Uganda’s military last month marked the third year of its multimillion-dollar operation in the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which its commanders praise for weakening the fighting capacity of terrorist group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), but regional security observers link the mission to gold deals that have sparked more conflict in the violence-plagued Ituri and North Kivu provinces.
Jason Stearns, director of Congo Research Group, says Uganda’s economic interests – competition with Rwanda over gold – have kept its military engaged in Ituri and North Kivu to secure mining sites and trade routes inside the vast country. This enables minerals to flow to Kampala, boosting its export earnings.
