Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) 

Origins

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) draws its roots from the rebellion of radical members of the Ugandan Tabliq movement, a youth faction which culminated with the creation in 1993 of an armed group, the Uganda Muslim Freedom Fighters. The group established a training camp in western Uganda, from which it began launching guerrilla raids, but the Uganda’s People Defence Forces (UPDF) overran the movement’s base in 1994. Among the survivors, some forty members fled western Uganda for the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaïre) where they established another camp. The group was then renamed as the Allied Democratic Movement (ADM) and purportedly began to form ties with the government of Sudan, which is said to have provided the group with military assistance.
In late 1995, Khartoum allegedly sponsored the fusion of the ADM with another armed group, the Uganda Muslim Liberation Army (UMLA), to form the ADF. The ADF was further reinforced by integrating heterogenic fighters in a conglomerate opposing the government of Uganda President Yoweri Museveni. Historical accounts vary on this subject but it is commonly acknowledged that the ADF appealed to the former Bakonjo and Baamba members of the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU, perceived as the inheritor of the long-standing Rwenzururu movement) to join the ADF in order to gain the support of local peasants. In addition, fighters from remnants of a variety of groups are said to have joined the movement. These include former members of the Interahamwe and of Forces ArméesRrwandaises (FAR) movements, former Forces Armées Zaïroises (FAZ) fighters, former Idi Amin loyalists led by Moses Ali, as well as former fighters of the West Nile Bank Front and of the Uganda National Rescue Front. The first action of the ADF was an incursion into the town of Kasese, Uganda, from their base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 13 November 1996.

 

Location / Main area of operation

In an initial stage, the ADF adopted the Rwenzori Mountains in western Uganda as the base of their operations. However, the origin of the rebellion is not entirely coherent with this choice as most leaders of the movement come from central Uganda. Nevertheless, western Uganda was, by all accounts, preferred for three main reasons: the mountainous terrain, the proximity to Congo, and the possibility to implement the deep-rooted conflict carried by the Bakonjo and Baamba tribes in the area.
The ADF's area of operation changed as a result of the intensification of enemy military operations. After 1999, the signing of a security agreement between Uganda and the Republic Democratic of the Congo (DRC) allowed for the Rwenzori Mountains to be completely encircled by the Uganda’s People Defence Forces (UPDF - Uganda’s armed forces). As a consequence of the decisive defeat of the movement in December 2000, it splintered into small groups that scattered throughout Uganda and often took refuge in DRC. This marked a significant transfer of the ADF’s epicenter from the Rwenzori Mountains to the DRC. By 2003, a vast majority of remaining ADF combatants had retreated to camps in the DRC’s Ituri region. Congolese authorities and the U.S. Department of State have confirmed that the remnants of the ADF remained in eastern Congo.
However, intelligence, military, and media sources have claimed since 2006 that ADF sections are attempting to re-establish their bases into Ugandan territory.

 

Objectives

The ADF never clearly established its objectives; the rebels never issued any coherent political program or communicated grievances. Therefore, the conflict has often been described as a ‘rebellion without a cause.
Some analysts argue that the movement appears to be divided in regards to the goals that it is pursuing. Part of the leadership has said that the ADF seeks to overthrow Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, as voiced in a communiqué, “…to reintroduce multi-party politics in Uganda, stop Museveni’s nepotism… and re-establish cordial relations with Uganda’s neighbors." However, at the same time, the Tabliq component has claimed that it is fighting for an Islamic state. Indeed, many Ugandan government and military officials have stressed the dominant Islamic character of the movement and the Ugandan government has benefited from the $100 million U.S.-financed East Africa Counterterrorism Initiative put in place in the aftermath of 9/11. However, it should be noted that some members and observers alike have claimed that few ADF members are of Muslim faith, and that a majority of ex-ADF members have denied the specific Islamic agenda of the struggle.
The above-stated political goals seem to pertain more to the leadership than to the individual members of the movement. Indeed, they contrast with claims voiced by ex-ADF members that they fought because they had been promised an autonomous Bakonjo kingdom, money, and education in exchange for fighting.
In 1998 the ADF sharply increased its military actions, which were previously largely ignored by the government. Military actions are supposedly intended to undermine the confidence in the Ugandan government by creating fear amongst the population. However, as noted by Hans Romkema and DeVeenhoop, the ADF has “…hardly undertaken any activity that could lead to the accomplishment of the objectives." Instead, after an initial period of cordial relations with local populations, by late 1997, ADF units began to antagonize civilians by targeting them through the looting of their supplies, killings, and abductions. Uganda’s armed force, the Uganda’s People Defence Force (UPDF), progressively became more successful in waging war in mountainous terrain.

 

Number of Members

The ADF initially accounted in 1996 for 500 well-trained and armed members. Some sources suggest that this number grew to 1,500, however, other accounts indicate that the ADF strength may never have reached more than 300 fighters between1997 and 2000. By 2003, most ADF units had been eliminated and only a few hundred combatants remained. They numbered between 500 and 1000 in 2005, according to various estimates. Since 2006, most ADF members have retreated to the DRC, where they have tried to reorganize through the mobilization of Congolese recruits. Yet, by 2007, the ADF was estimated to number no more than 900 poorly equipped and trained fighters, of whom around 60% were Congolese nationals.

 

Type : Transnational

The ADF is a transnational non-state armed group. While the objectives and armed attacks of the group are directed at the Ugandan territory, since 1999, the ADF has increasingly based itself in the DRC (see above section ‘Location / Main Area of Operation). Moreover, it was estimated that, as of 2007, a majority of ADF members were of Congolese origin (see above section ‘Number of members’).

 

Conflict Status : PeaceAccord

The military capacity of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) has declined as a result of successive military campaigns against it. First, after 1999, the signing of a security agreement between Uganda and the Republic Democratic of the Congo (DRC) and the carrying out of military operations by Uganda and Congolese rebels in eastern DRC eroded the military capacity of the ADF. Namely, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF – Uganda’s armed forces) launched a military campaign, ‘Operation Mountain Sweep’ on 9 December 1999, which focused on tracking and eliminating the rebels in the Rwenzori Mountain region: by December 2000, the UPDF had largely defeated the ADF. Media sources reported that the UPDF killed between 1,500 and 2,000 rebels in this operation. In December 2005, the United Nations’ peacekeeping force, MONUC, and the DRC launched a joint operation (‘Operation North Night Final’) against the remaining ADF fighters, whom Ugandan security and military officials feared would resume their attacks since regrouping in the DRC.
In 2006, after a long period of dormancy, during which the weakened movement was regrouping in the DRC, the ADF recommenced military actions on Ugandan territory. However, in these more recent operations, the movement has appeared to be relatively weak. Its military activities have been described as “…limited to sporadic small-scale hit and run operations” and confrontations with the UPDF.
In December 2007, the ADF had reportedly engaged in discussions with MONUC peacekeeping mission officials on the possibility of holding peace talks with the Ugandan government. However, most observers agree that the ADF is no longer considered a major security threat to the DRC or Uganda since the dismantling of its camps in 2005.

 

Structure of the organization

The constitution of the ADF “…has changed over the years as military action and the chaotic events in adjacent states affected its composition and deployment." For instance, a 2007 report proclaims that some former Mayi-Mayi rebels had recently joined the ADF.
The military structure of the ADF follows an apparently strict chain of command. Three different brigades are each divided in 4 to 6 companies and further subdivided into detachments. They report to the general military headquarters, which include three staff chiefs: a chief of administration and director of military intelligence, a chief of military general headquarters, and a chief of military operations and logistics.
The Allied Democratic Movement (ADM) is the political wing of the ADF, which is essentially a military organization. The ADM reports to the ADF, made up of joint ADF and National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) leadership.
 

Leadership

The political leadership of the ADF is centred around the figure of Jamil Mukulu (also known as Kyagulanyi and Talengelanimiro), who reports claim to have been central in the creation of the ADF. While only limited information is available about Mukulu, he is said to have converted to Islam (from Catholicism) and joined the Tabliq sect in the 1990s. At the time, the Tabliq was involved in a partially violent power struggle with the Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council over the nomination of the Mufti of Kampala. As a consequence of a confrontation between the Tabliqis and the police forces, Mukulu was arrested and jailed until 1993. Upon his release, Mukulu and other young Tabliqis regrouped in the Hoima district of Uganda and formed into a radical Islamic armed group, the Uganda Muslim Freedom Fighters. The group was quickly defeated by the UPDF, and shortly thereafter, Mukulu began the foundation and leadership of the ADF. (see above section ‘Origins’) Mukulu appears to defend radical Islamic views. In the past, he reportedly distributed tape recordings of religious sermons in which he preached violence against non-Muslim and non-jihadists. A number of sources suggest that Mukulu was close to Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden. Other instrumental founding and leading political leaders of the ADF are a number of ex-commanders of the former army of former Uganda president Idi Amin. Little is known of these leaders, apart from the assertion that they are operating from both Africa and Europe.
The military leadership of the ADF is in the hands of Chief Director Abdallah Yusuf Kabanda. Other commanders include Deputy-Chief Director Dr. Kyeyune, Chief of Administration and Director of Military Intelligence Kayirira Mohammed, Army Commander Mohammed Batambuze, overall Field Commander Mohammed Isabirye (also known as ‘Commander Tiger’), and Chief of Military Operations and Logistics, Hassan Musa. Isiko Baharu was the long-time Chief of Military General Headquarters until he was killed by the UPDF in March 2007.

 

External aid/Third party involvement

There are numerous third parties involved in the activities of the ADF. The role of the government of Sudan was allegedly vital in founding the ADF (refer to the ‘Origins’ section), subsequently providing support to the ADF in the form of intelligence, supplies, and coordination, as well as access to training facilities in Juba.
Sudan’s support of the ADF was an extension of the war by proxy that the country waged against Uganda. This support was purportedly an act of retaliation for Uganda’s assistance to a Sudanese rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which had been fighting a war against the Khartoum government for more than 20 years. It is likely that Sudanese support ended with the signing of a peace treaty between Khartoum and Kampala in December 1999. Following a similar proxy rationale, the Mobutu regime in Zaïre reportedly offered assistance to the movement to counter the growing collaboration between Uganda and Rwanda against Hutu militia in eastern Zaïre.
A number of reports indicate that Al Qaeda trained many ADF fighters in the 1990s. Although many commentators have proclaimed the existence of ties between the movements, these links have been never proven. The U.S. Department of State has also denied such allegations in the past. Other reports suggest that the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and the Kabila regime of the Democratic Republic of Congo supplied arms to the ADF. However, the ADF has today reportedly lost most of its external backing.
 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

The conflict between the ADF and the government of Uganda has had effects at the regional level. First, it triggered the intervention of the MONUC peacekeeping mission through a joint FARDC-MONUC military operation (‘Operation North Night Final’) against the ADF bases in the Democratic Republic of Congo in December 2005. Second, the conflict has contributed to escalating tensions between Uganda and neighboring countries: Sudan’s support of the ADF (see above sections ‘External Aid / Third Party Support’ and ‘Funding’) has led the government of Uganda to accuse Sudan of backing proxy militias. The worsening of relations between Uganda and Sudan peaked with the severance of diplomatic ties from 1995 to 2000.
To a lesser extent, diplomatic relations between Uganda and the DRC also suffered from the continued presence of ADF rebels in the DRC.
The conflict between the ADF and the central government has caused population displacement within Uganda, especially in 2000.

 

Funding

Accounts on the origin of the financial resources of the ADF vary. Initially, funding was apparently secured by ADF supporters in Uganda and remittances sent by sympathetic elements of the Uganda diaspora. In further developments, it is widely acknowledged – namely by the U.S. Department of State – that direct funding came from the government of Sudan. Other external sources of suspected funding included - Zaire under the Mobutu regime, Al Qaeda and other radical Islamic individuals and networks in the Middle East such as the Salaf Tabliq Sect, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Kenya, as well as sympathetic Hutu groups.
Today, it is believed that the movement is no longer sponsored by the aforementioned groups and relies mainly on income-generating activities in the eastern DRC, such as the lucrative exploitation and trafficking of minerals.
In 2003, a reporter of the ‘Christian Science Monitor’ claimed to have recovered documents written by the ADF in the bombed-out Iraqi intelligence headquarters. The documents, a series of letters written by a high-level ADF member outlining the group’s progress and apparently petitioning for its financing by Iraq, apparently pointed to a potential relationship between Iraq’s intelligence agency, Mukhabarat, and the ADF. Although direct funding of the ADF by Iraq is said to be suggested in the correspondence, such an allegation has never been confirmed.

 

Relationship with the international community

On December 5 2001, the US Department of State added the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) to its Terrorist Exclusion List.

Books

• De Waal, Alex (2004), “The Politics of Destabilization in the Horn, 1989-2001," in De Waal, Alex (ed), Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn of Africa (Bloomington: Indiana University Press).
• Balencie, Jean-Marc & de la Grange, Arnaud (2005), Les Nouveaux Mondes rebelles (Paris: éditions Michalon).
• German, Richard & Taylor, Elizabeth (2004), “Uganda," in Szajkowski, Bogdan (ed) Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World 492-493 (London: John Harper Publishing).

Articles and Chapters

• Hovil, Lucy & Werker, Eric, “Portrait of a Failed Rebellion: An account of rational, sub-optimal violence in western Uganda," 17 1 Rationality and Society (2005), at 5-34.
• Lancaster, Philippe, “The Allied Democratic Front vs. the Ugandan People’s Defence Force, 1997-2001: An account of a successful campaign to stop child recruitment," [unpublished paper] (2006).
• Marchesin, Philippe, “The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Africa," 12 African Geopolitics (2003), available at link
• Prunier, Gerard, “The Geopolitical Situation in the Great Lakes Area in Light of the Kivu Crisis," 16 1 Refugee Survey Quarterly (1997), at 1-25.
• Prunier, Gerard, “Rebel Movements and Proxy Warfare," 103 412 African Affairs (2004), at 359-383.

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

• International Criminal Court, Case Concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of Congo – Democratic Republic of Congo v. Uganda Counter-Memorial Submitted by the Republic of Uganda, April 2001, Vol. 1.2.

Governmental reports

• US Department of State, Background Note: Uganda, Washington DC, January 2008, available at link
• US Department of State, East Africa Counterterrorism Initiative Conference, Kampala, 24 April 2004, available at link
• US Department of State, Pattern on Global Terrorism 2002: Appendix C – background information on other terrorist groups, Washington DC, 30 April 2003, available at link
• US Department of State, Terrorist Exclusion List, Washington DC, 15 November 2002, available at link

 

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

• Project for the Research of Islamist Movements, Terdman, Moshe, “Tabliqi Groups in Uganda – the Allied Democratic Forces,” 1 4 Islam in Africa Newsletter, August 2006, available link
• Jamestown Foundation, McGregor, Andrew, “Oil and Jihad in Central Africa: The Rise and Fall of Uganda’s ADF," 5 24 TerrorismMonitor, 20 December 2007, available at link
• Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Sheikh, Fawzia, New Danger from Ugandan Rebel Group?, Africa Reports No.36, 6 June 2005, available at link
• Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Nantulya, Paul, Exclusion, Identity and Armed Conflict: A Historical Survey of the Politics of Confrontation in Uganda with Specific Reference to the Independence Era, July 2001, available at link
• Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Program, Romkema, Hans & DeVeenhoop, Opportunities and Constraints for the Disarmament & Repatriation Of Foreign Armed Groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo – The Case of the: FDLR, FNL and ADF/NALU, June 2007, available at link

 

Press Information (in chronological order)

• “ADF is no threat, says Congo officials," The New Vision, 16 July 2007, available at link
• “ADF Rebellion: Guerilla to Urban Terrorism," The New Vision, 21, May 2007, available at link%5C
• “ADF Regrouping in Congo," The New Vision, 18 July, 2006, link
• “ADF wants peace talks," The Monitor, 4 December, 2008, available at link
• “All known Ugandan rebel camps in eastern Congo captured, says MONUC," Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 27 December 2005.
• “Army kills most wanted ADF rebel," The New Vision, 28, March, 2007, available at link
• “DRCongo UN Mission," BBC Monitoring International Reports, 26 December 2005
• “Iraq Regime Linked to Terror Group," The Christian Science Monitor, 18 April, 2003, available at link
• “DR Congo Confirms ADF Presence," The New Vision, 25 February, 2007, available at link
• “Kampala and Khartoum Resume Ties in August," The East African, 16 July 2001, available at http: //www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/24072001/Regional/Regional23.html
• “Kulayigye, Kiyonga and Wamala addressing journalists at the Media Centre on Saturday," The New Vision, 1 April, 2007.
• “Uganda complains to Congo on rebels," The New Vision, 21, July 2006, available at link
• “Uganda Cuts Ties with Sudan," The Associated Press, 23 April 1995
• “Uganda’s Defence Minister Visits Washington," Afrol News, 30 September, 2004, available at link
• “Uganda: IRIN Special Report on the ADF Rebellion," IRIN, 8 December, 1999, available at link
• “Uganda’s Mountains of the Moon park reopens to tourists," Reuters, 2 July 2001.
   

Interviews

Internet resources

• GlobalSecurity.org, Allied Democratic Forces – National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), 27 April 2004, available at link
• Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Displacements related to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the west and southwest (1998-2003), available at link

 

Statements of the armed group

Agreements involving armed groups