By
MUSEVENI INTERACTING WITH DEFENCE CHIEFS AT STATE HOUSE ENTEBBE ON SUNDAY

President Yoweri Museveni has held a meeting with the Chiefs of Defence Forces (CDFs) and Chiefs of Military Intelligence (CMI) of the partner States of the East African Region and those from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of South Africa.

The meeting took place today at State House, Entebbe.

The regional partner States include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

President Museveni, who is also the current Chairman of the East African Community, discussed with the Defence Forces Chiefs a range of issues including a review of the status of security in the region as well as drawing strategies on how to defeat terrorism, particularly the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The meeting followed concerns the ADF was getting stronger which threatens regional security.

The UPDF on December 22 launched long range artillery and aerial bombardments of ADF territory in Beni, North Kivu.

Uganda said the attacks were effective as over 100 militants were killed which many others sustained injuries.

On Saturday evening, Congolese troops said they had launched a fresh military operations against ADF in Beni.

Officials said the DRC army would fight until ADF and others militia groups are defeated.

State House said in a statement on Sunday that the meeting “noted and welcomed the military offensive” launched by the DRC Army against the ADF supported by the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) where necessary.

“The meeting agreed to operationalize the joint follow-up mechanism established by the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in order to coordinate information,” reads today’s statement.

Uganda maintains heavily-armed troops along the DRC border.

It was also agreed to continue engagement with all stakeholders in order to bring the terrorism menace to the end.