A joint military mission carried out by Ugandan and Congolese forces has secured the release of more than 200 civilian captives held by the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda’s military has confirmed.
The operation targeted a fortified militant encampment controlled by the ADF, an insurgent group with roots tracing back to 1990s Uganda, formed by dissidents opposed to the Ugandan government’s treatment of Muslim communities. After being driven out of Uganda by national forces decades ago, the remaining ADF fighters re-established their base across the border in eastern DRC, where they have built a brutal reputation for widespread violence, kidnappings, and killings. Among the freed hostages were multiple children, including a 14-year-old girl, according to an official statement from Uganda’s military.
While details of when and where the captives were abducted remain undisclosed, survivors reported being held in appalling conditions, including persistent food shortages, forced labor, and harsh punishment for any disobedience. Many of the rescued civilians were found in fragile health, with widespread reports of malaria, respiratory complications, and extreme exhaustion among the group.
“You are not under detention. You are victims of abduction, and we shall ensure you are handed over to the relevant authorities so you can reunite with your families,” Maj Gen Stephen Mugerwa, commander of the joint Uganda-DRC mission, told the freed captives, per the official statement.
The raid on the ADF camp also left multiple militant fighters dead and resulted in the seizure of a large weapons cache, the military confirmed. No details have been released about potential casualties among the joint Ugandan and Congolese force.
The ADF has operated out of remote areas of eastern DRC for more than 20 years. Group leader Musa Seka Baluku first pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2016, and IS formally recognized the ADF’s activity in the region in 2019. After years of limited overt operations inside Uganda, the group has been linked to a string of high-profile attacks in the country in recent years, including 2021 suicide bombings in the capital Kampala and a 2023 attack on a school in western Uganda.
In eastern DRC, however, the ADF’s campaign of violence against civilians has reached staggering levels. A 2024 analysis by BBC Monitoring found the group responsible for more than half of all civilian deaths in the conflict-plagued eastern region. Late last year, a senior researcher with global human rights group Amnesty International described the frequency of ADF abductions and killings as “alarming,” noting that women and girls captured by the group are systematically exploited as sexual slaves.
“Men, women and children told me how they ran for their lives as fighters armed with blades and guns descended on their villages. Released hostages talked of agonizing spells – sometimes months and years – spent in captivity, practically starved and forced to do various tasks in ADF camps,” Rawya Rageh, Amnesty International’s researcher, reported.
Uganda first deployed its troops to eastern DRC in 2021 to target ADF strongholds as part of the joint offensive with Congolese forces, a campaign launched to eliminate the militant group from its regional bases. Despite repeated military operations, the ADF has continued to carry out frequent attacks on civilian and military targets across the region, leaving thousands displaced and dead.