Large ADF arms cache found

The Ugandan army says it has discovered a large arms cache belonging to the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in western Uganda. According to the ‘New Vision’ daily, 78 machine guns, four rocket propelled grenades and seven tortoise hand grenades were found on 5 January in Bwera, Kasese district. Chief of Staff James Kazini told reporters the weapons were part of consignment which was air dropped by Sudan in 1996. The cache was discovered during a major army operation against the ADF codenamed “Mountain Sweep”, the newspaper reported. Kazini said that between 11 November 1999 and 1 January, 66 rebels had been killed and 24 captured. “The ADF has no future,” he was quoted as saying. “I have deployed enough zonal forces to occupy their former bases, block their routes.” He claimed the rebels were now operating out of the Virunga national park in neighbouring DRC. On the Ugandan army’s operations in DRC, Kazini said they had been a success, ‘New Vision’ reported. “We went to Congo to secure the airports against Sudan,” he said. “We have also closed the land supply route - the Mahagi-Bunia-Beni corridor.” Thousands of Ugandan troops had been pulled out of DRC and deployed in the Ruwenzori mountains against the ADF, he added. He did not believe there was a “real link” between the ADF on one hand, and the Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe militias on the other.