US Promises Shs18b Reward For ADF Commander Musa Baluku Arrest

The US has promised a reward of up to $5 million (Shs18 billion) for information leading to the detention of the commander of the ADF militia, which is mostly active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are one of the most lethal armed organizations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a volatile area plagued by conflict for decades.
The Islamic State group claims the militia as its central African offshoot, and it has been accused of slaying hundreds of Congolese people and carrying out bomb attacks in Uganda.

The US embassy in Kinshasa announced on Thursday that it was offering money in exchange for information leading to the arrest of ADF commander Seka Musa Baluku.

Under his command, the militia “kills, maims, rapes, and conducts other sexual atrocities, as well as abducts people, especially children,” according to the embassy.

According to the US State Department, Baluku is a Ugandan national in his late 40s.

The US formally connected the ADF to the Islamic State group in 2021, adding it to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The militia has continued to commit atrocities in eastern Congo, notably in the neighboring provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.

On January 15, for example, alleged ADF agents exploded a bomb in a church in North Kivu, killing at least 14 people and wounding 63 more.

In an attempt to quell the bloodshed, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi declared North Kivu and Ituri under a “state of siege” in 2021, replacing civilian authorities with military and police forces.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda also began a coordinated attack that year to force the ADF out of their Congolese strongholds, but the measures have yet to be effective in defeating the organization.