KAMPALA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday met with the East African Community (EAC) military chiefs to review strategies to defeat the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
In a military statement issued here on Monday, Museveni, the current chairman of the EAC, met with Chiefs of Defense Forces (CDFs) and Military Intelligence (CMIs) of the six EAC partner states armed forces at State House, Entebbe, about 40 kilometers, south of the capital, Kampala.
The EAC brings together Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.
The meeting was also attended by the CDFs and CMIs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Africa on the invitation of their Ugandan counterpart, Gen. David Muhoozi.
The statement said that ADF currently causing havoc in eastern DRC is now reported to be in alliance with elements of the Somali militants, Al-Shabaab as well as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
Museveni in his New Year message called for a joint regional effort to defeat the ADF operating in eastern DRC.
"The meeting which took place at State House Entebbe reviewed the security situation in the region with special focus on ADF terrorists," said the statement.
"The meeting agreed that the ADF is now a threat to the region and therefore requires a coordinated regional approach to tackle it," it said.
The Defense Chiefs commended current efforts by the Congolese Armed Forces supported by the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and Uganda People Defense Forces to wipe out the terrorists in eastern DRC.
"The ongoing offensive was therefore fully supported and should be sustained," said the statement.
The meeting further urged the countries that have not deployed their officers to the Joint Follow-up Mechanism Center in Kasese under International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to do so without further delay.
The center, Joint Regional Military Center of the ICGLR, was established in 2016 to monitor and gather intelligence on rebel activities and share it with member states.
ICGLR, a regional intergovernmental body, comprises 12 countries -- Uganda, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, DRC, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
