Zakaria banza Suleiman,an ADF ideology chief talking about the reasons for group's persistence despite strong operations against it

 

Speaking in a video published on February 24th and commenting on the organization of the forum on the ADF issue in Beni, Zakaria Banza Souleymane, alias Bonge la Chuma, one of the ideologues of the Allied Democratic Forces, the Islamic State's Central Africa Province (ISCAP), welcomed this initiative for reflection while urging the Congolese government to seize this opportunity to consider a negotiated solution to the security crisis caused by ADF activity in Beni, Irumu, Lubero, and Mambasa.

According to this former imam of the Katindo mosque in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, supported by the United Nations (MONUSCO), African countries (UN Intervention Brigade), Uganda (Shujaa military operations), and others, have failed to dismantle the ADF. Therefore, he believes it would be important for Kinshasa to consider the strategy employed last year by Nigeria in negotiating with Boko Haram for the release of 230 students. He points out that Nigeria established contact with the Islamist movement, and the negotiations resulted in the release of Boko Haram leaders, the payment of a substantial ransom by the Nigerian government (which deployed a helicopter to deliver the money), and the eventual release of the hostage students by the jihadist group.

Specifically naming the governor of North Kivu, General Evariste Kakule Somo, as the organizer of this forum at the behest of the Congolese government and President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, and reading from his opening address, Bonge la Chuma invited the governor to contact him so that he could act as an intermediary for negotiations with ISCAP.

For Zakaria Banza Souleymane [Bonge la Chuma], the ADF/ISCAP's demands in any potential negotiations with the Congolese government will be based on three pillars:

1. End of the war: ISCAP secures support for its agenda from the populations in the areas where it is active.

2. Coexistence: no Islamization, but populations living in areas under ADF/ISCAP activity will pay a conventional tax (he specifies that this is already operational in several villages and the ADF no longer carries out deadly incursions there).

3. No compromise: continuation of the offensive by Kinshasa with its allies and reprisals by the ADF/ISCAP against civilians and security forces.