Uganda warns of hot pursuit if ADF rebels attack

KAMPALA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan military on Tuesday warned of hot pursuit if the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group currently causing havoc in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) attacked the country.

Brig. Richard Karemire, Uganda's military spokesperson, told Xinhua in an interview that the army is ready to retaliate and exercise right of hot pursuit in case of any attack by the ADF in the east African country's territory.

The comments follow last week's attack by the rebel group on UN peacekeepers in eastern DRC's North Kivu province that killed 15 Tanzanian blue helmets, 5 DRC soldiers and wounded 53 others.

"ADF remains a threat to regional peace and security. If these terrorists attacked Uganda, we would not hesitate to exercise the right to hot pursuit," said Karemire.

Karemire called for the operationalization of a regional military center in the western district of Kasese to intensify the fight against the ADF.

The outfit is accused of increased killings and massacres of troops and civilians, rape and abductions over the past three months in eastern DRC.

"It is high time that parties to the joint following-up mechanism under International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) honored their commitments to make the Kasese Center operational," said Karemire.

The center, Joint Regional Military Center of the ICGLR, was established in 2016 to monitor and gather intelligence on rebel activities and share it with member states.

ICGLR, a regional intergovernmental body, comprises 12 countries -- Uganda, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, DRC, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. Enditem