There is no doubt that in armed conflicts participants on either side of the conflict disguise themselves to avoid being identified as enemies. Where one of the participants is a guerilla group, the fighters may adopt Muslim or Christian names to confuse the reigning regime or else they may wear the uniform of the army of the ruling regime or of the ruling party, and even secure party identity cards to the same end.
This is why I have constructed the above title in view of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is often mentioned by the people of power as the cause of much insecurity in Uganda, and also in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in areas where the Uganda Peopled Defense Forces (UPDF) operates, ostensibly to help secure the Congolese against the destabilizing ADF.
Many Muslims have lost their lives sometimes it has been claimed that ADF killed them. Some have stayed in custody for a long time because they have been linked to ADF said to be a largely Muslim Rebel group. Whenever there are bombings, mainly in Kampala in Kampala or mass killings in some parts of Uganda, especially Kasese, ADF is evoked.
The only time ADF was not evoked to explain mass killings was when more than 100 have man beings had their lives terminated in Kasese by soldiers under the command of a one Elweru and the King of the Rwenzururu arrested, incarcerated for an extended period of time, and only released recently. One is not far-fetched to ask whether the majority of ADF are not deceptive Muslims.
During the rebel activities of the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) against Idi Amin’s military regime in the 1970s and commanded by a one Yoweri Museveni, many Christian elements in the file and rank of the rebel outfit adopted Arab names. So, during the days of FRONASA (in Idi Amin Amin era) and Patriotic Resistance Army and National Resistance Army (in the Obote II era and Tito Okello era) the combatants of Yoweri Museveni invariably used Arab names.
Yoweri Museveni himself used either Musa or Kassim; Caleb Akandwanaho used Salim Saleh; Fred Rwigyema, the pioneer commander of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (PRA) was Chefe Gisa; Mwine Kajungu became Chefe Ali; and Kangaho became Chefe Makosa. I failed to establish the name used by Rwanda’s strongman, Paul Kagame.
In a world of possibilities (1) Could ADF combatants be Christians posing with Arab names just like their rebel counterparts in FRONASA PRA and NRA did? (2) Could ADF be a creation of the NRM government itself, as many people claim, to rule Ugandans under fear by periodically evoking the rebel group to keep a cloud of insecurity over Uganda while assuring the Ugandans and the international community that the country is very secure and peaceful? According to the 1st January 2023 article in the Daily Monitor, the FRONASA and by extension, PRA and NRA rebels, adopted Arab names as a psychological weapon.
The article records: “They did not want a scenario where Idi Amin would use counter-propaganda to claim that Christians were fighting Muslims”. Indeed, the public wrongly perceived that FRONASA, PRA and NRA rebels were Muslims, which was not true. People like Haji Abdu Nadduli were extremely few among the rebel ranks.
The overwhelming majority were Rwandese and Ugandans Christians. It was a nice strategy. It earned the rebels enormous sympathy and moral and financial support domestically and internationally, although they were also strongly supported by the Anglo-American Axis of global power. One thing is true. The Qur’an, the Holy Book of Muslims, does not approve of many things that the ADF does – burning people, schools and indiscriminately kidnapping and killing men, women and children. True Muslims would not do such things.
I have been seriously reading the Qur’an, and I thank Hon. Asuman Kiyingi who donated it to me in 2022. Many terrible things happening in Uganda and committed by either ordinary Ugandans, Soldiers, policemen, government and ADF rebels are not approved of by the Qur’an. If ADF rebels are Muslims, then they should adhere to the counsel of the Qur’an against destruction of life, aggression, conflicts and wars.
If they are not Muslims but a deceptive outfit to sustain hotspots of instability and insecurity in order to receive Le and dominate others, then the designers should follow the Qur’anic counsel of seeking and ensuring the truth through reason and reflection as well as putting God at the center of everything they conceive and do to ensure genuine peace, security, harmony and sustainability of ecologies, environments, humanity and future
The writer (Prof. Oweyegha- Afunaduula) is a retired university lecturer and environmentalist
