05 12 13 Voice of America: Uganda Hopeful UN Drones Will Help Combat ADF

The first two aerial drones were deployed by the U.N. on Tuesday over eastern Congo. 
Their aim, said the U.N., is to gather intelligence about rebel movements in
the area, where a number of armed groups are still active.

 

Neighboring Uganda
said it welcomed the move.  Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandan
Ministry of Defense, says he hopes the drones will help combat fighters from a
Ugandan-led rebel movement, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

 

“If the drones are going to help us deal with the Allied Democratic Forces that
are destabilizing our country, then we have no problem with that.  Our
concerns are the negative forces based in eastern DRC that are destabilizing
our western border,” said Ankunda.

 

The ADF is a highly secretive rebel group that formed in western Uganda in the 1990s, and has been based in the Rwenzori Mountains along the Congolese border for
nearly two decades.  The group reportedly led an attack in eastern DRC
earlier this year, causing refugees to flee over the border into Uganda.

 

Ankunda pointed out, though, that drones can have their disadvantages.

 

“They have their negative psychological effects on the population, but that is
the vision between the DRC government and the U.N,” said Ankunda.

 

Last month, a U.N. intervention brigade of over 3,000 troops helped the
Congolese army defeat one of the area’s most active rebel groups, M23. 
M23 has since surrendered to the Uganda military, although a peace
deal has yet to be signed.