The issue of bombing the camps/bases/bastions of the ADF/ISCAP continues to be the subject of heated debate among Congolese, Ugandan security services including in the mission of the Nations.
Several parameters block, for example, a widespread bombing operation on these routes used by #ADF fighters.
- Amongst these blockades, the presence of several hostages, often used as human shields by the ADF/ISCAP, comprising mainly women and children who cannot fight. They serve as gatekeepers, trackers or are members of sleeper cells (these elements that can leave the maquis and come settle in the agglomerations to conduct espionage).
- Since the majority of ADF/ISCAP fighters are recruited by force or by cunning, regular armies prefer to engage in ground combat to maximize the chances of capture, surrender and direct elimination of harmful fighters who do not choose the first two options. The capture or surrender of these fighters allows intelligence to gather information that was impossible to obtain, given the mutism that has characterized the ADF for at least 3 decades.
- The relief and forest vegetation where the ADF/ISCAP camps are located is a real challenge for them to carry out targeted bombing operations by helicopters and drones. The ADF/ISCAP, on the other hand, anticipating these threats by digging underground lodges in the bases where their headquarters are located to allow their leaders to take shelter in these bunkers in case of possible airstrike targeting.
- The Ugandan army tried to bomb these ADF/ISCAP positions 3 or 4 times but it was based on accurate information on the location of the ADF/IScAP leadership established based on an infiltration of the Ugandan intelligence services in the ADF/ ISCAP Command Channel. Unfortunately, the information provided was outdated in terms of timing. Bombing had been allowed while ADF/ISCAP leadership had left the targeted location, warned by the same circuit infiltrated by the UPDF. The bombings had neutralized some fighters, but not the leadership who had warned some ministers before the strikes.
In illustration pictures: Mussa Baluku, commander of the ADF/ISCAP and considered by the Islamic State as the Emir of their province of Central Africa (DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi... Mozambique had been detached from this province in May 2025). In these pictures Imam Mussa Baluku conducts allegiance or renewal ceremonies (bayah) to Islamic State or other sermons in ADF camps in Kivu or Ituri. In one of these photos (the second of this post) the ISIS had forgotten to blur his face.
The Islamic State at the level of its central leadership has chosen to hide the faces of adults because they are often sent on mission in agglomerations but preferred to leave children with their faces uncovered because they do not go out without a frame.
