SUMMARY
ADF (Alliance of Democratic Forces) was a rebel group fighting in western Uganda to remove the Ugandan government from the mid-1990s and into the 2000s.
ADF had its roots in the evangelistic Muslim Tabliqi Jamaat movement of Uganda. The population of Uganda is mainly Christian, with Muslims making up only about 15 % and some in the Tabliqi group claimed that the country’s Muslim population was marginalised. The absence of Muslims in the higher ranks of President Yoweri Museveni’s administration contributed to the Tabliqi movement’s growing sense of marginalisation and subsequent militancy. Furthermore, the Tabliqi claimed political persecution after they had opposed the appointment of a new national mufti. Following violence on the streets of Kampala, a number of the Tabliqis were imprisoned, while others went into hiding in the Bundibugyo district in the western part of the country. Military analysts have concluded that the reasons for choosing this region were threefold: the terrain was mountainous, it was right on the border to DR Congo and there were existing ethnic conflicts in the area that could be exploited. When the core group was released from prison it joined the others in Bundibugyo, where it went underground. The next time the group surfaced, it was as ADF. It had then grown to include NALU (National Army for the Liberation of Uganda), a rebel group that had become fairly inactive as well as remnants of a Rwenzori separatist movement (Rwenzori being a region in western Uganda). The group carried out its first major attack in November 1996, when it almost succeeded in taking over Kasese town in the far west of the country.
Although the group’s core was made up of Tabliiqi Muslims, and its official ideology was based in Islam, ADF soon appeared to be ‘rebels without a cause’, terrorising the civilian population. The movement was never popular in Uganda and was thus forced to recruit its fighters mainly in eastern DR Congo. While some were lured into the group with promises of pay and education, the kidnapping of children on both sides of the border was also a common strategy to fill up the ranks.
Analysts as well as aid workers in the region agree that ADF during its early years must have received both weapons and military training. While, at the outset of their rebellion, the group was mainly armed with machetes and knives, its members all eventually became armed with guns. The Ugandan government accused its arch-enemy, the Islamic government in Sudan, of being behind the supplies, and even though Khartoum denied any involvement, most analysts agree that there was probably some truth to the accusations. There were also reports that the group received backing from the Congolese president Mubutu Seso Seke, another enemy of the Ugandan government at the time. What is clear is that the ADF rebellion became closely linked to the larger context of the conflict in neighbouring DR Congo. For one, its presence on Congolese soil was cited as reason for Ugandas intervention in the neighbouring country in 1998. After the relationship between Kampala and Laurent-Desire Kabila, the new Congolese president that Uganda had helped install through ousting Mobutu, turned sour, there were reports of the latter supplying the rebels with weapons. Conditions worsened for the rebel group during the 2000s, however, as relations between Uganda and DR Congo improved, with the latter even conducting armed operations against ADF.
ADF was led by Jamil Mukulu, a former catholic, turned Muslim extremist. While very little is known with certitude of him, he is believed to have received training from al-Qaida both in Sudan and Afghanistan prior to the formation of ADF. According to some sources he lived in Sudan during the time when Usama Bin Laden resided there. More generally, the leadership of ADF had few links with western Uganda, its leaders coming from areas in central Uganda with strong Islamic ties such as Iganga, Masaka and Kampala itself. The core group also included some ex-commanders of former president Idi Amins army. After Jamil Mukulu was arrested in April 2015 Musa Seka Baluku took over the leadership of the group. In 2017 Bakulu pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi a the pledge was accepted in October 2017 leading to the main faction of ADF becoming a wilayat under the Islamic State. The connection between ADF and IS became clearer in 2019 when IS claimed its first attacks in the country. From prison, Mukulu opposed the connection to the Islamic State and a small faction led by Muzaaya (or Musaya) remained as ADF. The ADF led by Muzaaya was based in Virunga National Park near the Semuliki River. In 2018 Muzaaya formed a new group - PULI aiming to oust Museveni.
ADF has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
The Vuba militia also known as Groupe Matata was a local armed militia active around Eringeti in the Beni territory of DR Congo. The group was formed after ADF was chased into the area around 1996. ADF formed family ties with the Vuba community and eventually a militia trained by ADF was formed. The group was multi-ethnic drawing members from Lese, Nyali and Batalinga communities apart from the core Vuba community members.
The Vuba militia was formed to reclaim land and favorable taxation rates from the Nande migrants from Lubero who over the years had grown into the dominant community in the area.
The Vuba militia was supported by ADF and also by parts of the Congolese army.
The Vuba militia was led by Castro and Unde Pascal.
