Uganda military chief threatens to attack eastern Congo town of Bunia

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Uganda military chief threatens to attack eastern Congo town of Bunia

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Uganda will attack the town of Bunia in neighbouring eastern Congo unless “all forces” there surrender their arms within 24 hours, the chief of Ugandan defence forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in a post on X on Saturday.

Kainerugaba, who has a history of posting provocative comments on foreign policy, said he had the authority of President Yoweri Museveni, who is also his father. A spokesman for Uganda’s military said he could not comment on the matter.

Earlier on Saturday, Kainerugaba had said, without providing evidence, that people from the Bahima ethnic group were being killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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“My people, the Bahima are being attacked. That’s a very dangerous situation for those attacking my people. No one on this earth can kill my people and think he will not suffer for it!” he said.

“Bunia will soon be in UPDF hands,” he said in a separate post, referring to the Uganda People’s Defence Force.

Congo’s Prime Minister Judith Suminwa told Reuters on the sidelines of an African Union summit on Saturday that her government had “no comment to make” on Kainerugaba’s remarks.

The threat from Uganda’s top military officer, who is widely believed to be Museveni’s heir apparent, has stoked fears that a conflict between Congolese forces and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels could flare into a wider regional war.

On Friday, an M23 leader said the rebels had entered Bukavu, the second-largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following the capture of Goma, the largest city, at the end of last month.

Citing U.N. sources, Reuters reported earlier in February that Uganda had deployed more than 1,000 extra soldiers in eastern Congo under the auspices of an operation to help Congo fight Islamist militants.

But U.N. experts say Uganda has also backed the ethnic Tutsi-led M23.

‘SENDING A MESSAGE’

Kainerugaba has been publicly supportive of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who has denied accusations that Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23.

In 2022, Kainerugaba referred to M23 as “brothers of ours” fighting for the rights of Tutsis in Congo.

Observers said the posts were aimed at sending a message about Uganda’s economic and geopolitical interests in Congo’s Ituri province, of which Bunia is the capital.

“Uganda seems to be sending a message that it’s claiming ‘its territory’,” Kristof Titeca, a professor at the University of Antwerp, told Reuters.

“All of this is concerningly similar to 1998 and the Second Congolese war, when there was a similar division of territory among Uganda and Rwanda.”

Kainerugaba routinely makes inflammatory posts on social media, including a threat in 2022 to invade neighbouring Kenya.

Last month Kainerugaba said he wanted to behead Uganda’s most prominent opposition leader, Bobi Wine. He later apologised for that threat and sometimes says that certain posts are meant ironically.

(Reporting by Nairobi newsroom; additional reporting by Sonia Rolley in Paris and Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa; writing by Ammu Kannampilly; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Gareth Jones)

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