One of the wars is against the deadly Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) who have been seriously recruiting, mobilising and carrying out threatening military drills in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since last December.

By Sunday morning, intelligence had started trickling in that Museveni had on Friday ordered Gen. Aronda Nyakairima and Gen. Salim Saleh to prepare war planes to attack the ADF bases in Erengeti, North Kivu, DRC after losing patience with Congolese military authorities.

Police boss Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura two weeks ago camped in Kinshasha to investigate reports that a military chopper had dropped supplies for ADF in Komando, also in Erengeti, North Kivu.This area, according to UPDF sources, is just 18kms away from the Uganda-Congo border.

Flanked by military intelligence investigators from Kampala, Kayihura discovered that ADF were carrying out drills, had fully re-organised and were armed to the teeth, bracing for a fully fledged invasion of Uganda.

Several top security meetings have been ongoing at State House, Entebbe in which war plans have been drawn after Congolese generals denied Uganda permission to storm Congo.

It’s highly possible that Uganda will any time from now attack ADF in Congo as a pre-emptive national security measure.

“We have lost patience with the Congolese who are denying us a chance to hunt down these ADF elements. We want action before these bandits start scattering around western Uganda,” a senior army officer confided in Chimpreports.com Intelligence Desk.

The second war which Museveni and his generals are preparing for is against rebels who have been crossing from Congo and Kenya to Uganda.

While army spokesperson Col. Felix Kulayigye has confirmed that over 60 suspected rebels have been arrested in Uganda in the last two months, our reliable source in military intelligence says at least 314 suspected insurgents are detained at several military units and have at times been paraded for identification by former ADF rebels now incorporated in Uganda security.

These rebels were expected to give a helping hand to ADF insurgents as soon as the terrorists started striking western Uganda and Kampala. And many of them are still in hiding but well prepared to wreak havoc especially in Kampala the moment ADF’s Jamil Mukulu declares war on Uganda.

This Saturday, an eagle-eyed concerned Ugandan counted 20 road blocks manned by heavily armed police counter terrorism personnel along Mbarara-Masaka-Kampala highway, further confirming fears of an imminent insurgency.

deadly

ADF is a Ugandan Islamist rebel force whose presence has been reported in the Beni territory of North Kivu Province since 1995.

In the late 1990s, the group launched a series of attacks in western Uganda before being annihilated by forces led by departed Gen. James Kazini and Salim Saleh.

ADF is a highly secretive organization without a traditional military ranking system, but the Group has confirmed that Jamil Mukulu remains its supreme commander.

According to Ugandan intelligence officers, Mukulu is responsible for the strategic and ideological direction of the rebel group as well as for overseeing extensive financial support networks. Both FARDC and UPDF sources have indicated that the ADF operational commander on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is David Lukwago, supported by intelligence chief Benjamin Kisonkornye. The highest-ranking Congolese commander is named Braida.

According to UPDF, Chuchubo has replaced Nadui as the site of the new headquarters of ADF in Beni territory. Mwalika, south of the main road from Beni to Kasindi, remains the location of the principal training centre, although some training is now conducted at Nadui.

Taking advantage of the regimentation process, ADF has become increasingly mobile, often changing positions during the course of 2011 and even seeking to make inroads in Ituri, according to FARDC sources.

Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has since confirmed some of its members have been arrested over subversive activities.

The third war is aimed at capturing the entire Somalia from insurgents Al Shabaab. These terrorists are backed by Al Qaeda, the world’s deadliest terrorist group.

The insurgent activities in Uganda are reportedly being backed by opposition leaders in Uganda. Intelligence shows that ADF planned to attack at the peak of the walk to walk political storm in Kampala.

IS UPDF READY FOR THE WARS?

Since February 3, at least 30 U.S Special Forces and Marines have been equipping UPDF commandoes with skills in fighting terrorism in East Africa.

Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force 12, the Marines’ Sicily-based parent command, is tasked with sending small training groups into Africa to partner with local militaries in an effort to indirectly blunt the spread of extremist groups across the continent.
The Uganda team of force reconnaissance, infantry, and combat engineering Marines first covered the use of a variety of weapons systems, marksmanship and field medicine and common soldiering skills which UPDF generals believe Uganda forces can use against the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army and other terror organs like ADF.

More specialized follow on training began on March 5 and is designed to help the UPDF field engineers counter al-Shabaab insurgency tactics in Somalia, where urban obstacles and IEDs reminiscent of the war in Iraq are common.
“We are answering a stated need by our African partners,” said Lt. Col. David L. Morgan, commander of SPMAGTF-12 and 4th Force Reconnaissance Company. “Our mission in Uganda is yet another example of what this versatile force can do.”
“The soldiers on training will use the acquired knowledge in war-torn Somalia and in the hunt down of fugitive LRA commander Joseph Kony wherever he is,” said Ugandan People’s Defense Force Lt. Col. Richard C. Wakayinja, a senior officer in the field engineering unit training with the Marines.
The UPDF is simultaneously providing the bulk of the more than 9,000 African Union peacekeepers engaging al-Shabab in Somalia while also staying on the hunt for Kony and his militia as they skirt the dense wilderness of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.
Their membership estimated to be in the hundreds, the cultist LRA is condemned by international human rights groups for a lengthy list of atrocities that includes mutilating living victims and forcing children into their ranks as either soldiers or sex slaves. The Obama administration ordered 100 combat advisers into central Africa last fall to aid in the hunt for their elusive Ugandan leader.
AL SHABAAB
Al-Shabaab, which officially became a part of al-Qaida’s terrorist network in February, claims responsibility for the 2010 twin bombings in Kampala that killed 74 as they watched a World Cup final on television.

Mogadishu-specific segments of training are scheduled to go over common combat engineering skills used to harden occupied urban spaces against complex attacks involving dangers like sniper and rocket fire as well as how to blast through enemy obstacles and difficult terrain. Another major focus will be on how to find IEDs before friendly forces get too close, said US Marine Maj. Charles Baker, the mission officer in charge.
“We’ve got force reconnaissance and engineers here together, that gives you the route reconnaissance skills,” he said, adding that the U.S. government would provide the UPDF with engineering equipment and vehicles worth about $8 million.
Shifting To A Smaller Footprint
U.S. military officials say missions like SPMAGTF-12’s could become more common place as troop levels in Afghanistan drop in line with an approaching 2014 combat mission end date.

The 180-strong unit was formed over the summer of 2011 from Marine Forces Reserve units based across the country and equipped with two KC-130 Hercules aircraft to ferry teams to and from African countries.
“Because of the past ten years, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there haven’t been a lot of forces available for Africa,” said Army Maj. Jason B. Nicholson, Chief of the Office of Security Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala and former Tanzania foreign area officer.
SPMAGTF-12 has so far sent small teams into five African nations, including some threatened by a North African franchise of Al Qaeda attempting to spread its influence known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM.

The small task force team working with the UPDF represents one of the first significant security cooperation missions undertaken by the Ministry of Defence. Uganda is more accustomed to State Department interaction.

According to the US Special Forces website, a smaller U.S. force has the flexibility to move quickly, such as when a Djiboutian motor pool requested the task force’s help while preparing to deploy their first units to Mogadishu only weeks before their departure date last December.

Using a small group like the one in Uganda, said Nicolson, can also simplify the complex politics associated with deploying and hosting troops in a foreign nation.

This implies a small team of deadly combatants can easily be airlifted from Uganda to Congo thus annihilating the ADF in just hours as long as they are backed by war planes.

The task force is built around 4th Force Reconnaissance Company, based in Alameda, Calif. The special operations capable unit is suited for what’s called “deep recon,” whereby teams operate well behind enemy lines with little to no support.

The Uganda partnership is strictly a train and equip mission designed to allow the UPDF, widely considered one of the most professional militaries in the region, to stay on the lead.

The Marines in Uganda are working on friendly turf far from hostile fire, but remain very much on their own.
Already, a separate Marine Air Ground Task Force is planned for the Asia-Pacific region with troops basing in Darwin, Australia. The Black Sea Rotational Force first stood up in 2010 and is tasked with similar regional security partnership missions with southern and central European countries.
“The Marines are very expeditionary,” said Nicholson, explaining why SPMAGTF-12 was especially suited for the Uganda mission. “This group brings a unique set of people and a unique set of skills.”
TRAINING

During a week of marksmanship shoots in late February, Marine coaches followed their Ugandan counterparts closely, scrutinizing everything from foot placement to eye relief.

They teach shooting and surviving by the numbers: “acquire your target, focus on your front sight post, slow steady squeeze.”
“We used to think of ourselves as engineers, but now, after training with the Marines, we know we are soldiers first,” said UPDF 1st Lt. Martin Oorech.
The lynchpin of the task force’s doctrine of capacity building lies in the hope that the next time their students need to raise their rifles in combat especially against ADF and Al Shabaab, they won’t need the Marines.