Goma- 24 April 2014. General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, Force Commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) travelled to Beni on 16 April 2014 on a 3 days visit, along with sector commanders of FIB, Nepalese battalion, Jordanian special force and FARDC 8th Military Region commander General Ambamba Bahuma with whom he visited the area of operations codenamed “Sukula I” to assess the ongoing operations against ADF Nalu militia (Islamic alliance of democratic Forces/National Army for the Liberation of Uganda). In this jungle, fierce guerrilla warfare took place between FARDC troops and ADF in their strongholds of Medina, Canada and AKBG camps in Beni, that was won by FARDC.

“Sukula 1” (clean up in the local language Lingala), is an operation launched mid-January 2014 by FARDC with the support of Monusco Force, to neutralize the ADF Nalu.

ADF militia is composed of Ugandan, Congolese and Somalis, operating in the Uganda/DR Congo jungles for dozens of years. The rebellion is fuelled by illegal trade (mining, extortion, timber trade etc.) and use guerilla tactics to move forward. For the Force Commander Santos Cruz, a commando from Brazil used to guerrilla warfare tactics, it is critical that MONUSCO forces understand the terrain of operations: “It is very important to be on the frontline to get the right perception and knowledge of the problems on the ground. There are various issues to resolve on the ground: logistic, evacuation, difficulty for the troops to resupply, challenges flying helicopters, developing intelligence. "

MONUSCO/Clara Padovan