currents of instability in
the Grand North ignored.
The ADF is a well-run and supported rebel group which is still active - but
not anywhere near Oicha. There are many interests at stake in the region
which are bypassed both by Kinshasa and other actors whether for political
expediency or otherwise.
Like a many-headed hydra these failures will continue to stalk both Congo
and Uganda as instability is used as a political and economic tool. Oil
extraction on the borders just adds to the mix.
The security situation in the region is highly fragile. Despite a call from
Beni civil society groups for a strike to demand action against these new
attacks high-profile military operations will not repair that fragility.
Caroline Hellyer is a freelance journalist, political analyst and conflict
media trainer _at_digitaldjeli
Received on Fri Oct 17 2014 - 15:46:56 EDT