The Allied Democratic ForcesThe Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is made up of Ugandan opposition forces, supported by the Government of Sudan, which fought the Government of Uganda. Insurgent groups in Uganda harass government forces and murder and kidnap civilians in the north and west. They do not, however, threaten the stability of the government. A group operating in western Uganda near the Rwenzori Mountains, the Allied Democratic Forces, emerged as a localized threat in 1996 and inflicted substantial suffering on the population in the area. 
Based in the Ruwenzori mountains of western Uganda, the ADF is a combination of fundamentalist Tabliq Muslim rebels and remnants of another rebel group, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU). It has claimed responsibility for a string of bomb blasts that had rocked the country, particularly Kampala,. It also frequently links up with the ex-FAR/Interahamwe militias operating in the region and is particularly active in the Bundibugyo area of western Uganda. The ADF rebels, based in the Rwenzori Mountains, reportedly committed atrocities against the local civilian population, driving them from their homes and farms in the mountains into lowland towns. As the IDP population in the region grew to approximately 70,000 people, food became more scarce and the towns became unable to absorb them. On 04 April 1998 the US Embassy reported that bombs exploded at two restaurants in Kampala, killing five persons--including one Swedish and one Rwandan national--and wounding at least six others. The restaurants, the Nile Grill and the cafe at the Speke Hotel, were within walking distance of the former US Embassy and the Sheraton Hotel. A Ugandan Government official reported to local press that the Allied Democratic Forces may be responsible. In the west and southwest, the rebel Allied Democratic Forces significantly heightened their activities in 1998, which included repeated attacks on civilian targets, trading centers, and private homes, resulting in hundreds of deaths and abductions. The ADF continued to plant land mines extensively and increased its attacks on both rural and urban civilian targets, police outposts, and UPDF encampments. In February 1998, 30 students were abducted by ADF rebels from Mitandi Seventh Day Adventist College in Kasese. In April 1998 rebels attacked a woman in Bundibugyo district and cut off her ears and nose. Click here to read about the culture of the people of Bundibugyo and Kasese districts in UgandaThe people are a mixture of Bakonjo and Bamba. The are also the minority group of pygmies called Bambutiwho were recently living in Bundibugyo forests.
The ADF forces hacked two civilian women to death in Kasese district in May. The ADF's deadliest attack of the year occurred on 08 June 1998, when rebels killed 80 students of the Kichwamba Technical College in Kabarole district by setting locked dormitories on fire. An additional 80 students were abducted in the raid. Also in June 1998, ADF rebels abducted over l00 school children from a school in Hoima district. ADF conducted dozens of small-scale raids that resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths. An ADF-affiliated group, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda claimed responsibility for three bus bomb attacks in August 1998 that killed 30 persons. On 09 December 1999 the Allied Democratic Forces began a renewed offensive in the Fort Portal Town, Kabarole district, and Bundibugyo Town, Bundibugyo district areas. These actions, which may have been instigated to combat the UPDF offensive "Operation Mountain Sweep," targeted barracks and a regional prison. The First Obote Regime: The Growth of the Military Idi Amin and Military Rule and civil wars The Second Obote Regime: Repression Continues The Rise of the National Resistance Army Allied Democratic Forces National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU)
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