10/18/2023 Uganda (International Christian Concern) – Ugandan police prevented the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorist group from bombing two churches on Sunday. The Islamic State-linked militants planned an attack on two churches in Kibibi, before members of a local vigilante group reported their plan to the police, according to the Tanzanian Daily News.
“The president said the bombs were concealed as address systems and gifted to local pastors,” reported the news source.
The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, took to X (formerly Twitter) to report that the ADF terrorists “were planning to plant in the churches of Kibibi (…) were reported to the police and defused.”
The ADF was formed in 1995 in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to overthrow the Ugandan government. After decades of violent extremism, the terror group affiliated itself with Islamic State in 2019.
While the international community recognizes the extreme danger posed by ADF, it does not seem to fully appreciate the religious component of the ADF movement. In searching for long-term solutions to the terror group, it is important that the world address not just the economic roots of the insurgency but the ideological ones as well. Whether through targeted information campaigns on the ground or specific efforts to protect religious communities in ADF territory, it is vital that the world first recognize the persecution happening and then address it accordingly. Only then can a viable solution be reached.
