Uganda is now fighting alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s armed forces (FARDC) in efforts to root out the rebels. Attacks in Kampala last year added urgency to plans already under way for joint operations to prop up the chaotic and underfunded Congolese forces.

 Reports suggest between 1,500 and 5,000 Ugandan troops could eventually be involved. There are about 120 rebel groups operating in eastern DRC, but the ADF, with an estimated 1,500 fighters, is a particular threat. Formed by groups opposed to Uganda’s autocratic president, Yoweri Museveni, in the late 1990s, their camps are in dense forest from where they carry out brutal raids on villages, abducting recruits.

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