President Museveni has called for vigilance among Ugandans amid security threats posed by the DRC-based terrorist group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
“Bazukulu, anybody approaching you and wanting you to keep his bag or package, insist that he opens it,” said Museveni in his New Year message.
“If you see anything suspicious, such as a mobile telephone in the middle of the package, call the Police. All Hotel and Lodge owners insist on seeing electronic identity cards of everybody and record them,” he added.
The ADF are blamed for masterminding a string of attacks inside Uganda in which dozens have perished in the past few years.
In December 2023, government accused ADF terrorists of killing 13 people in Kamwenge district, western Uganda.
Museveni said the government is continuing to destroy the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorists from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) using, mainly, air-attacks, because they are faster and can reach everywhere.
“In desperation, the terrorists have been trying to send squads into Uganda to kill unarmed civilians and plant bombs. They are able to do this because the border is unclosable – it is long and has many crossing points, many of them in the bush,” said Museveni.
“Besides, we do not want to close the border, because we shall disrupt the lives of the brother peoples of Congo and Uganda. Apart from destroying the source by attacking those criminals in Congo, therefore, the other correct answer is thorough intelligence and internal mobilisation,” he added.
Njovu group
The President also confirmed the killing of a group of suspected ADF militants accused of carrying out attacks in Uganda.
“The group of Njovu – Kamusu of 10 that entered from Congo some few months ago, has now remained with 3 people, if not two,” said Museveni.
“Njovu was captured, Kamusu was killed two days ago and the others were killed in the different engagements. They are now sending bombers to kill our Bazukulu that have taken up umalaya because they live in ghettos where, sometimes, there are no cameras,” he added.
“We are hitting them so hard. They will soon run out of people to send for bombing. In the meantime, vigilance.”
In his New Year address, Museveni said his government is working on the issue of lowering costs of doing business to make Uganda’s products competitive in the domestic and export markets.
“These are the costs of electricity, water, transport, the cost of money borrowed from banks, etc.. As we lower these costs to rational and realistic levels, we will be able to correctly deal with the issue of the salaries of workers,” he observed.
“Otherwise, we are pushing for all round industrialization, using our raw materials from agriculture; forestry; fisheries; minerals; etc,” he said.
