The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is a rebel army created in 1995 and is located in the mountainous Democratic Republic of Congo-Uganda border area. It was established as a rebel group intially fighting to overthrow the Ugandan government. Over time the rebels moved across the border into the northeastern DRC and in 2018 pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and openly declared its goal to eradicate Christianity and establish Islamic law in the region. |
According to the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (“GoE”) 2013 final report, citing Ugandan officials and UN sources, in 2013 the ADF had an estimated strength of 1,200 to 1,500 armed fighters located in north-east Beni Territory of North Kivu province, close to the border with Uganda (see map below). These same sources estimate ADF’s total membership —including women and children— to be between 1,600 and 2,500.
While the ADF’s ideology has historically contained some Salafi-jihadist elements, it has also recruited along secular ethnic lines and is deeply entrenched in the broader political and economic dynamics of the Rwenzori border region between Uganda and the DRC.
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