AU Strongly Condamns Terrorist Attack in Western Uganda
ADDIS ABABA – The African Union Commission (AUC) has condamned a “cowardly terrorist attack” in western Uganda by a rebel group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on Friday.
More than 40 people, mostly students, have been reportedly killed and 8 others remain in a critical condition in the attack on a secondary school in a town near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“There are no words for the shock nor condemnation strong enough to express my horror at the brutal and cowardly terrorist attack by suspected ADF terrorists,” AUC Chairperson Mouse Faki Mahamat said.
Mahamat extended his “sincere condolences go to the loved ones of the victims, in full solidarity” with President Yoweri Museveni, the government and the people of Uganda “during this painful period of national loss”.
The attackers also abducted students and fled towards DRC’s Virunga national park, according reports.
“Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” Ugandan defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.
The ADF rebels launched their insurgency against President Museveni in the 1990s from an initial base in the Rwenzori Mountains.
The group was largely defeated by the Ugandan military but remnants fled across the border into the vast jungles of eastern DRC from where they have since maintained their insurgency – perpetrating attacks on civilian and military targets in both Congo and Uganda.
