The notorious Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Allied Forces (ADF) operating in the jungles of neighbouring DRC are being requested through a new campaign to willingly surrender.
The campaign launched August 10 by the joint force of Uganda and DRC armies targets surrender of the ADF rebels specifically in Beni territory of the vast mineral rich East African country.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mak Hazukay the spokesperson for these operations said the campaign involves pooling of FARDC-UPDF forces and the American expert organization called “Bridgeway” in the Mwalika Valley and the butsif of Rwenzori, territory of Beni.
Lt.Col.Hazukay noted that the objective is to give the ADF rebels the opportunity to surrender to be treated in accordance with international law.
“Whatever pressure we are exerting on the enemy, it is important that we can also respect the customs and habits of war. That is why some time ago we have announced that despite our superiority over the enemy, we are going to launch an awareness campaign of surrender,” said Lt.Col.Hazukay.
This campaign, which also gives the opportunity to ADF dependents who are in the forest to go to the police and defense forces, is done by dropping messages addressed to them.
Lt.Col.Hazukay has urged the congolese population to welcome those who are going to surrender and not to indulge in mob justice.
Understanding the American Bridgeway Firm
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) few know or understand about the American Bridgeway Firm. Few know what its real mission is.
Between intelligence and the fight against terrorism, the American Bridgeway fund has established itself over time in the DRC.
Officially, the Bridgeway fund is a branch of the financial conglomerate of American billionaire John Montgomery.
In addition to the lucrative activities of the group, made up of investment funds or pension management and mainly based in the south of the United States, Montgomery has made its Bridgeway fund a “charitable foundation”.
But in fact, since its creation in 2000, the Bridgeway fund has only appeared in Africa, more precisely in Uganda, in 2010. Through its CEO Shannon Sedgwick Davis, Bridgeway has funded another American NGO, Invisible Children, created by Laren Poole.
Invisible Children is known for fueling a propaganda campaign to dismantle the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and offering rewards for the arrest of its leaders, including Joseph Kony, who is still at large from elsewhere.
According to an Africa Intelligence survey, the Bridgeway fund works closely with the Ugandan authorities, who know that this fund has financed Invisible Children and two other NGOs with the same objectives, Aegis Trust and Resolve Uganda.
The money was used, in particular, to gather information which led to the arrest of several LRA leaders and the defection of a majority of the fighters of the terrorist group.
Often referred to as too close to Ugandan power, the Bridgeway fund has used external partners to enter the DRC.
First,it enlisted Human Rights Watch DRC specialist Ida Sawyer, with whom it had collaborated during the Invisible Children operation.
Next, Bridgeway began funding the Congo Study Group (GEC), a project attached to the Center for International Cooperation at New York University.
The CEG and Ida Sawyer, in turn, launched the Kivu Security Barometer – Kivu Security Tracker (KST) – in 2017.
Today, this “network of specialists and researchers” provides all the information on terrorist attacks in eastern DRC. His analyzes are also taken up by the majority of the international media.
Where this network, whose legality is highly questionable, exceeds its prerogatives, it is by providing the only two public reports to date which detail the activity of the armed group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
And since the first report, dating from 2018, KST has described the ADF as “Islamist terrorists”.
In February 2021, KST’s second report on the armed group even accused the ADF of being affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist organization.